Argumentative Essay: Can Men Be Feminist?

Can men be feminists? The answer is yes, of course! However, there seems to be a misconception that men are not welcome into feminist spaces, and that feminism is about raising women above men, therefore making men inferior. This is all untrue -- in fact, feminism benefits men. Nonetheless, there are some points male feminists need to keep in mind.

Now, saying feminism benefits men may sound like a leap, but it is true. Misogyny is the “tendency to dismiss and deride femaleness and femininity” (Berlatsky). Women are usually associated with being feminine, but so are gay men, and other types of men who don’t meet the standards of hypermasculinity. Misogyny as a whole doesn't only affect women but men too -- even straight men who aren’t perceived

Men, unfortunately, can not make themselves the center of the movement, and instead should work on “listening and boosting versus erasing and derailing”. (Mcdonough). Sometimes men become feminists, then use their voice and their privilege to speak over women. Instead of speaking over women, the focus should be on using their male privilege in society to amplify women's voices. Write some feminist theory. Having men write feminist theory is essential because “Any substantive theory for social change must provide something for most if not all members of society". Therefore “A good theory, then, will also have multiple layers of messages for different social groupings” (Klocke). This applies to feminist theory in the way that it can not only be written by women to be understood by society as a whole -- it needs to be written by men as well. However, it should be noted that before any theory is written, if it is on women’s issues, there should be consultations with women. Feminism is totally for men, there’s just some parts about being a feminist that men have to be aware