A Male Feminist

I am a male feminist, and I am in good company with Patrick Stewart, Elliott Smith, John Lennon, Mark Ruffalo, and Ryan Gosling to name a few. Sexism is real. I am a technician for a merchant services company. When I am there, I can overhear the all-female customer service department talking to people on the phone.  There are a lot of times when they have to hand the phone to one of their male coworkers because the person on the other end will not listen to a woman.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” I truly believe that this applies to gender as well. I have my own dream that my sons and my daughters will not be judged by their gender, but by the content of their character. Feminism is “the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.” Yes, there are extremists in any group and there are people that believe they have to hate/demonize men or believe they are superior. By definition these people are not feminists. 

Angela and I like to go on walks. One day when we were walking at the Janss mall a security guard started talking to me, completely ignoring Angela and very seriously said that a proper woman should make you bread 2 times a day, stay at home, and be objects for men.  The other day, I told a guy a nice thing I was planning to do for my wife and he said, “and then you get yours”, as if the only reason that I would want to make my wife happy is for sex. No, just no.

A few months ago I ordered these flowers to be dropped off at my wife’s office at work.

 I did this and do other things because I genuinely love to see Angela happy, it brings me great joy. But to a lot of guys women are just things to manipulate to get sex and the end justifies the means.  I’ve even had a guy at church have some “bro talk” with me and said, “You know, I find that I can lie to a girl for three months and get whatever I want from them but they figure it out after 3 months.” That guy is now married, I can only guess how that relationship is going…

The press asked Joss Whedon “why do you write these strong female characters? And he responded “Because you're still asking me that question”. I share these examples to show that Feminism is not a dead issue. Though there have been great strides for equality for both genders throughout history, on the social level, women are still grossly mistreated. 

This is why I call myself a feminist. I strive to show all women in my life the respect they deserve and to go against the social norm for gender equality. I love my wife Angela so much; she deserves love and respect from all. It makes me proud to identify with these ideologies aimed at defining, establishing, and defending a state of equal political, economic, cultural, and social rights for women.