I am a cis man, and I am a feminist. But I don't consider myself a "male feminist," because, much like "nice guy," the term has come to be tainted. Welcome... to Feminism Sunday.
I'm not in this fight for equality for applause and ally cookies. I mean, ally cookies are delicious, obviously. But I don't want them.
The bar set for men to receive praise for feminist statements is so incredibly low. If a man says "I believe women are people," he gets applause. Which... you know, it sometimes DOES need to be said. Far too many people (by which I mostly mean men) don't believe that. But it shouldn't be applauded. It should be obvious, base level stuff.
I am extremely aware of the problematic nature of my position here. I'm a man, in a platform that has many women, doing weekly posts on feminism. That's... problematic. If the landscape on Steemit was different, I wouldn't be doing this. It wasn't part of the plan.
But if you look at the #feminism hashtag here, you are likely to find new anti-feminist posts by men on the daily. I'm using my voice to counter that, while also resteeming women's posts and using my platform, such as it is, to elevate others. To my mind, that's the ethical choice. Your mileage may, of course, vary.
And there's another thing, which I know from long experience on Twitter: I can get away with saying stuff a woman would get lambasted and harassed for. I've seen it a million times. So while a part of me would like to say "judge my posts on feminism as if they were written by a woman," another part of me recoils from that idea in fear.
So I'm going to continue using my privilege in a way that, to me, seems ethical. And I hope to get praise when I deserve it, criticism when I deserve it, and as little trolling and harassment as possible.
Previous Feminism Sunday posts:
You Are Not An Alpha
Let's talk intersectionality
Ban Men
How to succeed with women (with Hamilton gifs)
