The problem with male feminists

The problem with male feminists

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is a perfect example of the problem with men's self-proclaimed feminism.
by Meghan Murphy



Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has recently been accused of "groping" and "inappropriately handling" a reporter at a beer festival 18 years ago [Reuters]



Calling yourself a feminist is easy these days. All you have to do is declare it so. "If you stand for equality, then you're a feminist," actor Emma Watson insisted in 2015. "Sorry to tell you, you're a feminist." In recent years, anyone and everyone has been encouraged to take up the label - men included. Indeed, it is often men who are awarded the most accolades for doing so. When Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced not only that he was a feminist, but that he was going to keep calling himself a feminist until it was "met with a shrug", his audience cheered. During a conversation with Melinda Gates last year, he elaborated, saying: "It is so important that we all understand … it's not only that men can be feminists, it is that men should be feminists, as well."

It might sound like progress, but there is a problem with men's proclaimed feminism, and Trudeau exemplifies it. The #MeToo movement has not only opened up the conversation about the ubiquity of sexual harassment and assault, but it has successfully held men accountable for behaviour that, for too long, had been ignored or kept secret. It also encouraged men to start speaking out publicly, in solidarity with women. But what men say in public often contradicts their personal and political actions. It is a convenient time for men to claim they oppose things like rape and groping - this is a simple way to demonstrate the feminist credentials we have been told are effortless to adopt (few, today, would argue against something as innocuous-sounding as "equality&quot .


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There are several questions I'd like to ask every man who has publicly proclaimed his feminist credentials or who has chastised other men as part of #MeToo, posting sombre or critical sermons on social media about their shock and disappointment at the men around them: Have you ever watched pornography? Have you ever paid for sex? Have you ever pestered a woman into sex - your girlfriend or wife, perhaps - when she was less than enthusiastic? If the answers to any of these questions are "yes", understand that you, too, are culpable. Both pornography and prostitution are areas wherein sexual harassment and abuse are part of the job description, and the idea epitomised in the sex industry - that sex is a right - is very much something men bring into the bedroom.

I don't expect perfection from any man. How can we, in a patriarchal world, be surprised when man after man turns out to have behaved in, well, exactly the ways they have been taught and encouraged to? We can't. And so I have little interest in celebrating - or even believing - men who proudly announce their feminism. We'll believe it when we see it. And until then, Trudeau and his other "feminist" allies should meet as much scepticism as a man who refuses the label.

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/problem-male-feminists-180712071916509.html?utm_source=Al+Jazeera+English+Newsletter+%7C+Weekly&utm_campaign=5661b85605-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_08_13_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e427298a68-5661b85605-225592249