[srf5253]

1. I think men play a very important role in the struggle for women’s equality. Historically, women would not have an issue with equality if not for the standard set by men who designed the patriarchy. If women want to see a change, they need men’s support, which Donald Woodman talks about when he discusses women’s right to vote. He says that when women fought for what should be their natural right to vote, they had to ask men’s permission and rely on men to give them what they want. In many ways, this is still the case. Men still have control in society, making women’s equality improbable, if not impossible, without male support of the female cause.

2.Donald Woodman discusses the stigma of the word ‘feminism’ as he opens his speech. He renames his presentation “femanism” as a way of incorporating men into the cause. Unfortunately, most men (and some women) feel that feminism is made up of homosexual, man-hating women who want to see men pay for the inequality they have caused women. This inaccurate description of a feminist sets men up to not only fight the feminist cause, but also to want to end it. In actuality, feminism is simply the fight for total equality. If this were the “single story” definition of feminism, feminists may see more support men. Men who are involved in the cause may feel less likely to remain anonymous in fear of people assuming that they are man-hating men.

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