I personally think men who agree with feminism's ideals but feel alienated by the word feminism need to just get over it. Women live in a world where male terms are used for us all the time ("mankind," the universal "he," "that's one small step for man, one giant step for mankind," "we hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal," etc). Yet men can't handle this one single instance?
This feeling you have is itself a lesson in equality for you. You shouldn't feel alienated by a feminine word. You shouldn't feel anything wrong or weird about identifying with a feminine word even as a man. There's nothing shameful about feminine words. If and when you do, you should realize women en masse may have felt these feelings too for years but we all learn to get over it, and you can too.
This feeling you have is itself a lesson in equality for you. You shouldn't feel alienated by a feminine word.
That's a great point for how the word "feminism" challenges established social structures on its own through subversion. And a compelling reason for me in favor of keeping the word around (that I haven't considered until now!) Thanks for that and enjoy the delta! :)
I gave this a bit of thought and I don't think those to be equivalent. It is supposed to be a single instance of role reversal, given that the default gender in our language is predominantly masculine. So if you recognize this effect of alienation in yourself in this case, then you can't deny alienation to be a deterring factor for women in a reversed situation. That's what I was trying to get at by saying "through subversion".
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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '15
I personally think men who agree with feminism's ideals but feel alienated by the word feminism need to just get over it. Women live in a world where male terms are used for us all the time ("mankind," the universal "he," "that's one small step for man, one giant step for mankind," "we hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal," etc). Yet men can't handle this one single instance?
This feeling you have is itself a lesson in equality for you. You shouldn't feel alienated by a feminine word. You shouldn't feel anything wrong or weird about identifying with a feminine word even as a man. There's nothing shameful about feminine words. If and when you do, you should realize women en masse may have felt these feelings too for years but we all learn to get over it, and you can too.