Men and Feminism

This topic concerns the varied relationships between men, masculinity, and feminism, including profeminist engagement, men's movements, and debates over men's role in gender equality.

Definition

The study of men's diverse relationships to feminism, encompassing supportive engagement, organized men's movements of various political orientations, and theoretical debate over men's role in challenging or sustaining gender inequality.

Scope

It surveys how men have responded to and participated in feminist politics, from profeminist and antisexist organizing to mythopoetic and men's-rights movements, and the theoretical question of whether and how men can contribute to gender equality. It treats divergent positions, including feminist arguments that men have a stake in dismantling patriarchy, in an even-handed and descriptive way.

Core questions

• Can men be feminists, allies, or only beneficiaries of patriarchy?
• What forms have men's movements taken, and what politics do they express?
• Do men have a stake in ending gender inequality, or only in preserving it?

Key theories

The costs of masculinity to men

The argument, advanced by some feminist and profeminist writers, that patriarchal masculinity also harms men, through restricted emotional lives, risk-taking, and violence, giving men reasons of their own to support feminist change.

Men in the gender order

Connell's framing of men as positioned within a gender order they may sustain or contest, so that profeminist practice involves men acting against the very arrangements that privilege them.

History

From the 1970s, some men organized in support of feminism, while later decades saw the rise of contrasting men's movements, including the mythopoetic movement and men's-rights and antifeminist currents. Scholars such as Kimmel and Connell analyzed these developments, and feminist writers including hooks argued for men's inclusion in feminist politics.

Debates

Can men be feminists?

Whether men can properly be called feminists or only allies, given their structural position as beneficiaries of patriarchy, and what responsibilities follow from that position.

Key figures

• Michael Kimmel
• bell hooks
• Raewyn Connell

Seminal works

• hooks2000
• kimmel2006
• connell2005

Frequently asked questions

Do all men's movements support feminism?

No. Some, such as profeminist groups, align with feminist goals, while others, including parts of the men's-rights and mythopoetic movements, are critical of or opposed to feminism.