Why not just call yourself a feminist?

One of the founding tenants of feminism is the strive for equality, and for many this includes the gender neutralising of language to avoid perpetuating gender roles. And so now we have 'police officer' and 'chair' instead of 'police man' and 'chairman'. At least in those cases, I'd say it's not awkward, it's technically more correct and it's just more inclusive, so I support it.

So, hopefully you'll understand why I don't want the label I use to represent the strive for equality to be named after just one sex. 'Gender egalitarian' is a more neutral, inclusive and technically correct term. 

'Feminism' sounds like a women's advocacy movement, and that is not a bad goal. Men's advocacy, or Men's Rights Activism (MRA), is not a bad goal either. Hopefully of course, both groups also believe in gender egalitarianism too, but unfortunately that is not necessarily the case. A women's or men's advocacy group could easily advocate for their group in a way that is unequal for society. And of course, many have.

At the very least, insisting that the fight for gender equality only be called 'feminism' seems to exclude even the possibility that men could face problems because of their gender, the same way 'police man' seems to exclude the possibility of female police. And so while I don't want to insist others use it differently, that's why I avoid using it with that meaning myself.

Whuh?

This blog's purpose

This blog is here to talk about issues of gender equality, from a gender egalitarian's perspective.

If you also wish for equal treatment and opportunities for everyone regardless of gender, then you are a gender egalitarian. You might also be an advocate for men or women too, in which case you might call yourself a men's rights activist or a feminist, but you're still an egalitarian.

Ultimately of course, the label is only a label, and I really don't mind what people call themselves, but I think it's best to be clear about what I mean by the words when I use them.

... I admit I also just really like the sound of the word; 'egalitarian'.

About me

To get some sense of my perspective, although I was educated as a women's advocate at University, I'm now actually a men's advocate. And I don't see those two things as contradictory, but rather as complementary.

We're all egalitarians here, so we're all fighting for the same thing. Hopefully we can do that constructively without paying too much attention to the crazies.

To any feminist who might be reading

If this has caused offence, please consider, that I am not a monster. I am not against women. I am only against inequality.

Since you are against inequality too, then already we agree in principle.
 
While I no longer claim to be a woman's advocate or feminist, that is only because I am not personally promoting women's issues any more. Many other people do that fine work already.

It is my belief that we cannot address the problems of gender equality by only focusing on the problems experienced by one gender. And so all the while women's issues have the bulk of public and political attention, I shall be working to raise awareness of issues affecting men. I shall be a men's advocate until such time I feel those issues are being addressed. And I can go back to being lazy.

I am certainly not against women's advocacy itself. I am glad that so many people speak out for women. While I believe that we can help women more if we are more honest and critical about some of those voices, I recognise that women do face problems and I am glad that people are speaking out for them.

Nor do I wish to blame women for the problems facing men. Just as I resent the feminist literature that blames men for the problems that effect women, I do not claim that one half of society is responsible for designing all of society. I believe most of these problems arose without malice or intent, simply because of who we are as a species. And I believe fixing them is a simple matter of re-evaluating what we otherwise take for granted.

And ultimately, I do not believe helping men will damage women. In fact, I think it will help.

So, sincerely, I hope we can find as much common ground as possible, and we can give and take criticism of each other purely as criticism, not hatred.

To any MRA who might be reading

The movement is growing, and that's great, but it also means we can't always cling to our abused underdog status too strongly. I believe reaching out to people in other groups, even ones with as dubious a history as feminism, even if many feminists are actively hostile to even discussing men's issues, is necessary if we're to effect any big change in society.

I'm certainly not saying that you need to do this too, of course, but it's what I believe I must do.

After all, if no one had reached out to me, I wouldn't be a men's advocate now.