I’m a cis male and I believe in the importance of feminism, but I hesitate to call myself a feminist because it seems like there is a presumption of understanding women’s experiences as if I was part of the Me Too movement. In some binary sense given how hateful and shitty men can be I’m absolutely a feminist, but I wouldn’t declare myself to be one. What is your standpoint?

  • nore {she/her}@sh.itjust.works
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    27 minutes ago

    If Feminism is equality between genders, then yes, I am a feminist.
    But if Feminism is unconditional trust towards women, then no, I’m not a feminist.

    In my experience people who call themselves feminists often put women above men, and will deny any criticism towards them because they’re women, and women never do anything bad.

  • WittyProfileName2 [she/her]@hexbear.net
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    2 hours ago

    Absolutely, but I also think it’s not enough to just say you’re this or that, you have to act on it. And Imho a lot of people’s feminism starts and ends at declaring themselves feminist.

  • Rawrosaurus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 hours ago

    Of course I would and I do. I find the arguments that there are many branches of feminism to be a reason to not consider yourself a feminist to be kind of ridiculous. There are multiple branches of everything. Not all anarchists agree, not all socialists agree, not all communists agree. No group is a monolith with perfectly aligned values and thoughts.

  • en1gma@lemmy.ml
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    2 hours ago

    I think modern feminism does more harm than good, since it is what makes separation visible in the first place. Since I view separation as the root of virtually every problem in human history, I would therefore consider myself a “humanist” who views all people—regardless of gender, skin color, origin, or other characteristics that could serve to create separation—as equal. We must overcome this division.

    • zqps@sh.itjust.works
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      26 minutes ago

      What’s divisive is having a society defined by gender-based hierarchy and discrimination. Pointing this out and trying to change it isn’t divisive, it’s an opportunity for solidarity.

  • gandalf_der_13te@feddit.org
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    54 minutes ago

    i used to, that was 10 years ago when i still believed that feminism would actually improve the world. instead, it has just made the world shitty in different ways.

    women today all have mental illness. that comes from instagram, where they learn that the world is bad and they have to fear everything. women get told that the circumstances are unacceptable, that other people are out to hunt you, that you can never be satisfied. all of it contributes to an general unwellness.

    on top of that, what has feminism actually improved? has it improved the relationship between men and women? no, it has just caused women to be angry at men all the time for being “predators” or something. sexual harassment may have gone down but so have serious attempts of starting relationships.

    • zqps@sh.itjust.works
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      28 minutes ago

      That’s funny because absolutely none of these ramblings have any connection to real life. Get well soon.

  • lil_tank [any, he/him]@hexbear.net
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    4 hours ago

    I agree about avoiding knighting ourselves with the title of feminist because it’s absolutely something some aggressors use to lower their target’s guard, and because it’s easy to call yourself something to gain social standing and then not deliver when the time comes

    Otherwise absolutely do read feminist theory and act according to feminist convictions. Doing so without making it about yourself being one of the good one only makes it better

  • gray@lemmy.ml
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    4 hours ago

    In my humble enby opinion you can call yourself a feminist if you believe in equality between genders. There are many flavours of feminism and they often contradict each other. You will never be a perfect feminist in every feminists’ eyes. And you shouldn’t try to be.

    • gray@lemmy.ml
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      4 hours ago

      But be humble and curious when other feminist and particularly women try to explain their point of view.

  • quail@lemmy.ca
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    5 hours ago

    Yes 100% bc the literal definition of feminism is the equal treatment for all genders. I don’t go around just telling people that. They can probably just tell I am bc I’m not shitty to a specific gender…

  • TVA@thebrainbin.org
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    6 hours ago

    Yes, absolutely.

    You don’t have to understand a woman’s experience so much as you have to not be a dick when she tells you her experience.

    Look at all the men that got butthurt over “bear vs rando man” and I’m gonna be honest, I’d choose the bear over many of them too. They refused to listen to what was actually being said by that statement.

    • Crackhappy@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      Hit the nail on the head. Being cis white het doesn’t make you automatically the enemy. Your actions do.

      • synae[he/him]@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        4 hours ago

        There are dozens of us!

        Seriously though when I hear reactionaries complain about the different movements condemning the white patriarchy, all I can think is “oh you thought they were mad at you? Well I guess they were right to be”. It’s really not that hard to recognize the injustice and violence inflicted in the past and to try to stop it from continuing. And most importantly it’s not hard to know when to sit down, shut the fuck up, and listen

  • qyron@sopuli.xyz
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    4 hours ago

    I don’t know.

    My concern was always about showing respect to others, regardless of gender. I want for others what I want for myself.

    I grew up surrounded by womens and, as a kid, I heard horrible stories about men behaviour but also heard countless dismissals from women to women about those same male behaviours.

    As a teen, I became so concerned of my existence as a man, I went so deep into neutral and non threatning territory I had girls telling me I was being flirted with because otherwise I wouldn’t notice nor correspond. I was quick to point out bad attitude/behaviour from guys towards girls as well, which did not make me popular with my peers.

    As an adult, I started working under the supervision of women. No concern, no friction. I did became extremely aware how women would easily create and maintain terrible and damaging relations between them, for futile reasons. Even today, where I work at, where the majority of responsability roles are women, the way even polite conversations are held are laced with tension.

    I reached a point where I act in accordance to my conciousness. I loathe disrespect, I get revolted by hearing anyone talk less of others. And I am learning to call others on their words and actions, regardless of gender.

    I do recognize a lot of violence, of all kinds, is still enacted upon women because they are women, solely, but I am also aware a good deal is still dismissed and even abided by other women.

    • WatermelonPaloma@lemmy.world
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      18 minutes ago

      Feminism is about all genders having equal rights. Are any of your experiences with women reasons for them not to have rights? Their behavior as you’ve described it isn’t really exclusive to women, nor does it seem like a reason to deny them rights.

  • synae[he/him]@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    4 hours ago

    Hard yes. If you believe in equality and justice what the fuck else would you be?

    Though, I suppose there are those that don’t… They can fuck off

  • userse31 [it/its, he/him]@hexbear.net
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    6 hours ago

    Would you call yourself a feminist?

    Yes.

    Anyway the “shaming men for being feminists”/“only women can be feminists” thing is absolutely a thing the fascists have peddled to cripple feminism.

  • Cypher@aussie.zone
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    5 hours ago

    No I’m not a feminist.

    Feminism has had several waves with varying ideology behind it and I definitely don’t agree with all of the ideals espoused by feminists.

    I’m a humanist egalitarian which better describes my position.

      • stormdelay@sh.itjust.works
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        24 minutes ago

        I somewhat recognize my own position in the message above and to me it’s not so much about not being a feminist, as it is that I’ve seen too many people calling themselves feminist while proceeding to do things like: call all men pigs, be transphobic, generally try to push down others in an attempt to rise themselves. If by feminist you mean “for equality between men and women (and all others)”, then sure I can agree to that, but I’m not sure that’s the best way to describe that position anymore

  • ellypny@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    5 hours ago

    I think the whole appeal of feminism for me, is the questioning and evaluation of rigid gender structures. I’m not sure if it’s my place to call myself a feminist or not (since I’m non-binary). But I do think that feminism and queer issues are contiguous.