2. Education about men in feminist activism

[JCAEC]

While many men have supported women’s struggle for equality, there is a lack of education about men active in feminist activism. Why do you think this is?

[karaduriez13]

2.While many men have supported women’s struggle for equality, there is a lack of education about men active in feminist activism. Why do you think this is?

There are several possible outlets to why the men active in feminist activism are overlooked. One that I think most people can acknowledge is the idea that the people making the curriculum in education or any type of information to the public is more than likely controlled by a specific group of people that always seems to be the case: wealthy, typically older, white men.

This idea addresses the idea of the patriarchy again, arguing that there is a lack of education because the men that choose to refuse ideas of feminism, typical to the type of man listed above (again not all of them but a large portion), are the ones who are responsible for releasing this type of information. The men choose not to educate the public on the men being active to 1) make it look as if all men don’t care about women’s rights as if it is a way to fight it and 2) to make the few men active in feminist activism look small and unimportant, and not the ideal version of a masculine man that defends all men. Either option in the end is targeted at women, forcing feminism and those involved to look like man haters. In the end, the lack of education about men active in feminist activism is depressing, because that education would help show the world that feminism is not just a woman’s issue, it is a human’s issue.

[rosemaryohalloran]

I believe that there is a lack of education about men who are active in the feminist movement due to the fact that the person creating this education is most likely a woman. It is coming from her perspective, and if she is a feminist she will be advocating for women’s rights, not men’s. Thus, meaning that she will be more likely to want to educate others about the contributions women have made to the feminist movement as opposed to teaching others about the contributions men have made to the movement. This neglected presence of men in feminist activism is a small example of the neglected gender of females that have rarely been taught about in normal history books. Women have had their work stolen by men who claim to have done the research themselves. They have been forgotten about in history. This is due patriarchy and the fact that men hold the power. In feminist history, it is quite the opposite: women are taught about. Although they have not stolen the work of a man’s and claimed it as their own, in this bit of history, women are glorified. That is why there is a major lack of education about the active imen in feminist activism.

[jrsellitto]

It is difficult to even google search names of men who are or were involved in the struggle for equality. I just did a google search and my option were very limited. Many strong feminists feel that mixing men into the struggle for women’s quality is almost hypocritical. The struggle for equality is not one-sided, and it is necessary to have multiple perspectives, genders, background, races, etc. included in the fight for equality.

It is important to understand the history of the struggle for women’s equality. As feminist movements developed over the 1970s, 1980s and into the 1990s, so too did feminist understandings about women’s social situation in relation to men. Feminists argued that cultural ideologies favored men and that social institutions reflected and reproduced these ideologies. As time went on, women started realizing the need for men’s involvement in the struggle for equality. This support for men’s organizations took place at a time when feminists were struggling against the effects of the co-option of their demands for gender equality.

Including men is easier said than done. Why would women want to include the very group of people who were undermining their roles in society? Why would a person who is able to indulge in the benefits of their position in society want to join our cause? These very questions raise a possible explanation of why education about equality is more focused on the women involved than the men.

[elieli]

I think it’s easier for women to accept other women and be a little more critical and cautious of men because of their position on feminism. We don’t expect a lot of men to understand or even come running to help the cause of women’s struggles. When patriarchy is all that you know and are used to, you don’t want to lower your benefits of living. Being a man is great in this society, I’m sure, but we are all human and do the same things everyday.
In a way, I think that feminists are doing what the men did to us and push their accomplishments to the side. We don’t hear a lot about men activists because I don’t think they are trusted to be one hundred percent about it. This doesn’t make sense because feminism isn’t about men vs. women. It’s about all men, women, races, and genders to understand one another and to be supportive and equal. I think feminists get defensive about men wanting to get involved because they don’t fully understand, but if we can’t get past the fact that men aren’t the only factor standing in the way of equality, then feminism will never fully achieve it’s true purpose.

[gterribilini]

Earlier on many strong women accomplished things that went unrecognized when men were achieving the same things. Now, that is what women in the fight for equality are doing to men. Although, many men have been active in supporting the struggle for women’s equality, yet no one ever hears about these men. I believe that we are not informed about the men in feminist activism because it takes away from the work that the females are doing. Women believe that men don’t realize the fight they are putting up for equality, so if a man helps female activists it is not the same as what females as the work females are doing. If a group boasts about the work a male is doing for women’s equality, the emphasis will be taken off of equality for women and be put on what men can do to help women. Feminism and gender equality is not about males vs. females, it is about everyone coming together to make the world a more equal place for everyone. Although men aren’t talked about being included in the fight, they need to be included in the fight for gender equality.

[lqa5112]

The idea of feminism in society has received a bad reputation because people tend to assume that feminists hate all men, think every single man is bad, think that they are all better than men, and the assumptions go on. As a result, people would get confused if they found out that men were actually involved in the movement if it all seems to be against them. That is extremely unfortunate because society’s ignorance has brought the wrong connotation to feminist activism. It is hard for people to understand that feminists are just looking for equality amongst all genders. If they understood that and society understood that, it would be so easy to believe that men are involved! Many men support feminist activism and are strongly a part of this. I think that men should definitely be involved in the education of feminist activism because that would help students to better understand what feminism is really all about. It will also give students a more open approach to feminism since they can then understand that not all men are bad, and it will also give them hope since they will see that men are already helping out to promote this equality.

