Masculism is the male counter-part to Feminism, and many of you who know me know I’m as much an advocate for it as I am for Feminism (I know, despite all my visual imagery that superficially indicates a complete disregard for Feminism). I think hardline Feminism focuses so much on how women have been unfairly treated, that one it starts to purposefully victimize men as an act of retribution (ie, the matriarchy, the idea that it’s OK to call men dogs, but heaven help a man if he calls a woman a bitch), and, to another extent, two, they gloss over how there are definitely societal aspects that impact men just as negatively as things can impact women.
So, I was really, really pleased to discover Greta Christina’s blog via a guest article on Alternet where she discusses five obnoxious, contradictory, and unfair things society expects from men. I’d gotten so used to the casual double-standard around here that it was OK to hate on men, because obviously we all owe a collective debt for our predecessors, that seeing such a strongly Feminist author bring up such valid points so sympathetically warmed my heart quite a lot.
I’ve been looking at how rigid and narrow many of these expectations are, creating a razor-thin window of acceptable manly behavior that you’d have to be a professional tightrope walker to navigate. (Which would be a problem, since “professional tightrope walker” is definitely outside the parameters of acceptable manliness.) I’ve been looking at how so many of these expectations are not only rigid, but totally contradictory, creating a vision of idealized manhood that’s not just ridiculous but literally unattainable.
It’s a good read, and I encourage you all to hop over and check it out. Greta’s blog is good overall, too, lots of articles about social equality, sexuality, and atheism. Very well-put and non-incendiary positions. I’m glad someone like her is writing about topics like these.
