13/04/2021 20:25
#32
By Chris Green - 67yo from United Kingdom
1. Why is Feminism relevant to men?
1) All the women who I have grown up with, shared houses with shared relationships with would describe themselves as feminist- Therefore feminism has to be relevant to me .
2) Feminism is about Equality Justice and Respect , therefore it is impinges upon men and is valuable and relevant to any man who wants to live in a world of equality and respect
3) Ending Men’s Violence and Abuse against Women is a fundamental call of feminism - Any man who remains silent about men’s violence is excusing and condoning the violence , so again Feminism is relevant to men -
2. How does Feminism benefit men?
It helps us to understand what we need to do to live in a better world
It challenges us to change any inappropriate behaviours
It challenges us to do our share of Caring, Cleaning and other household work.
It provides vast energy to support the work of White Ribbon campaign when not enough men are active in supporting our work .
3. Have you always embraced Feminism? If not, what changed your mind?
I went to an English public school so by the age of 18 had massive feelings of entitlement - for a critique of modern day equivalent see the work of Everyone’s Invited and the 20,000 testimonies of young women’s experience of male entitlement . I had a great sense of Equality.My diaries of that time show that I was challenged by girl friends of the time to do more . At University I lived in mixed communal
houses and learnt a lot from the women there. By the time I left University in 1976 I was organising Crèches against Sexism , was interested in the patriarchal implications of Contraception , and shortly afterwards had a relationship with a woman who had been very active in the Women’s Liberation demo at Miss World in 1970.
I have been learning ever since , mostly in practice rather than by reading , although I was on the collective for Achilles Heel “a magazine for changing men “
