As a Tumblr user, I encounter a lot of social justice and equality issues, some not always expressed so intelligently. There's a recurring theme at the moment that if you are "privileged" i.e. are white, straight, cisgendered, male etc, then you are not really allowed to have problems or be part of the equality movements. In relation to feminism, a lot of people have said that when men claim they are being oppressed, they are, in short, wrong.
As a general opinion, it is thought that white people are not allowed to decide what is and isn't racist, heterosexual people aren't allowed to decide what is and isn't homophobic and therefore men aren't allowed to decide what is and isn't sexist. I agree with this to some extent but I definitely believe that men can and should be feminists.
The word feminism has a lot of stigma because extremists have created a stereotype that we are crazy man hating protesters who burn bras. People also seem to think that because the word is "feminism" and not "humanism" or just plain "equality" that the movement is purely for women, about women and that it stands for women gaining supreme power and control which is again, not the case. Also, I would like to make clear that when I used the word "men" to generalise, no I do not mean all men and yes there are men who are not sexist.
The root of feminism is power and domination based, meaning that men used to (or still do) believe that women were inferior leading to the creation of a male dominated world. If a man notices, agrees with and supports the feminist movement then why can't he consider himself a feminist? In a slightly adverse way, feminism can affect men for example, men are sometimes excluded from more feminine things like dressing like a woman or wearing makeup or being a nurse or secretary. I do not believe that "men's rights activists" are justified because they have taken a movement made to empower women and, oh look, made it about them again.
All in all, if a man has decided to stop reading sexist magazines or stick up for us when people make sexist jokes or even join the movement and help make a difference, don't push them away. I believe that everyone who believes in social, political and economic equality of the sexes are feminists, whether they realise it or not. And although men probably will never fully understand what it's like, from work place discrimination to sex trafficking, all support is good support. You can be against homophobia without being gay, can't you?
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