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Feminism

I recently joined your mailing list and become more interested in women's rights. However, being a male I'm not sure where or how to contribute in a more involved of higher level.  I think it is a very important movement that may not be taken seriously in certain circles.  Having several women in my life and seeing them face a variety of challenges I wanted to step up and understand if a male can contribute to the organization and in what way.

 

Men are certainly a welcome part of our community— both specifically at Feminist.com and in feminism in general. I think that feminism has always recognized that men are an important part of this movement, but hasn't always been clear or consistent in how to include them. Initially, I think that men were important to have as allies alongside women at marches, etc. But over time, it became more apparent that we needed men because they were in positions of power and could point out sexism more powerfully than women — at least in a way that would make others listen.

Today, I think the "added value" of men is that they give their own example, they realize that they are underserved by living with sexism and thus figure out how to fight it. For instance, a few years ago, they introduced a vaccine for HPV, which is important, but we don't even have a test to detect HPV on men— though they are as likely, if not more likely, to have it than women and we don't yet even know about the long-term implications for them. In this one instance, I think that men need to demand more from the medical establishment — just as women did years ago. Hopefully you can find ways to make your own difference. Also, feminist.com does have a section on “meninists” that can help.

-- Amy