Over the years, that elusive figure -- the male feminist -- has often been regarded with suspicion by his contemporaries, male and female alike. In fact, it has sometimes been thought that any man who dared to get involved with the feminist movement was either intrinsically self-hating or just looking for sex.
But pro-feminist men have begun to crop up in the unlikeliest places. From laborers on building sites, to policemen, nightclub bouncers and soccer players, male feminists have been asserting their support for women, railing against sexism, challenging domestic violence and encouraging their more laddish peers to change their ways.
Colm Dempsey, for instance, a police officer in Ireland, became so convinced of the need for men to combat the culture of male violence against women that he collected 365 anti-domestic violence posters from around the world, and is currently showing them in Belfast. The exhibition, which highlights some shocking statistics -- every 20 seconds a woman is the victim of domestic violence in the UK, and two are killed as a result of domestic violence every week -- will also tour.
"The best compliment I have yet received is to be referred to as a male feminist," says Dempsey. "It's vital for women to see that there are men committed to women's rights."
While he is challenging the stereotype of sexist police officers, the Considerate Constructor's Scheme is working to transform the sexist image of a whole industry: the building trade. The scheme is a voluntary code of practice that states that those signed up to it must ensure there is no lewd language or behavior on site. There are more than 3,500 sites in the UK adhering to the code -- since its launch nine years ago, more than 18,000 have signed up.
considerate constructors
Edward Hardy, general manager of the scheme, says: "As part of being a considerate constructor, you shouldn't have chaps hanging off scaffolding and whistling at girls. It's also [about] inappropriate calendars and so on."
The original pro-feminist men's movement, which emerged in the US, the UK and Australia in the late 1960s and early 1970s, grew out of the progressive left's frustration with traditional masculinity. In Britain the movement was driven by anarchic publications such as the Men's Anti-sexism Newsletter (Man) and Achilles Heel.
One pro-feminist man told me that Achilles Heel soon became "a little touchy-feely," espousing the theory of "we're all wounded men, blah blah blah." But while some criticized pro-feminist men for being, well, not man enough, the irony was that it was exactly the macho stereotype that the movement originally set out to challenge.
"Now," argues Michael Kimmel, a US academic and spokesman for the National Organization for Men Against Sexism, "groups such as Amnesty and Oxfam -- the heirs to the pro-feminist men's groups in the 1960s and 1970s -- are also developing projects around men and masculinity, because we have found that gender equality is not going to be possible without men."
To underline this very point, Amnesty International (UK) and Womankind (UK) recently hosted conferences that explored how to involve men in combating sexism and male violence against women. They brought together organizations as diverse as Men Can Stop Rape, an American campaign group co-founded by John Stoltenberg, Andrea Dworkin's widower, and the public service workers' union Unison. The focus was on engaging men, not demonizing them.
As one of the speakers said, male violence against women is not just "a women's issue" -- it affects everyone.
This belief inspired Chris Green to launch the UK arm of the international White Ribbon campaign two years ago. This pro-feminist organization was set up in Canada by men for men who wanted to take more responsibility for reducing male violence against women.
"I'm interested in how the phrase `pro-feminist' is used and I like it to be used quite carefully," Green says. "I go back many years and when men in those days said, `Oh yes, I'm a feminist too!' you would potentially get run out of town. But that was 20 years ago and attitudes have changed."
Kimmel agrees.
"In the 70s and 80s, pro-feminist men were either viewed as hating being men or as just trying to get laid. I don't feel that any longer, I don't feel that kind of resistance," he says.
positive aspects
The most positive aspect of all this is that pro-feminist men's groups are able to reach many people traditional feminism has failed to connect with. For instance, on Nov. 25 last year -- the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women -- the White Ribbon campaign handed out some of its anti-violence merchandise. Among the many men who wore white ribbons on the day, or near to it, were Rafael Benitez, the manager of Liverpool FC, Newcastle United manager Graeme Souness and a nightclub doorman in Huddersfield who wanted to do something about the street harassment of women he sees each night.
But can a man ever really be a feminist? Some say it is inappropriate for men to call themselves feminists, arguing that feminism is a movement developed by and for women, and that men can never really understand what it is like to be a woman. Furthermore, critics claim that by jumping on the feminism bandwagon, men could eventually dominate the movement.
Organizations such as Oxfam, however, think the risks of involving men are far outweighed by the benefits. Its Gender Equality and Men project, launched in 2002, has incorporated men into work on issues as diverse as reproductive and sexual health, fatherhood and poverty reduction.
Jenny Watson, chair of the Equal Opportunities Commission, isn't surprised. "Things are changing very fast. Increasingly, men see that the lives women are trying to build -- balancing work and family -- are lives that they want to lead too," she says.
And given that, what man wouldn't want to call himself pro-feminist?
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