I have recently been getting an unusual amount of attention from the less-than-happy social media mob, accusing me of ‘thinly veiled’ attacks on feminism. Which I don’t understand, as my scrutiny of feminism is not thinly veiled at all, but explicit, direct and loud. Yes, as I dig into the political standings of men and women within the areas of domestic abuse, sexual violence, and parental rights; time and time again, I have found certain feminist institutions betraying their own beliefs to ‘gender equality’. The reality is, there are powerful and highly influential people out there, working to erase men and boys from legal recognition as rape survivors, depriving male abuse survivors of refuge, and stripping fathers of rights. And I will not apologise for simply pointing out the fact that so many of these are feminist groups. That said, I must be clear: I understand that feminism is an essential tool for so many women and girls to understand trauma, discuss painful experiences, and build supportive communities. I call this ‘Personal Feminism’. I have no right to take that away, nor do I want to. And neither should you. The problem for me are the powerful political and institutional feminists; exploiting feminism to lobby laws, corrupt academia, spread bigotry, and write bunkum theories to erase men and boys from help. I call this ‘Institutional Feminism’. It is here where I have a problem, and here that requires radical change. And I get it. I am a ‘white, straight, CIS gendered male’, and if anyone’s recommendation on how to reform feminism is unwelcome, it is surely mine. But if I, or those like me, managed to build a so called world-dominating-male-gender-oppressor-class, that has ruled the world for thousands of years, then perhaps there’s no one better to tinker under hood of feminism? So I ask you all too: Feminism, where do we go from here? ~ [1] [2] [3] [4]  Images by Gradienta, Christopher Burns, Yasin Aribuga, Kiwi Hug, Mathias Reding, Adelin Preda, from Unsplash.

2023-02-15