GRSJ224/How Feminism Affects All

A poster at a Reproductive Rights rally in Chicago, Illinois.

Feminism is a sociopolitical movement that advocates for equality between all genders, races, and sexualities, breaking out in the early twentieth century. Earlier issues that were tackled included women’s suffrage while modern issues range from raising awareness about freedom in sexuality to addressing issues brought up by Indigenous communities.

History

Photo of workers on a farm taken from around 1890 to 1900.

Around 12,000 years ago, patriarchy started to take place. Due to new systems of farm life and self-sufficiency, naturally (due to biological reasons) cisgender men were able to complete laborious tasks more successfully than women. This led to men carrying on more leadership roles and women falling into the other roles behind. However, this would go on to push men’s choices in a tinier box.

In the early nineteenth century, men were deemed the “breadwinners” in a nuclear family while women took care of work at home. Having to constantly be a leader or the one in charge leaves little room for emotional growth. Good Men describes toxic masculinity as associated with “violence, sex, status and aggression”. This excludes men who wish to follow a more gentle lifestyle; it is as if toxic masculinity portrays men as an oxymoron to “calm”. In turn, little boys may be raised with the “boys will be boys” mentality and not disciplined for their damaging rough behaviours. Without intervention, they may grow up finding it difficult to express emotions other than aggression and anger, which becomes ingrained in a big part of societal history and modern society.

Politics

Careers

These “breadwinning” careers divide “masculine” and “feminine” jobs, creating a barrier for women in male-dominated fields, and making it difficult for men to be encouraged or motivated to pursue a job in typically female-dominated occupations. In Canada, females outnumber males in health-care occupations by almost 400%. Recently, it has been found that 84% of elementary and kindergarten teachers are women, and 94% of early childhood educators are women.

Home and Lifestyle

Although heterosexual men may wish to do unpaid work instead of their partner, society may not accept that. Aside from struggling internally with the title, one’s community may not accept such an irregularity as well.  Some fathers that take on the homemaker role stand out among the crowd of mothers and are not welcomed.

Statistics

Unfortunately, due to the constant social pressure of needing to be stoic, men often feel the need to hold in their feelings and thoughts at all times.

Suicide is the leading cause of death for men under 45, and of the numbers released by WHO in 2016, men made up a majority of the 793,000 suicides. Although women may have more attempts of suicide, men are 3.5 times more likely to die from suicide than women.

In 2010 in the UK, about 40% of reported domestic abuse cases have male victims, but those victims are often turned away. In Canada, about 19% of men are victims of domestic violence - not far from the 23% of women. Hearing phrases such as “man up” while growing up, there is a misconception that men should tolerate every hurtful and painful experience in their life in fear of reducing their masculinity otherwise.

Men may fear being honest about when they are suffering. The fear of not being seen as strong, powerful, and unemotional may overpower their desire to reach out for help. This is a double standard as women are expected to show emotions, but men will not receive the same type of sympathy if they do the same.

A frontispiece of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy from the classic novel, Pride and Prejudice.

In Popular Culture

In Literature

In classic literature, many of the most popular love interests show stereotypically ‘masculine’ traits. For instance, Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice, Jay Gatsby from The Great Gatsby, and Prince Charming from Cinderella have status and power; they are the strong men that are there to be saviours.

The novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky discusses masculinity and how teenage boys navigate through trauma while being raised to learn to repress certain emotions.

In Fashion

At fashion events such as the Met Gala, men often wear less extravagant outfits in comparison to women. On red carpets, many male celebrities stick to simple black suits. Lighter colours are often associated with femininity.

As well, the most idolized men oftentimes have beards, lots of muscles, and a career that emphasizes their masculinity such as acting in action movies or being a fitness instructor. For example, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, and Henry Cavill are all popular stars among men.

Opposing Movements

Men can be feminists too - there are many men who believe in feminist values even if they do not label themselves as feminists. Although it is commonly believed that feminism is solely for women, feminism actually fights for men as well. Due to standards set up by gender roles, men may also be as restricted in their lives as women. Men and women are expected to behave in a certain manner, and those who do not follow the norms often face punishments and consequences for doing so.

Opposing movements such as “Meninism” and “Men’s Rights Activists” have started as a result. Largely, these movements or supporters of the movement focus on making misogynistic posts and being anti-feminist instead of opening up dialogue or conversations about men’s issues.

Reactions and Change

A mother bringing her son along at a rally, both carrying signs.

Today there are various programs that try to start up conversations about personal issues and values that often come up as men grow up and face different problems than women. Great Men is a program in the UK that works towards discussions about the influence of feminism and women in the lives of boys. Good Men is a corporation that is based in the US, and is similar to Great Men. Although Good Men does not necessarily have scheduled events at schools like Great Men, young men have access to this source online. India has “Coaching Boys Into Men”, incorporating Great Men’s message through sports.

Society has become much more inclusive than it has been historically in allowing boys to voice their emotions and true desires more through creating these various programs for young boys and men that did not exist in earlier history. However, there is still much more progression to make since toxic masculinity is not something of the past and is still relevant to contemporary society.