The Role of Man in Feminism

No, not the enemy. 

Sure, the occasional "I hate men" post-breakup is an acceptable form of frustration-venting, but the general rule of thumb : work together. 

Why? Let's explain with a contorted metaphor. There's possibly... let's say, a health bill on the senate floor. The bill is generally perceived to be a conservative one, and has received backing from certain conservative leaders. The fact of the matter is, though, that we have heard opposition to this bill from both conservatives and liberals. We have united support from both sides of the aisle that have led to the majority of the country disagreeing with said hypothetical health bill.

Proponents against women's rights, and the goals of feminism, are the bill, and support from both sides of the aisle? - Well, that's your united support from men and women. 

Though there are some factors here that remain unexplored in the metaphor. 

For example, the metaphor illustrates two traditional sides to the debate, which simply do not hold true. There is no debate. There is only the struggle toward harmonious living, as it has been for the last... well, forever. 

Yikes? Haha

If there is no debate, how can we have sides? Additionally, these "sides" are not in constant conflict or opposition. Men are not unilaterally against women's rights, and women are not against men's rights either. This is an astoundingly simple statement, but is fundamentally not understood among so many of those who blindly fight for a cause they cannot quite see clearly. While the effort is appreciated, it is not quite fruitful. 

I think the largest problem lies within our differences: Are men and women truly so different? Sure, yes, there are biological differences... which lead to behavioral differences, circumstantial differences, and heck, handwriting differences. But even in this realm, where has it ever been black and white? (Have you seen my handwriting?) I firmly believe all other differences are those culturally fed to us. Women don't take on STEM degrees at the same rate as men? Culture infused a sense of inferiority and other-ness for those careers. Men don't take on traditionally "feminine" careers and hobbies? Culture has just made us value them less, and have pushed on a facade of the macho down our throats. 

   

Our social order is exactly that - a socially constructed order. 

That means that these "truths" that we once held true, and some we still hold to be true, can simply stop being true if we stopped believing in them. And this would also be absolutely ridiculous to expect, and incredibly difficult to actually change. It's been the social struggle ever since a large portion of humans have been stable and secure enough to worry about their treatment when they no longer have to worry about what they can eat or where they can sleep. 

So why all this fighting? How can women expect to change the social order without the understanding and sympathy of other elements of this order? Men need women, women need men. It's not a sexist belief, it's a practical one. 

So yea, you can be a guy and be a feminist. In fact, you should be a feminist if you're not a bigot and literally against equal treatment of the genders (regardless of gender). The world wouldn't run if we didn't cooperate and collaborate, and it means nothing to suppress any uniqueness, any individual talent that a human may have - in other words, people should be able to do whatever they want as long as it doesn't harm another human in any way. That's how our interactions ought to be : human to human, not so blinded by expectations or prejudices. This is a difficult hurdle to overcome, and is especially tough to overcome (imagine the socioeconomic barriers we set, for example), but in some cases leads to so much more of a realization of potential and an open-minded, peaceful life.