(no subject)

[darkoshi]

I was just thinking... If a feminist is someone who wants women to have equal rights with men, couldn't someone who wants men to have equal rights with women be called a masculist? And so masculists would be for the right of men to wear skirts and dresses and make-up if they wanted to, and for the right of men to not be drafted into the military, etc.

But then I was thinking, maybe I'm not the first person to come up with the term "masculist". And, indeed I'm not: Wikipedia article on Masculism.

Comments

[hamsterine.livejournal.com]

Not a term I was familiar with, although I thoroughly support the ideology. Thanks for the link. I have always subscribed to both feminism and masculism; an atandpoint which I describe as anti-sexism. Do you know if there is a more widely used term for this?

[daddysambiguity.livejournal.com]

There are some books out there that I'd deem "masculinist" -- I will compile some titles for ya when I'm less sick.

[darkoshi]

Gender Equality, perhaps. Although from doing a search on that, it seems to be used more in terms of women's issues than men's.

[daddysambiguity.livejournal.com]

Makes sense to me.

Most level-headed feminists today will acknowledge that the patriarchy and rigid sex roles hurt men as well, though I personally feel it's not as severe. I'm not sure it matters who is hurt most by gender norms, etc. Harm is harm and we should all fight together.

I do think many feminists say sexism toward men does not exist. They don't say this because they believe no one dislikes men. They say it because the term "sexism" implies that the group doing the oppression has institutional power and women have no institutional power, as a whole. Mostly, men run the world. They generally refer to hate directed at men as prejudice, but it doesn't matter. Both are unacceptable. And, often, that game is just semantics.

Yay for men being freed from gender restrictions as well. Part of my own feminism includes an interest in liberating men from that oppression as well. It may not be the same as women's oppression, but it's important.