I'm a white, middle-ish class, cisgender, heterosexual, Christian, college-educated male in America who is a member of the only international non-secret fraternity. So basically, aside from wealth, I have been granted one of the most privileged positions in all of human history without having done a single thing to deserve the advantages that have just been handed to me.
That being said, I will probably never be able to REALLY understand what it's like to be disenfranchised, discriminated against, etc. But what I can do is try to use all this unearned privilege to make things better for those who are. Consider this your warning that, from time to time when the fancy strikes me, I will talk about (maybe even rant on occasion) social issues that bother me. You've been forewarned and now I'll be on my merry way to continue.
Here's a brief, non-comprehensive list of reasons I consider myself to be a feminist:
1) There are women in my life about whom I care very deeply, and I know the statistics aren't good.
2) I have sisters and I shudder to think of the things boys say about them just for the sake of keeping up appearances and trying to posture in order to avoid being teased by their male peers.
3) As a man, I recognize the desperate need I had growing up to be encouraged to be emotionally healthy, socially conscious, and able to express what I was feeling.
4) I am incredibly lucky to have been a part of a family, church, and fraternity where it was not stigmatized or all that unusual for men to cry. Most men aren't nearly that fortunate.
5) The way I see it, feminism is basically humanism rebranded by a patriarchal society so that men will have an excuse to segregate the concerns of social equality as "women's issues", thereby giving them an excuse not to care or get involved.
6) I need feminism because one friend who has been a victim of rape is one too many, and I have far more than one friend who has been a victim of rape.
7) I realize that, despite the remarkable example of my father defying gender roles/stereotypes, I have still been brainwashed by my culture and it is a constant, daily challenge to throw off my own shackles of inherited sexism and misogyny.
8) A woman who has sex with 10 guys in a year is a slut. A man who has sex with half as many in a weekend is praised and celebrated. That's fucked up (pun intended).
9) I want my daughters to be able to choose the course of their future without being pigeon-holed into maternity OR a profession when they can very well be both a mother and run a country. Heck, maybe if we had more women in American politics there would be less dick-measuring and more problem-solving. I want my daughters to be able to have great sex, at the right time, with someone who respects them.
10) I want my sons to grow up without being told that they are destined to be sex-driven rapists-in-waiting. I want my sons to be aware that they are responsible for how they use their own bodies. I want my sons to realize that the sexiest thing their partner can do is give consent. I want my sons to be able to have great sex, at the right time, with someone who respects them.
There's another bit that could go here about how feminism is not rabid man-hating but how that kind of thinking is totally justified considering the history of the world... But it's late and I'm moving into a new apartment tomorrow morning so I'll pocket that one.
You know what makes me smile? Face muscles.
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