Why Feminism is for men too – Men Talk Feminism

It is in everyone's interest to create a fair and equal society. If Feminism wins, everyone wins. And men have created much of the imbalance so we need to use our privilege to change things.

There is a plethora of studies that clearly show that groups with an equal share of women and men and families where chores are shared equally are more productive, successful and happier. So there is a very tangible benefit to striving towards a more equal society.

I think a major change for me was the impressions I got after starting my career. To the day it's unbelievable how much more women need to achieve to reap the same rewards (financially and status-related) as men.

Men are a very important factor for the transformation of our systems, societies and organizations. Since men are, systemically spoken, a comparatively privileged social group, it is up to them to become change agents and thus: catalysts for transformation. We as men need to become a part of the solution instead of too often being a part of the problem. The solution, here, would be the move towards fairer and more inclusive systems and away from discriminatory and exclusive environments. Men are in positions of power. They must use their power to educate themselves, reflect their roles, and take responsibility for diversity and equality.

We need to show men that our current systemic conditions are harmful to them, too. By reflecting on how your own socialization can lay a burden on you and your personal freedom and development, you might be able to understand how your thoughts and behaviors, your biases and white spots, are affecting others being excluded, marginalized or discriminated against. Empathy is key, but in order to fully understand the interactions between systems and individuals, men need to start their learning journey from their very own self. They need to free themselves from a lot of boundaries and misunderstandings. And the more they understand, the broader their own repertoire will become. Once you realize this, it can be a fascinating and thoroughly meaningful experience which will not only benefit yourself, but many many people around you – women and men alike.

It’s been a process, and this process hasn’t ended yet. Sometimes I believe that it has just started. It’s a learning journey for me. I always had the feeling that our systems, our organizations and our societies are not as fair and equal as they pretend to be. As a man, and especially as a white, heterosexual, cis-gender man, I am usually not part of a marginalized social group. I am very privileged instead. Thus, it took me much longer to realize that our systems aren’t equal to all people. I want to understand my role and my responsibility as a member of the normative group. In short: I want to stop being a part of the problem and start being a part of the solution.

Because I think most men want to live in a world which is more fair, equal and just, and feminism is vital to achieving that. You don’t have to look very far to see that patriarchy remains in place across the world, which ultimately means that we men continue to gain power and privilege at the expense of women. The workings of power and privilege are often invisible to those who have it, but whether we like it or not, our lives are shaped by this system and we help to shape it, for example in the pressures to conform to patriarchal ideas of masculinity. Yet this also means that we can play a vital positive role as pro-feminist allies in challenging and changing that system ‘from within’. Feminism is therefore incredibly relevant to men; to our lives and our capacity to create change.

I think that men should embrace feminism because we want to see social justice. However, it is definitely the case that feminism benefits men in a wide range of ways too. It offers us the tools to free ourselves from the unnecessary and harmful constraints of masculinity, which cause so much damage to ourselves and to others as we constantly struggle to live up to them. Feminism can therefore help men to be whoever we want to be - to come closer to our full humanity. For example, by better understanding and communicating about our emotions and inner selves, and developing more intimate, connected and caring relationships with the people in our lives and the world around us. So whilst feminism asks challenging questions of men, including reflecting on and giving up our patriarchal power and privilege, we have so much to gain from embracing it.

I first started learning about feminism when I studied sociology at school. It helped make sense of so many things, explaining different aspects of my life and the world around me in a way that felt very liberating. But I was lucky to grow up in a family environment where there was less pressure to conform to masculine norms than many boys experience. And there have been many occasions where feminism has challenged me, or where I’ve had knee-jerk defensive reactions to feminist analyses. I find it useful in those moments to reflect on why I’m reacting in that way - and whether it may be touching on something personal, some perceptions or behaviours I’m holding onto which are actually quite unhealthy, and need to let go of. Embracing feminism can sometimes be uncomfortable for men, but is absolutely the right thing to do, and has been an incredibly positive experience for me.

Feminism is relevant to men because feminism is pro-men, and feminism seeks to break down traditional oppressive power structures in society that are harmful to men.

Feminism is beneficial to men, because if you read or study feminist literature with intent to understand, it forces men to be introspective and challenge how patriarchal conditioning denies them their full capacity to flourish as human beings. It also allows men to open up their perspective to view women and minorities as equal humans.

No. I started working at a domestic/sexual violence agency and learned how one-sided the perpetration of violence is. It made me start to take interest in women's experience in the world outside my own limited and biased understanding. I started reading feminism and understanding the function of "Imperialist, capitalist, white supremacist patriarchy" as bell hooks calls it. It has provided me room to grow with compassion, develop a much more empathetic understanding for all people and become an overall better person, a better man.

Feminism seeks to end the binary view in which men and women are opposites with men holding power and women being subservient. It doesn't seek to reverse the situation and put women on top, but instead to put all people on a level playing field. This is good in itself, but beyond that, by ending the binary in which men and women are treated as opposites, the movement can also free men from the restrictive rules and stereotypes that prevent them from being a fuller version of themselves.

See above! It's the background to the calls we hear for me to be me open, to feel free to share their emotions, to learn to be happy through equality rather than trying to force some sort of life satisfaction from being "the best" and most dominant.

No, it wasn't until inwas in my early 20s and started hearing more and more about violence against women that i started to learn about Feminism. It was through volunteering for an organisation who combatted violence against women that i learned that a lot of the things I believed in and the world that i wanted to see, was in fact a Feminist one.