CMV: I Think Mainstream Contemporary Feminism Benefits Men As Well As Women

I think that, in the long run, you're right. Feminism will lead to greater equality, just by virtue of the fact that it seeks equality for women. In that sense, feminism is not a bad movement.

But it's worth noting that the core ideologies of feminism revolve around the patriarchy and power dynamics -- and many feminists (online, anyway) tend to blow these out of proportion.

Now, some things are true. Men do enjoy privileges. We don't have to worry about getting harassed on the street, are in general assumed to be competent, etc. There are things that suck about being a man, sure, but there not so institutionalized as some of the harassment women experience.

But there tends to be a fundamental gap in how many feminists approach gender dynamics. For those who speak all the time about gender roles and socialization of gender norms, there's unfortunately a lot of empathy for the victim of harassment, and none for the perpetrator -- let me explain what I mean. I'm not saying that we should feel sorry for the creep who is harassing women in the subway. Of course not (he's a creep). But rather than responding by saying "Let us understand why he is doing this. Let's understand how some men are socialized to be this way", they respond very differently. They respond by saying "Men shouldn't do this" -- as if (1) all men don't know not to disrespect women and (2) as if being stereotypically masculine and a good person are mutually exclusive.

There's not a lot of recognition that, because men are seen as oppressors and as enjoying power, there's an equal amount of discomfort at being shoved into the masculine gender role. For instance, have you ever heard someone say that women shouldn't wear certain things (say, miniskirts) because "men can't control themselves"? People love to talk about how disrespectful that is to women (and it is) -- why should women change when men should "learn to control themselves"? But few people talk about how disrespectful that is to men, too -- why are we teaching young men that they shouldn't be able to control themselves.

So there's a fundamental divide between how men are actually socialized and how many feminists seem to think we're socialized. Our natural state is not chasing after women, being ridiculous and raping people. That's why phrases like "teach men not to rape," "Men shouldn't do this" are in fact so offensive: many men don't do those things, although some do. The better question is, "Why are we taking boys who are perfectly normal, who can control themselves, and telling them that they shouldn't be able to control themselves"? Additionally, no woman knows what it's like to be raised as a man. If it's not my place to tell them how they should act (beyond being a good person), don't tell me what being a man means (beyond being a decent human being).

In short, feminism is a very good thing because it seeks needed equality for women. But in general mainstream feminism completely fails to empathize with men, refusing to listen (yes, listen) to how men are socialized and acknowledge that those in power being men and all men being powerful are two radically different things. There is a complete disregard that these equations are two-sided, and there needs to be more of a dialogue. Sometimes men do derail the conversation -- but unfortunately there has been frequent censorship of opposing ideas in feminism, preventing conversation from taking place. And that's not going to help us, that's going to hurt us.

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