Students—men and women—protest against rising violence against women in New Delhi (2012)
Preconception. The world is sinking under the vast multitude of beliefs regarding the multi-layered world of feminism. You tell someone you’re a feminist, and different notions jog through their head of what that means about you, who it makes you, how it defines you.
This does not put women above men. This does not exclude men.
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One has a pre-conceived basis of what this means to them, not giving thought on what it means to you. A simple online search will tell you the many, many facets that make up feminism, and how basic and straightforward a concept it is. Put plainly, feminism is the act of supporting female rights as a division of overall gender equality. This does not put women above men. This does not exclude men. This does not put white women above women of color. This does not exclude anyone based on race. This does not pertain to one’s own religion, sexuality, identity, or ethics.
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What it does pertain to is the greater concept of equality among men, women, and everyone in between. Walking through the streets of Brooklyn, I hear discussions of rights, equality, privilege, culture. Associated with all of them, one can hear traces of the feminist misconception. Among a large portion of these conversations, a great deal of the misunderstanding comes from men.
Once one understands a concept, they grow with it, shape it, form it into what it means for them.
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Men seem to think they cannot be feminists. As a male myself, this idea seems entirely preposterous. It does not take much to be an advocate. It does not take time or effort, it does not take willpower or strength. All it takes is plain understanding.
Once one understands a concept, they grow with it, shape it, form it into what it means for them. But until one has such an understanding, it seems hard pressed that one can develop their own genuine notions. As a boy growing up in rural America, I can certainly sympathize with how one can merely let thoughts wash over them, absorb them and mentally ratify them without knowing a thing about them. Yet, being shaped in such a manner does not at all hinder one’s ability to learn on their own.
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It seems that in part, one of the largest problems with feminism is the lack of understanding coming from outside feminism. There are so many varying ideas of what this concept is that we forget how simple it can be. Men being feminists does not degrade them. It does not emasculate them. It does not make them less of a man; if anything, it does only the opposite. Striving for gender equality is a very acceptable ideal of today’s culture with our society seeing less and less people who oppose the idea. Labeling oneself a feminist only supports this very basic premise, anything additional is what one makes of it.
The preconception that being a feminist labels you as so many other things is not the case, and to realize this, the world needs to spread the simplicity of this concept. Understanding is the key to progressing, and until we can fully understand, we show no hope of advancing ourselves.
Photo: Wikimedia/Nilanjana Roy
An ideology is more nuanced and complex than just an innocuous, universally valid slogan or a vague ideal. If it were not so, it would be equally or even more valid to say that the OP is not feminist at all, but humanist (or ‘equalist’, or ‘egalitarian’). If there is no distinction beyond equality & anti-sexism, then feminism is humanism, then humanism is truer than feminism, and the whole label of feminism is misleading and retrograde. But, if post-second wave feminism is more loyal & beholden to its own proclivities, then it certainly does it no one any benefit to… Read more »
@John Gottman, It may be rhetorically convenient to denigrate or lambast those who do not adhere closely enough to a religion, a doctrine, or a dogma as simply acting out of bad faith, but that does not make it so. It’s like saying ‘Christianity is only about kindness and compassion and morality and being good to people, so if you’re not a Christian then you cannot be in favour of goodness or morality or compassion’. Or it would be like saying ‘Only Marxists are interested in social welfare and equality, so if you’re not a Marxist you’re against equality, justice,… Read more »
Every year Gallup does this poll, and every year the results are the same: 90% of both men and women totally support equal rights for women. 20% self-identify as feminists. We’re all not stupid. We can distinguish between a good idea (equal rights for women) and a bad movement (feminism). A lot of feminists simply fall under the category of “deplorables” that Hillary ascribed to rabid folks on the right. The largest feminist organization – the National Organization of Women (NOW) – is just deplorable because it systematically works to deny men equal rights in divorce. Here’s another tidbit: There… Read more »
Men seem to think they cannot be feminists. This largely comes from feminists themselves. Some say men can’t be feminists. Some say men can’t be feminists but can be allies. Some even say men can be feminists but they must always take a back seat to women’s voices, even on topics that relate to men. Yes there are men that take this to the extreme but they didn’t just come up with it from nowhere. Preconception. The world is sinking under the vast multitude of beliefs regarding the multi-layered world of feminism. You tell someone you’re a feminist, and different… Read more »
It seems to me that feminism is simply a movement for women to be treated equally to men. Feminism is simply equalism. It is called feminism because women aren’t treated equally to men and it focuses on this issue. I find that if I remove the word feminist/feminism and swap it with equalist/equalism in my thoughts it is much easier to accept that feminism is simply a fight for equality. Anyone who says they don’t support feminism simply doesn’t support equality for women. In the future say, “I don’t support equality for women” rather than “I don’t support feminism.” They… Read more »
It seems to me that feminism is simply a movement for women to be treated equally to men. Feminism is simply equalism. That is the stated purpose and there is nothing wrong with that. So why is it when men try to gather forums to support each other feminist protest them? Why is it that feminists support silencing male victims of abuse and violence with unbalanced laws? Again this isn’t about what feminists say feminism is about this is about what actions are being done and what words are being said under the banner of that movement. It is called… Read more »
I’d like to reply, but I’m having trouble getting anything through moderation for some reason.
I understand. Still waiting on John to show prove that his claim that my blog is antifeminist is anything more than grandstanding and hopes that people will just blindly agree with him without looking into it.
So as you can see 8 days later and John still hasn’t shown what makes my site anti feminist.
By the way, if you click on Danny’s name above, his website is an anti-feminist site. He’s part of the problem.
So….about that citation of antifeminism? Sounds like you were depending on herd mentality to just believe your claim without actually thinking about it.
By the way, if you click on Danny’s name above, his website is an anti-feminist site. He’s part of the problem.
22 days and no response? Where is the anti feminism on my site John?
Just as I thought. You throw it around as a moral grandstanding to scare people away from my site because you can’t handle anyone being critical of your precious movement.
Figures. Fucking coward…
“Men seem to think they cannot be feminists.”
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Nope. No confusion here.
Nope.
Men know they can be feminists. But most of us deliberately choose not to self-identify with that label.
And it’s the same for most women.