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From: persons@evax.arl.utexas.EDU (Mike Persons)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: Feminism, Masculism?
Message-ID: <1991Jan4.041605.23467@evax.arl.utexas.edu>
Date: 7 Jan 91 06:54:59 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Engineering Univ. of Texas at Arlington
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Approved: tittle@ics.uci.edu
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In article <1991Jan2.211619.22870@ora.com> jdravk@speech2.cs.cmu.edu (Jeanette Dravk) writes:
>In article <9012052040.AA03770@decpa.pa.dec.com> baranski@meridn.enet.dec.com writes:
>
>>There are some things feminists object to about men, and perhaps some
>>of them can or should be changed, but not without consensus with men.
>					^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>I have to question your definition of a feminist.  Are you saying that
>only females can be feminists?  I know several men who consider themselves
>feminists.  So, since they're men does that mean they can't be feminists?
>By whose authority?  And if they *are* feminists and are still considered
>men, then doesn't that mean that any redefinitions of society that feminists
>propose are done so with the consent of both men AND women?
>
>Consider this.  Only a relatively small fraction of the population actively
>considers itself feminist.  That fraction consists of both men and women.
>Therefore, one must assume that that fraction is working towards a goal
>that will satisfy them *regardless* of their sex.  Drawing lines and saying
>that its a case of "men against women" or "feminists against men" is pointless.
>First of all, you can't define two opposing sides by gender when there are
>both sexes present on both sides.  That's patently ridiculous.
>
>>Likewise there are some things many men would like to see changed
>>about women, which they must be allowed to have their voice in, but
>>again consensus with women is needed.
>
[much relevant debate reluctantly deleted due to space constraints - I hate
 rereading the entire article so I won't force it on you]

Can only females be feminist?  This is a question I have pondered and
after much cogitation have come up with my own pet theory.

My broad definition of "Feminism": A philosophy (maybe not the best
word) of attempting to guide society to change so as to be more humane
to women.

This brings to my mind another definition:

Masculism: A philosophy (maybe not the best word) of attempting to
guide society to change so as to be more humane to men.

I propose this definition because I believe that both men and women
are stuck in (maybe too strong, "guided to" perhaps) roles that are
assigned to us.  These roles have worked to a great extent; our
society has survived.  But as times change, roles must change, and
that is what (I believe) "ism"-type groups are for - to effect these
changes.  Keeping these definitions in mind, I believe that men can be
feminists, just as women can be "masculists" - we can be legitimately
concerned about helping the other sex have a better life.

However, I think that each sex should focus primarily on their own
"ism".  Not that it's wrong for me to support feminism, it may even be
necessary.  But I don't think either sex can be "free" (whatever that
means) until the other is "free" also, so focusing on women won't
work.  Which link in a chain is most important?

Perhaps men that criticize feminism feel left out and jealous, with
the idea that "Those women are getting some good stuff, and we
aren't."  If men had a "masculist manifesto" perhaps they'd have
better things to do than bash feminism.  Of course I can hear the
replies from men who don't think they need "liberating", that things
are fine as they are.  To them I say, it may be so for you, but it
isn't for a lot of us.  A lot of men (in my opinion) are starting to
believe that the old ways aren't working anymore.  Rather than put
down feminism, I think we should be inspired by what they are trying
to do.

I think that "masculism" is a good term and should be used more often.
I have never seen it used anywhere, even in the "men's liberation"
publications.  Gosh, could I have invented it?  :-)

Well, whaddaya think net.land?  Time for soc.masculism?  :-)

Mike
--
Michael P. Persons             |  % grep grep grep
persons@evax.utarl.edu         |  grep
persons@evax.arl.utexas.edu    |  %