masculinity

Press Release from Equality Now

Remember the RapeLay video game, written about by Melissa and Cara back in February? Equality Now has been working to persuade Japan to uphold its obligations under UN conventions with respect to material that normalises and/or promotes violence against women and girls.

On the Mommy and Daddy Binary

Men are there to provide and discipline; women are there to care. This lie is the foundation for every damnable binary about sex and emotion in our culture—men are rational; woman are emotional—and it is on what we’ve based our pernicious refusal to regard the most destructive versions of emotions like anger, jealousy, possessiveness, vengeance, apathy, and selfishness as not emotions at all, but merely biological evidence of strength, as long as they emanate from men.

On The Feminine as an insult

I had no reason at all to assume PatC was a woman, and I’m frankly not sure why I did; I’ve had female and male friends called Pat, and my email correspondents collectively skew slightly more male. So big wev to me: lol my gender assumptions.

What was more interesting to me was my reaction to PatC’s email: I was surprised, relieved, and grateful that he wasn’t insulted by having been presumed a woman.

And it was sad to me that I found it notable when his response wasn’t aggrieved.

Feminism Friday: Addressing claims of “female privilege” – The Military

Chances are, whether or not you identify as feminist, if you’ve read much about women’s issues you’ll have heard of the Male Privilege Checklist. You also may have heard of at least one of the various Female Privilege Checklists that were made in response. I’m not here to rebut either of those lists word for […]

Rape and Evolution

A rather interesting discussion is developing in the comments to “Ask A Question“, but it’s becoming more and more off-topic, and I’m also concerned that it is inappropriate for the discussion to be in that thread with no PTSD trigger warnings, so I’m going to shift all the comments here and delete their text there […]

FAQ: What’s wrong with saying that things happen to men, too?

Short answer: Nothing in and of itself. The problem occurs when conversations about women can’t happen on unmoderated blogs without someone showing up and saying, “but [x] happens to men, too!” (also known as a “Patriarchy Hurts Men, Too” or PHMT argument, or a “What About The Mens?” or WATM argument). When this happens, it […]

Frequently Whimpered Whines: The Nice Guys™ theme song

From the FF101 Jargon File (edited to add, for the benefit of those who can’t/won’t find the time to click on a link, with the full text of the “Nice Guys™” entry, added text in italics) : “Nice Guys™” – The “™” marks the difference between men who are genuinely nice people and men who […]

Blog Carnivals Reminder

Blog Carnivals are regular collections of links to blog posts discussing a particular theme, usually limited to recent articles within the intervals between sessions of the Carnival. I’ve got links to the homepages of various feminist and feminist friendly carnivals in the Links section, but here’s a reminder of who’s hosting current sessions of the […]

FAQ: Aren’t feminists just sexists towards men?

AKA Aren’t feminists just “reverse sexists”? Short answer: Neither feminists as a group, nor feminist theory, engages in sexism or “reverse sexism” against men. Often times the feminist focus on women’s issues, as well as their recognition and continued efforts to correct the imbalance of power (see male privilege), are seen as looking to privilege […]

Recommended Reading: Masculinity stereotypes, politicians and partner choice

From Terrance at The Republic of T, crossposted at Pam’s House Blend (there’s more discussion at The Blend). Terrance revisits an old post of his about the reign of the Alpha Males in light of recent politics and recent books on masculinity, and analyses the demonisation of the Beta Males in recent political campaigns and […]