crowth.net

Thursday 15th October 2009

00:53

Ally of the women-folk

crowth:

sexartandpolitics:

I think I just thought up a much better identification for myself than “feminist”.

I’ll just be over in my corner wondering how to stop myself from inserting myself into these conversations.

Isn’t pro-feminist the usual term? Or perhaps that applies to other contexts.

What does a pro-feminist/ally of the women-folk man-person do when he meets a woman who says she’s not a feminist/doesn’t agree with feminism/doesn’t like feminists? It’s difficult to shut up and listen, which is indeed my usual approach on matters feminist, but being a man preaching feminism to a woman makes me nervous in my testicles.

Well I’ve got serious issues with the way Feminism (TM) fails some (many) women. As a white man, referring to myself as a “womanist” is a bridge too far. And, honestly, I’m much more knowledgeable in the history of white feminism than I am of womanism, so I really wouldn’t be comfortable arguing from that point. I’ve been seeking a term that doesn’t distance myself from women and the struggle for gender equality but -does- distance myself from white women who seek to claim the privilege of white men for themselves.

As for what to do about women who are anti-feminist in that they think women who complain about gender inequality are whiners, I tend to ignore the testicular-nervousness and let them have it with some righteous ranting.

I understand your nomenclatural quandary now. Feminism seems regularly to present me personally with the Socratic realisation that the more I learn, the more I learn how little I know. All the more reason to shut up and listen, I think. Still, I’ll try defend the cause of gender equality to anti-feminist women-folk despite the apprehension of my appendages.

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