Sunday, November 22, 2015

Feminism in Males

Since we are discussing feminism this week and I am a man, I thought I might discuss one part of feminism (and all forms of social activism really) that intrigues me. I like most people, would agree that when somebody says or does something that is sexist, racist, homophobic or discriminatory in nature that you should always speak up, even if you don't fit under the umbrella of people that the person is attacking. You don't have to be forceful or aggressive in your reproach,; I think that it is very possible to let someone know that what they are saying or doing is not okay in a relatively passive and non hostile manner. In some cases they may not even be aware that what they are saying is wrong and even if that isn't the case then you should still try to be polite so as to not stoop to their level. The question that intrigues me is: is a person obligated to feel offended when someone says something prejudicial, even when they are not part of the group being judged? If somebody says something misogynistic around me, the right thing to do is to say something, but am I obligated to feel offended even though I am male? If someone says something anti-semitic, do I have to feel deeply wounded even though I'm Catholic? Personally I feel offended when people say things offensive towards people of other genders' races, religions, etc, but only when what is said is blatant and harsh. On more subtle forms of prejudice I find that even when I notice what is done wrong I don't feel any sense of ire of the matter.

2 comments:

  1. Very nice message on trying to help make the world a little more accepting. I just keep thinking of all the terrible disasters I've learned about in history, and wonder what would have happened if people were not so ridiculously hateful. Maybe there would not still be people saying the Blood Libel is real, or no "Popish Plot." Both of these occurences are worth a minute each to wikipedia since the first one is so comically anti-semitic.

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  2. The quality that sets us apart from the rest of the kingdom of animalia is our ability to have a deeper thinking toward each other, the ability to feel empathy. So, it is totally ok to speak up or feel offended for someone. As a society, we are brought up by the masses of people standing behind each other, so men can definitely be feminists.

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