Can men be feminists?

[lovelilies]

I'm pretty sure they can't, as they have the privilege of being male!
Please correct me if I'm wrong?

I believe they can

They can sympathise with feminism but can they truly be feminist?

Nope.

Of course they can. A feminist is someone who supports feminism.

When feminism wins, everyone wins. It is not a “them and us war”. It is not a single sum game.

I remember thinking that they could be (I have a son) but then read something on MN which explained why they couldn't, but I can't remember what it said other than it made sense 😳

Yes I think they can. A feminist believes in equality between the sexes and a man can believe in that as much as a woman can.

Yes like any other ideology they can subscribe to it.

I’m going to throw my opinion in because I’m a man and that’s what we do (sarcasm), it’s a hard question to answer as I do truly believe women should have equality of opportunity but if you asked 100 women what feminism means you would probably get 100 different answers. I mean most would probably agree on the fundamentals but I suppose what I’m saying is that it depends on how you personally define feminism ? I would counter the initial question by asking could white people truly be against white supremacy if they haven’t experienced being black ? As a black man I’d say yes you can.

Wasn't there another thread about this recently ?

As with any ideology, there are many different strands.

Yes they can. My dad for example who Decided as a child, seeing how his sisters were treated compared to himself, that women were unfairly treated

Men can support feminism, like white people can support BAME activism.

No

Men who have said/intimated they are feminists:

Jos Whedon - arsehole who is known to have treated his wife appallingly and his female stars worse.

Louis CK - sexual predator

Justin Trudeau - his wife on INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY said it was a good time to thank men for being awesome (or some twaddle like that). Also, silencing women and listening to TRAs

I'm sure there's a list as long as my arm of these. Scratch a self-declared male feminist, find a wanker. That's not to say men can't support feminism. They often do. But if push comes to shove can they see and reject their privilege, give up their advantages, and really live with worth and merit not being calculated based on what they do?

The only men that I have known that have declared themselves 'feminists', have also been power or sex focused and declaring themselves as such, meant they got trust they would never have had and this in turn created more damaged women as a direct result of their actions.

So no.

I forgot Matt my-friends-are-really-dubious Damon,

MrsTerryPratchett what are your thoughts on Patrick Stewart? I always found him to be very genuine and impressive.

No! Absolutely not! They can be feminist supporters, but since they will never be able to experience being a woman, they can no more be a feminist than a white person can understand what it’s like to be black.

When men say they are feminists, they often end up trying to dictate what feminism is.

@positivelyPERF would you that this is what white people do when they share an opinion on fighting racism then ?

Wasn't there another thread about this recently ?

Only every week or two.

I just don’t see how this is tricky.

Can a man be a female? No.
Can a man be a feminist? Yes.

Can a white person be black? No.
Can a white person believe black lives matter? Yes.

Etc.

would you that this is what white people do when they share an opinion on fighting racism then?

I’m not sure what you mean.

@positivelyPERF you said that men try to dictate what feminism when they say they are feminists (which seems odd as no one woman can define feminism as it means different things to different women). So I asked do white people try to dictate what racism when they talk about fighting racism ?

No. They can be allies.

So I asked do white people try to dictate what racism when they talk about fighting racism? Do the white people say they are black? Have they said that they have a right to join BAME groups?