Feminist group-man insisting on men being "involved"

[TheBoyWhoWouldntHoeCorn]

Hello, I am a long time on and off lurker on feminist chat

On a local community page on Facebook a woman has just suggested starting up a feminist group/meetings

A few comments in, a man has come along and written the following

*If it's a meeting for gender equality (which effectively IS what feminism means) then men HAVE to be involved in the discussion. Especially if their aim is to effect change.

If, however, it's a women's group to discuss and air women's problems to cleanse and relieve frustrations, then that's entirely different and of course it could be just for women.

To bar one gender from a gender equality group is, clearly, completely counterproductive to the aim. And entirely hypocritical*

I am so angry I can't articulate how to respond. Can anyone help me with a kick ass response please?

Excellent tactic! And would definitely work on transactivists too :)

DJ

Sorry but these sort of groups need to start thinking about how they include and promote trans-people on a more holistic/humanistic level. You can't restrict such important matters to 'pure' cis gender types.

Eh? Feminist groups should be focusing on/promoting males over females? Nah, sorry. Unless you were referring to thinking about and including trans-men of course, but I somehow doubt you were...

Oh tut Venus, reducing womanhood to the biological bits and experiences biological women have in common. And wanting to talk about them when women have been told they're no longer oppressed which is the new shiny good reason they are not allowed to talk about these things, compared to the old naughtily oppressive reasons. Or something. Hurrah for liberation.

Oh we can safely ignore the incoherent ranting the pearl of wisdom from TransAndProud (Wed 03-May-17 01:44:53). Goady fucker (or more probably self-absorbed teenaged boy) who showed up late that night to witter endlessly on another thread (Why so much trans bashing on MN?) and threw that single grenade into this thread too - probably found getting his arse handed to him a bit much IMHO.

Just come back from listening to the lovely author of The Female Eunuch give a lecture. She was inspiring, learned and funny.

I had an interesting chat with a nice boy dressed as a lady(transactivist? I'm out of date with this stuff) picketing the lecture, and giving out anti feminist leaflets. Explained how the feminist movement had supported trans activism and he was welcome to join as a fellow traveller and ancillary worker, like feminist men have done before, but women need and are entitled to women only spaces for consciousness raising like all oppressed groups. I left him with a feminist reading list starting with The Female Eunuch and asked him promise to read it.

What Greer did say about the trans people who attacked her in her lectures in New Zealand and here which was chilling and revealing was that they were literally reading off scripts in their opposition to her. My suspicion is that the whole shebang is being scripted, using nice kids like the one I met this evening.

woman12345

Well done. Although I can't imagine he is anything like the transactivists I've seen if he is willing to even let you speak long enough to suggest anything.

But it's shameful that they are brainwashing these kids into footsoldiers for them.

You need a robot

Feminism is not about gender equality. Otherwise we will be advocating that men become prostitutes, get raped and killed by their partners at the rate of 2 a week. We would be advocating that they have a 20% pay cut, get FGM and suffer honour killings.Would also be on board with allowing 100 million male foetuses be aborted before they're born

You know, that got me thinking.

If a man went to a feminist meeting in the honest intention to provide a male perspective in order to help...

Wouldn't he then suggest doing those things?

As opposed to repeating "not all men!" again and again.

I mean, when European people come to Africa in the intent to help the local farmers, they bring them pesticides and herbicides and artificial fertilizer - things that are not necessarily good, or even superior to traditional methods, but are what is used here.

They do NOT go there and say: "This idea of sending your children to school sounds like you're trying to be like white people. That makes you really boring for the people from National Geographic, you know? Also, teaching children that colonialism is a bad thing is a one-sided portrayal of white people. Not all white people!"

When honestly intending to help, people tend towards a "do as I do" approach.

A well-intentioned dude, according to that theory, should be all: "Hey, women not having access to male prostitutes is oppression! Campaign for more male prostitutes! Also, you need to stop being so meek and letting men treat you like doormats. If a man hit me in the face, I'd hit him back twice as hard! And why not abort male fetuses to make up for the excess of male babies born in China and India? That'd balance things!"

That's what you'd expect of a clueless, but well-meaning dude who thinks that feminists should want equality to men.

But ... that's not what "gender equality!" dude does, is it?

He's all "Hey, you're behaving too much like men! You're too inconsiderate of male feelings! That's a thing only men get to be! You have to centre men, which is the complete opposite of what men do to women, but you totally must do it, because reasons!"

StripeyZazie great, thanks!
I'm glad their cages are rattled, one can act accordingly.