I'm a cis male and I believe in the importance of feminism, but I hesitate to call myself a feminist because it seems like there is a presumption of understanding women's experiences as if I was part of the Me Too movement. In some binary sense given how hateful and shitty men can be I'm absolutely a feminist, but I wouldn't declare myself to be one. What is your standpoint?

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[โ€“] 0 points 1 month ago (1 child)

This raises the question whether feminist is the right word for those definitions. Humanist, maybe?

I'm not trying to "all lives matter" the situation โ€“ the history of the treatment of women warrants specific advocacy. But I think of a feminist as someone who (regardless of gender) is actively an advocate for change, not just someone who believes in equality.

That's the connotation I have for the word anyway. Clearly UN Women are a more authoritative source, and they specifically use the word "belief," so my connotation seems to be wrong.

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  • [โ€“] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

    What's different to me is it's feminism not femalism, in that feminine doesn't tend to mean women specifically. I would actually argue it's mostly used as a modifier of explicit non-women, and is, in a roundabout way, directly about men and anything unassociated with women as well.

    As if to say "this isn't about women, it's about the opposition to non-manliness that exists in the world".

    Like a white person is not black, but a man can be feminine. That's not to say black issues aren't pertinent to white people in a similar way (if one of us is not free, none are free, nonblack people demeaned for cultural blackness, etc), but it's an identity that can be wholely intrinsic to a man.

    Oh, and another point you bring up I think is interesting is the distinction between holding the belief and directly or strongly acting on it, and should we consider a believer or passive actor as non-ideological? I think that comes down to a No True Scotsman sort of mindset.

    Kind of rambling and pedantic, but I like to think about the little details.

    Edit: Actually, the more I think about it, the more it kind of is the same as BLM, and I think even just holding the belief is important.

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