[cdunne]

I think that there is a lack of education about men in the feminist movement because there is an unfortunate stigma surrounding what “feminism” truly means. The definition of feminism means equality for all across all races and genders, however the root of the word and the negative histories and connotations associated with previous incidents have made it a word and concept that people now fear. Prior to educating myself on the matter, I too assumed that the feminist movement was headed solely by women and directed at men in an aggressive form. Only in the past year has it been more acceptable and possible for men to join in the movement. Emma Watson put it beautifully in her speech to the UN: feminism is not a matter of demonizing any group; its not about men or women but rather the balance and equality between them. Men haven’t been recognized because their struggles were never acknowledged.

[jmd5898]

I believe that so much of the lack of resources about men supporting women’s rights is due to the fact that we live in a patriarchal society. For most of our education in schools is primarily from the white male perspective we often lose the idea that history has other versions and perspectives. I also think that it is because now women have more rights and when you first look at the Suffragette’s movement we you do come across many propaganda posters. These images are often very offensive to women and also to men who support women. It shows women as undesirable if they present themselves as feminists and I think that most men of that time believed that. Due to the fact that we are not in our 3rd wave of the feminist movement and that our society has begun to change for the better as far as equality for all genders, I believe that as far as history goes men did not want to be shown as a part of a movement that was thought of as hating them. I also think that because most of our historical accounts come from white men that perhaps throughout the movement many men who handled those accounts did not feel they, as a gender and race, should be involved and simply did not include it in the preservation of the history that we know now.

[Juanita]

I believe that men shy away from feminism because they all view it as a women taking charge. Men are used to being the ones with the upper hand and they don’t like to be questioned. They support women rights because this leans on ethics. Its not right to exclude someone from something because of their gender and people have come a long way from a strict mind frame. Specifically, with men and feminism, I feel like men probably feel like they’re always being belittled by feminist and that feminist are always angry. But its just a way to make a change and demonstrate that their are problems that exist and that shouldn’t be ignored.

[cgonza1ez]

I believe that the reason for the lack of education about male-feminist is the fact that not many people know that male-feminist are actually a thing. The label placed on the word feminist consist of the image of women hating men burning their bras and chanting hateful words towards their suppressors. When picturing a group behaving this way one comes to think why men would even want to be a part of a group that actually hates them. This fake label placed on feminist makes it impossible for one to think that any people aside from women would want to deliberately be a part of such a group. When this false label is removed from the term feminism, then is when people can learn and become educated at the fact that some men actually do join women in their fight for equality.

[ddf5093]

Although many man are active with feminism they lack education because it is not women’s responsibility to educate them on what’s in front of them. Men should be able to see feminism in women across the border without any hesitation. Equality should come natural. But acknowledging feminism sometimes comes with race. Black women are recognize as strong women especially if there is education involved. Where as white women regardless of their occupation it’s harder for them to be seen as an equal because they are assumed to be weak. Most education men are active in feminism while others see no reason to take interest in it.

[ddf5093]

Although many man are active with feminism they lack education because it is not women’s responsibility to educate them on what’s in front of them. Men should be able to see feminism in women across the border without any hesitation. Equality should come natural. But acknowledging feminism sometimes comes with race. Black women are recognize as strong women especially if there is education involved. Where as white women regardless of their occupation it’s harder for them to be seen as an equal because they are assumed to be weak. Most education men are active in feminism while others see no reason to take interest in it.

[bmm5771]

I think there is a lack of education about men active in feminist activism because overall women were very bitter at men and angry that they so easily could gain respect and women had just accept and live in the male dominated society. Women always had to accept men and what they did, but when the tables were turned, women did not receive the same kind of reaction. Since the feminist movement was originated from trying to have the same rights and respect as men, the history of men being involved is not really discussed because there was not much of it and when there was, it was almost hard for some women to accept their help since the whole point was for the women to prove themselves as equals. Which means to gain this equality themselves, to gain it without the help of men. This is contradictory in a way since women are not prominently portrayed in history and art, when they indeed were an important part of all of it. But now in the history of feminism, women are brushing the men to the side. Yes, the men do not deserve to be seen as a main contributor of the movement and this could be seen as a type of revenge. However, I think it was more of a way to just recognize women more, and by educating more on the importance of men almost refutes the position that women do not need men and that women are equal to men.

[AlexCat203]

While many men have supported women’s struggle for equality, there is a lack of education about men active in feminist activism. Why do you think this is?

There are many male feminists in our history, but they are overlooked for the same reasons that women in our history are overlooked. They are viewed as weak and unimportant by the dominant males. The involvement of men in the feminist movement is so important because with their help we can open the minds of other males to the ideas of feminism, but because the history of women is eliminated from our education then of course any history showing support of women is also eliminated.

What institutional changes are needed to be inclusive of a diversity of gender identities?

Institutions need to better incorporate intersectionality into their curriculum for the “average” history classes not just the women studies classes. For example, professors and curriculum writers for classes such as cinematography need to put more effort into discovering and teaching about films produced by women and minorities. If the generation being educated never learns about women’s history then who will? It will just become a repetition of the past just as Judy said.

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