Final Magazine PDF

By GJullian Flemister-King
Associate Columnist
Let’s get right to the point: it is time for the men of the world who know
better to step up and join the fight for women’s equality. More specifically,
we need to start a movement to create more male feminists; and even
more specifically than that, we need to start a movement of straight male
feminists. Now, fellow men, to become a feminist does not mean you will
suddenly adopt a bevy of female tendencies, get mocked by other guys in
the locker room, and lose out on women because we all know women
don’t like nice or effeminate guys. If that’s how you think about the subject,
please stop right there and hear me out.
Feminism is just an umbrella term used to describe people who are
involved in the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political,
social, and economic equality to men. Feminism cannot change your mannerisms, it cannot change your sexual
orientation, and it cannot cause people to perceive you negatively. This is really important to understand,
because after reading the definition of feminism, a decent male human being should understand that feminism
is about standing up for what’s right, and not about forcing your identity into the mold of a woman. In fact, the
purpose of this article is to call out to the men among us who define themselves as uber-masculine: the buffedup
weightlifters, the football players, the 6’7” basketball guys, the heartbreakers, the bosses and CEO’s, bigshot
businessmen and politicians, and even just the everyday rugged men of the world. When it comes to the
ongoing fight for women’s equality, these kinds of men are notoriously missing in action.
I’m not here to lecture my fellow men on everything they’re doing wrong, or even to speculate on why we
happen to be so averse to labeling ourselves as feminists. I just hope that we begin to understand that we can
have an influential voice on the matter, and it’s important for undoubtedly straight men and also men who have
social status to speak up in support of this cause. It is high time that we normalized equality for women. One of
the best examples of a man stepping out of his comfort zone to speak on women’s equality is President Barack
Obama’s August 2016 essay published by Glamour, titled “This Is What a Feminist Looks Like”. In the essay he
speaks on a variety of subjects from how he became a feminist, to the progress the world has made, to how we
need to continue the fight for women’s equality. It really is a truly must read article - which chronicles his
perception of feminism - but perhaps the most powerful line of his essay comes before you even start reading
the main body or work. Right there, in the title, the most powerful man and leader of the free world declares
“This Is What a Feminist Looks Like” in reference to himself, a former Constitutional Law professor, legislator,
and the 44th President of the United States of America.
The biggest thing I want the reader to take away from my mentioning “This Is What a Feminist Looks Like” is the
power of declaration. Most of those reading this article can likely come to the conclusion that women deserve
rights equal to those of men, and deserve to be treated with equal respect (and if you don’t think so, I will make
a case for you later in the article). Case in point: many men will say things like “never hit a woman” or “don’t
disrespect my mother or sister”, and most have a general understanding that women should be treated with
courtesy, respect and fairness. But all too often that is where our feminism stops, as these sentiments are most
often predominately limited to women in our own families and to large generalizations. Not every woman is
your mother, sister, or wife, and large generalizations are nice but they don’t promote progress. This is why it’s
important that when you label yourself as a feminist, you go beyond mere rhetoric and let it show in your