Men and Feminism

Among the fundamental problems within the feminist movements is the issue of male apathy. Feminist women often wonder—as do feminist men—why males are reluctant to learn about feminism. It is, after all, undeniably pertinent to modern society. Given both its historical and contemporaneous applicability, what is it about feminism that makes men cringe? Is it that men prefer to ignore a female movement as a means of disparaging women and preserving their masculine supremacy or are other factors contributing to male apathy?

Firstly, I think the term itself—feminism—is a contributory factor. To many men, the word implies a field of study which is inapplicable (and thus unimportant) to male life. Though clearly not the case, for those men who know nothing of feminism—and there are many—it is assumed that men have no place in what is clearly a woman’s issue. Given such a faulty assumption, men are dissuaded from engaging in a subject which retains no personal relevance. Furthermore, due to such misconceptions, those males who express interest in feminism may be socially emasculated.

Secondly, men are often apathetic towards feminism not because they disagree with its principles, but contrarily, because they are in agreement. Males such as myself, who are for equal rights between the sexes and feminine empowerment, may find much of feminist theory to be stating the obvious. In such a mindset, the study of feminism is applicable to males at large, but not to certain ‘unproblematic’ men. The same logic may be applied to white students who do not enroll in African-American studies courses. It is not because these white students are racist, but conversely, because they do not see themselves as furthering racial tension.

Thirdly, many males fear that feminism demonizes men. Feminist theory focuses on the patriarchal oppression of females—a topic with which males are inherently uncomfortable. Many males do not wish to immerse themselves in the misandrist environment that feminism might bring about and instead choose to avoid the subject altogether.

To conclude, I would like to point out that these are horrible reasons to avoid studying feminism. Nevertheless, many males distance themselves from the topic and I think the aforementioned excuses may provide some insight as to why. I believe that everybody could benefit from more men studying feminism, but that equality can never truly exist as long as the study of feminism is necessary.