Are we gay men who claim to be femist really so? The spate of anti-women legislatn mands we start showg up for women.
Contents:
- OP-ED: GAY MEN NEED TO BE FEMISTS, TOO
- OPINION: ON GAY MEN AND THE FEMIST MOVEMENT
- ROXANE GAY: WHAT DO IT MEAN TO INTIFY AS A FEMIST?
- #GAYS AGAST FEMISM: BEE GAY PEOPLE ARE NOT FEMIST PROPERTY
- GAYS AGAST FEMISM: BEE GAY PEOPLE ARE NOT YOUR PROPERTY, FEMISTS
- IN REARCH ON FEMISM AND GAY RIGHTS, A CASE FOR UNY
- A BRIEF HISTORY OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
OP-ED: GAY MEN NEED TO BE FEMISTS, TOO
* gay feminists *
Even the all-male environments that I’ve equented, om golf urs to gay bars to locker rooms, I never enuntered the kd of btish sexism that Donald Tmp broadst as he mpaigned for office. And yet I know his ntug sults agast women are not sgular; attacks are fterg om a wi st of misogynists, om the Llie Moonv type to the “cel” type to the Alabama statehoe is forcg some soul searchg on me — namely nontg the worseng attus toward women next to the rapid-fire gas of gay male liberatn recent years. Knowg que a few gay men at the top of their profsns — media, fashn, philanthropy, amia — I wns a aterny of privilege ightengly different to the backlash agast women.
Another woman, an official at a major cultural stutn New York, told me earlier this year that she fds straight and gay men equally sexist, jt different ways. People of all genrs who have clared themselv and the moment post-femist have spoken prematurely, jt like those who said the natn is gay man payg attentn uld have felt the war agast women brewg even back durg the Obama years. Femists unrstand how all the rights are nnected, but gay men don’t always though gay men are not engeerg the recent surge of state laws rtrictg reproductive rights, nor mtg the alarmg number of sexual asslts agast women, we are implited the imagistic, mercial and workplace misogyny that is still stranglg women’s advancement.
Today’s gay male el should be standg for women: batg sexual asslt; advancg women’s reproductive rights; mandg paid materny leave and support for child re; fendg immigrant women pg domtic vlence and rape; and supportg all those women who are cidly not “post-work, ” but rather reprent nearly two-thirds of the mimum-wage men shouldn’t domate the bate, but neher should we hang back apathy, fatigue or fear of sayg the wrong thg. Gay men may have bee more liberated, but femism hasn’t n s Benjam, the thor of “Searchg for Whopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of Whe Ameri, ” is at work on a new book. This was rather nontg, but the few months sce she ma me aware of my own misogynistic tennci, I’ve tried my bt to be nsc of such thgs, and feel 's important to share this wh other gay men.
OPINION: ON GAY MEN AND THE FEMIST MOVEMENT
Roxane Gay is a wrer, a Haian-Amerin, a bisexual, and a femist — albe a self-proclaimed bad one. She says her journey to intify as a femist has evolved over time. * gay feminists *
I would not s idly by if any of their boyiends lled them any of those slurs, but the past, seems I thought the gay rd was a ‘get-out-of-jail-ee-rd’ when me to sexism and misogyny.
It’s possible ’s bee we, as a society, oversimplify the nature of opprsn and believe queer people are more opprsed than women so we n’t cricise them bee that would be ‘homophobic’. So, this Internatnal Women’s Day, I enurage everyone, but pecially gay men, to reflect on their behavur and attus and serly nsir what they n do to be better. Back when there was an actual social and polil st to beg gay-iendly (let alone gay) I almost certaly would have been beat up badly had I shown someone that rd.
ROXANE GAY: WHAT DO IT MEAN TO INTIFY AS A FEMIST?
