Are You Man Enough To Call Yourself A Feminist?
I recently read a story by Mona Lazar titled “Stand with Women: How to Get Men to Engage in Gender Equality”, which among other things discussed the problems men have identifying as a feminist. While I agreed with the story in general, some parts of it were triggering for me. I responded in the story, but felt called to elaborate further in a separate story. So here goes.
The story started off with:
A man praised me publicly for cooking a good meal and I nearly lost it. That’s how men feel when we praise them for being champions of feminism.
Really? Why should a man be afraid of being called a feminist? I guess I am not a typical guy, since I don’t feel that way at all. But there is nothing special about me, so I must not be the only man who can’t relate to this.
Whether we like it or not (and we don’t), men get serious backlash from other people, both men and women, when they decide to get involved with gender issues.
Again, really? I am aware of what male privilege is, and that I carry a lot of it with me. Shouldn’t that protect me from this sort of backlash?
For the men who haven’t clicked the “Back” button yet: what sort of man are you? Or more importantly, what kind of man do you want to be? And do you consider yourself a feminist?
