Life
There's still this looming misconception that feminism is for women. It's a party we're constantly reminding men that they have an invitation to (and we'd greatly appreciate your presence!). Men who are feminists and will boldly say so aren't yet a regular occurrence; and when the question was posed to the male crowd of Reddit — asking whether or not they consider themselves feminists, and why — the responses were as varied and interesting as you'd probably expect.
Feminism is for everyone, plain and simple; but because it's largely been women behind the fight for equal rights, it came to be misconstrued as a "women's thing." Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, feminism can't even exist without men. We need them in order for this to work.
It's not exactly a secret that Reddit isn't the most accepting environment when it comes to feminism and feminists, so I honestly expected the thread to be much more hate-fueled than it is. Surprisingly, it seems as though a good deal of men have a rather no-nonsense approach to feminism: feminism equals equality, so yes, they are feminists.
As can be expected with any conversation about feminism, though, it took many more twists and turns from there. Here's what they had to say.
1
The Dictionary Definition
In its simplest form, sure, feminism asks for equality. While this might overly simplify the situation, I suspect we'd all agree on one thing: we want a more level playing field.
2
Equal Rights For Women
While women of America won certain rights awhile ago (the right to vote, go to school, own property, etc.), such is not necessarily the case in other cultures. As feminism includes all women, we mustn't forget these cultures.
3
Institutionalized Sexism
Read the whole post — it's important. This sexism still happens today for women in the workplace. That's one reason (of many) why we need feminism.
4
All Feminisms Are Not Created Equal
Cancer! That's... that's... I don't know what that is referring to, exactly, bfut it's pretty awful to compare feminism to cancer. Yikes.
5
The Wage Gap
It's a constantly debated idea: are women paid less, or do we choose lower-paying jobs? Research has found that, yes, we are paid less (and women of color even less than that). We're also given harder interviews, have a harder time getting a raise, and are deemed pushy, bossy, and unlikable when we talk about money or disagree — things men aren't punished for.
6
Gender Equality... But Not Feminism
I repeat: feminism is for everyone. If you want to talk about a clusterf*ck, let's talk about politics. Politics are a clusterf*ck. Feminism is simple. Feminism is equality.
7
Today's Standards
I'm curious what this person is referring to when they point out the negatives we don't want to have. Are feminists really just trying to get the best of both worlds and avoid any downsides? Doubtful. We've been dealing with downsides for decades...
9
The *Idea* Of Feminism
How do you like the idea of feminism but not identify as a feminist? Please explain, because I am genuinely confused by this.
11
We're All "Anti-Man"
Do some women hate men? Sure, because there are people who hate all kinds of people. But this is an ugly stereotype that has been following around feminists for years. Overwhelmingly, we are not anti-men. On the contrary, we want men's help. We want to work with them.
12
True Equality Is Impossible
To be fair, I kind of get what he's trying to say here; but having babies doesn't make us lesser of human beings — it simply makes us different. We can be different but equal. Confusing? Sure. Possible? Definitely.
13
The Wage Gap Is A Myth
How are there still people arguing that the wage gap isn't real? How? Hate to disappoint all you nonbelievers, but the World Economic Forum recently reported that women face a gender wage gap in every single country.
14
We Need To Do Something About it
And Bustle readers the world round cry tears of joy. The word that stuck out to me most here was "we." This is a team effort, folks.
