Feminism | Posted by Charles Clymer on 05/8/2013
A Letter To My Future Son
A friend of mine has a young son. She recently asked me, and other men, to write a letter to our sons who exist or have yet to be born that she could show to her own child, someday. This is my letter.
Dear Son,
If you’re reading this, you are now set to embark on a journey into that wonderful, stressful, often-sticky phase we call “young adulthood”.
I want you to know that my love for you, my personal stake in your existence, could never be adequately measured.
As you have grown over the last 18 years, all I have ever sought to do is give you the best possible start on happiness in life and to respect and love others as equals.
You are a man in our …
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Feminism, Pop-Culture | Posted by Hudson Taylor on 08/11/2012
Saturday Vids: Time To Evolve
Learn more about Hudson Taylor’s organization, Athlete Ally, which is “a resource to encourage athletes, coaches, parents, fans and other members of the sports community to respect all individuals involved in sports, regardless of perceived or actual sexual-orientation or gender identity or expression.”
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Feminism | Posted by Bryan N on 07/9/2012
The Role Of Men In The Fight Against Sexism
There has been something I have been wanting to get off my chest for a while. As a man active in the fight against sexism in every form, I find myself looking back to my days in high school, middle school, and sometimes even elementary school. I think about how men are programmed constantly by society from a very young age.
Growing up as a teenage boy, I entered the sadly common environment where sexism prescribes that we prove our masculinity through violent behavior. Even in elementary school I would feel quite marginalized by my male peers who were into sports and being “tough.” As we got into the 5th and 6th grades “jokes” about women became more common, and disgusting things were said. l preferred the arts and writing poetry to …
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Feminism | Posted by Julie Z on 06/15/2012
On Having A Feminist Father
I’ve often heard that having a daughter can be one of the most formative experiences in a man’s life. Generally, I’ve been told, it’s an experience that allows men to understand women’s issues on a completely different, more fully empathetic level. Every time they hear about something like violence against women, street harassment or double standards, they picture their daughter and finally understand the full injustice involved. I think it’s possible that this was something my own father experienced.
Don’t get me wrong, I think my Dad has always been a particularly empathetic, kind and all around wonderful human being and I’m positive that was true long before I came into the world (in fact, I have been blessed with two incredible parents). But I think that those qualities may have …
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Articles | Posted by Julie Z on 06/6/2012
An Interview with Michael Kimmel
Michael Kimmel is among the leading researchers and writers on men and masculinity in the world today. The author or editor of more than twenty volumes, his books include Changing Men: New Directions in Research on Men and Masculinity (1987), Men Confront Pornography (1990), The Politics of Manhood (1996), The Gender of Desire (2005), The History of Men (2005) and more recently Guyland (2008) and The Guy’s Guide to Feminism (2011).
I hadn’t really thought much about the difficulties guys face in our culture before I read Guyland by Michael Kimmel. I had focused so much energy on figuring out the societal pressures placed on girls that Kimmel’s account of what it means to grow up and be male was completely eye-opening. It confirmed to me just how much men …
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Feminism | Posted by Bryan N on 12/26/2011
Why I’m So Passionate About Women’s Rights
People often ask me why, as a man, I am so passionate about women’s rights. The answer is that I got into women’s rights because I have seen so many women put through so many horrible things. There is so much that women go through that most men don’t have to worry about.
I have dated survivors of abuse and sexual violence. I have many friends who are survivors of assault. I have seen the way it destroys their lives. Almost every girl I know has been cat called and verbally harassed on the street. Almost every girl I know feels or has felt ugly because of the media and society setting impossible standards of beauty. It hurts me seeing such naturally beautiful women constantly feel fat and ugly. Some …
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Articles, Feminism | Posted by Julie Z on 11/21/2011
An Interview with Jessica Valenti
A few months ago, I had the privilege of interviewing Jessica Valenti – founder of Feministing, author of Full Frontal Feminism and awesome person all around.
For those not in the know, Jessica is the author of three books: Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman’s Guide to Why Feminism Matters, He’s a Stud, She’s a Slut…and 49 Other Double Standards Every Woman Should Know, and The Purity Myth: How America’s Obsession with Virginity is Hurting Young Women which is being made into a documentary by the Media Education Foundation. Jessica is also the founder of Feministing.com, which Columbia Journalism Review calls “head and shoulders above almost any writing on women’s issues in mainstream media.”
Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Nation, The Guardian (UK), The …
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Feminism | Posted by Hannah R on 09/19/2011
Youth and Feminism: Ignorance Is Bliss
Today’s youth culture encourages females and males alike to embrace their sexuality and allows a freedom of expression. But it seems this freedom of sexual expression has ended up glamorising the idea that females are nothing more than sexual objects. Or at least, it seems that’s what girls our age think.
I have to wonder – how have girls our age not heard of the efforts made by Emmeline Pankhurst and the Suffragettes at the beginning of the 20th century? Or the women’s liberation protest demonstration at the 1969 Miss World beauty contest? I have discovered that there are very few teenage girls out there who fully comprehend the feminist movement and its effects on society, and, more importantly, its hopes and aspirations for the future generations of women.
I …
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