Prt ? PDF ?Note: The followg opn piece is by NCFM member Dean Esmay. It do nta some harsh and angry language, mostly by gay men angry ... * gay feminists *
I did not, although I did once rcue a dnk gay man whose abive boyiend had gotten him liquored up and then left him strand om home wh no money a tough workg-class blue-llar bar.
#GAYS AGAST FEMISM: BEE GAY PEOPLE ARE NOT FEMIST PROPERTY
Lbian femism, a polil and theoretil movement wh femism that emerged the send half of the 20th century at the nvergence of the women’s movement, the gay rights movement, and the sexual revolutn. Lbian femists advoted alternative ways of thkg about genr and power. * gay feminists *
So if you ever wonr why I’m almost pletely immune to hateful femist bigotry and disgtg attempts at shamg, and am 100% fortable the pany of gay, lbian, bi, whatever people, bear md that I remember fully and vividly how rmal vigilante lynchgs were somethg most people would jt look the other way at–if was a gay man. But as a le, was gay men–y, the gay men–who were gettg thrown jail, thrown mental hospals, raped by “fag” bashers (y, that was and is still a thg), sometim even strated, lobotomized, hung, or jt pla beat to ath.
GAYS AGAST FEMISM: BEE GAY PEOPLE ARE NOT YOUR PROPERTY, FEMISTS
lbian femism - Lbian femism - Genr Equaly, LGBTQ Rights, Activism: Lbian femist theory has been important furtherg femist unrstandgs of the nature of genr and power and illumatg the social and cultural foundatns of sexualy and genr rol. The fervent anizg of the 1960s and early 1970s led NOW and other gay rights and femist anizatns to support lbians’ stggle agast pulsory heterosexualy and other forms of opprsn that lbians experienced. Lbian femism emerged as an important amic field, led by theologian and philosopher Mary Daly; philosopher and theorist Marilyn Frye; poet and sayist Audre Lor; activist, thor, and teacher Charlotte Bunch; femist anthropologist Gayle Rub; and other * gay feminists *
When you watch or read histori of the Stonewall Rts, ’s fascatg to watch how hard they will generally work to move lbians up to the ont of the story, even though was overwhelmgly gay men who were beg most btally persecuted. Carefully read the -pth stori of how the first Stonewall rt began, and you will disver that at the very begng, at an unrground gay club, durg a police raid a p tried btg a lbian for beg among the other “crimal” homosexuals, and she was somewhat roughed up as they tried to put her to a paddy wagon.
There is of urse nothg wrong wh that–the ps were vlatg her human rights after all–but shows how the male protective stct toward women is part of even most gay men.
Remember that the next time you hear about men’s herent vlence, or hear yet another radfem sist that gay men are misogynists–which they equently do. And what’s so fascatg about the racism and gay-hate that’s been part of femism for s is that femists and their apologists tomatilly behave as if the were statistil outliers, and therefore “not real femists. Jt as there were people who joed the Nazi Party (y, I jt went there) who didn’t particularly hate Jews, the misandrist assumptns of 1960s and 1970s femism fell jt as much agast gay men as they do today, if not more so.
IN REARCH ON FEMISM AND GAY RIGHTS, A CASE FOR UNY
It always has been, for is an pable ncln of their “Patriarchy” theory (or their new favore word, “tersectnaly”) that not jt gay men, but black men and brown men and “yellow” men often and routely rape and btalize women, or jt lgh at the btaly and accept –for real and not as dark humor or sarsm or irony.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
But as a le, was gay men–y, the gay men–who were gettg thrown jail, thrown mental hospals, raped by fag bashers (y, that was and is still a thg), sometim even strated, lobotomized, hung, or jt pla beat to ath. And so now we fally see the rise of gay men who fight femism, not jt here on A Voice for Men (which has weled gay men om the day we opened our doors) but the wir world, wh the growg and fearls #GaysAgastFemism. It’s hearteng to see more and more gay men standg up, and not jt here on A Voice for Men, where they have done so for many years but out the world at large.