Why Feminism is for men too – Men Talk Feminism

Feminist is relevant to men because we need to realize that the essence of being a woman is the gift of giving birth. We came from a woman's woumb, women are our mothers, sisters aunts niece and girlfriends. That nurtures us and teaches us how to be a caring, nurturing and a decent human being

Feminism teaches men the value of sensitivity, when I say sensitivity women tend to care first for others before they cater to their own needs. It's natural for woman to be a nurturer and that is something that men needs to learn from women to have sensitivity towards others rather than thinking about themselves all the time. What men needs to learn from women is sensitivity and vulnerability. It makes men more in tune to other people's feeling. What is so wrong about vulnerability and sensitivity? It's human nature to express emotions and feelings regardless of what feelings it Maybe and that I think what men should learn from women.

I have always embraced feminism for a simple fact that I grew up with 3 sisters that are great role models in my life each of them are different. My mom has to be the sole provider for the family leaving me when I was 6 months old. She did that so we have food to eat everyday, a comfortable home and also we can have access to a private school. If you ask me. My mother and my sisters are my superheroes. Since my mom was not around growing up my sisters and my aunts were my second mothers. I wouldn't want to have any other life because growing up with female role models made me become a great listener, a great caregiver, a good friend, a genuine upstanding person and that's because I'm surrounded with great females who are leaders, pioneer, smart and tough female role models and I wouldn't trade my childhood from anyone else.

The discrimination against women is so obvious, that any sensible person should thrive to overcome it. You cannot close your eyes in front of the unfairness and oppression women are experiencing. So being a feminist is an act of humanitarianism. Feminism makes the life of all women around us better, easier and happier. So women and as well the surrounding men benefit from it.

A friend of my parents killed himself after his company went bankrupt. This is just one of the most extreme consequence of the pressure that lies on men in traditional patriarchal roles. Others are homelessness, alcohol abuse, loneliness, aggression against self or others. Feminism reduces the pressure on men by allowing them to show weakness, ask for help and to interpret their role in a partnership in a more versatile way.

My mum was working full-time, while my dad worked part-time from home and took care of us. My parents are not political persons, so they wouldn’t identify as feminists, but growing up in such a family, I could never relate to patriarchal concepts of family or gender roles. So when I got politicized as a teenager, I surely became a feminist. First, it was a more liberal feminism, now more intersectional.

Equal treatment of women (and all people) is relevant to men because it makes us all better.

As above but it also adds happiness, peace, calm, healthy competition and a better, broader mindset.

I was raised by a single mom when that wasn’t common and I’ve been supportive of feminism before I even knew there was a term for it.

If you believe in an equal world then the only conclusion should be that feminism is relevant to everyone. If you believe in a world where your abilities to contribute to society, and the rewards you receive from society, should only be determined by merit then feminism is the only conclusion. A world that is equal and fair is relevant because we all want to live in one.

A patriarchal society made my father the man he is. That is someone that drank away his failures till midnight every night. That is someone that would be verbally abusive to his wife and hit his children if they were up because he was embarrassed they saw him drunk. That is someone that honestly believed that hitting his children was better than his father burning him so was OK. I was taught to suck in my feelings as a child, not to cry, not to express. I tried to commit suicide at 12 and am just lucky that I now survive to tell the tale. Anything that helps destroy a system that causes so much pain and anguish surely will benefit men because equality doesn't work.

I have thought of myself as a feminist for all my life. I am proud that I've been raised with my mum as head of the family since I was 10. That being said, growing up in the 80s and 90s, I would say that I have also done things I am far from proud of and behaved in an anti-feminist manner. I can only apologise for that and hope those that I wronged forgive me at some point. I think as I got older into my early twenties I guess I could see the pain that some women were experiencing through the actions of men and it made me sick. That was what made me change and want to fully embrace gender equality and not just play lip service to it.

Feminism is relevant to men because fundamentally it’s about human rights and we all, deep down, want the best for ourselves and others. So why wouldn’t something which is striving to achieve this be relevant? It can be as simplistic as we all come from a woman and will have friends/family/partners etc who have been(and still are being) treated unfairly due to being a woman. Surely we want them to be treated fairly? But greater than this should be an overall view that being treated fairly shouldn’t need to be argued for. We should all strive for a society where being treated fairly goes without being asked for. We should embrace any attempts to achieve this.

People often make the mistake that feminism is for the benefit of women, when in fact an equal society benefits everyone within it. It’s been clear for a long time that boys and men struggle to cope with the expectations which often come with “our role”, and have been conditioned to pretend things are ok when they are not. Feminism can support men by challenging the false ideology that needing help sometimes or not being the “alpha” male is a sign of weakness. Feminism challenges the notion that when men feel disempowered that we must abuse others to gain this. By doing this, it recognises what men have often failed to recognise due to the pressures we have been socialised to believe. Feminism shows it doesn’t need to be a battle of us and them, but can be a united cause to achieve a positive goal for us all.

I’ve always had strong women in my life so have always had a generally positive view of feminism. Sadly though, I have to acknowledge that I haven’t always been supportive of feminism in that my behaviour in the past has been misogynistic and harmful to women. Over time becoming more informed myself around human rights and politics/social theories etc has opened my eyes to how my behaviour can impact on others and how I can use my learning and experiences to support others not to make the same mistakes. Having my eyes open, I now see clearly the inequality and abhorrent behaviours witnessed by women on a day to day basis and recognise things must change. None of us are perfect, but that doesn’t mean we can’t change and aim to be better.