Can anyone be overrated?

I have been closely following the overrated/underrated post that Courtney put up a couple days ago.  I find one of the trends rather confounding, and that’s the pile on of “male feminists” as overrated.  I think it highlights a problem that should be addressed within this, and the entire, community of feminists.  It’s this: male feminists are important and, more over, vital.

Now, taking my own list into consideration, I do not enjoy the “waves” of feminism theory, not only because I find it a bit revisionist (how can someone be feminist before the word exists?) and because I think it is used in the movement to divide people.  However, for sake of discourse, I’ll be using the terminology for ease of readability.

There are many men here on Feministing, especially as of late.  They are a pretty vocal minority and I am admittedly one of them. I think it’s first to start there and work into where the rest of this is going.

As MercurialGirl had stated: “On second thought, Marc, maybe (just maybe) it isn’t male feminists that are overrated, but the excessive affirmation of male feminists that women feminists sometimes engage in. I look at this thread, and I can’t help but think I don’t have really have any desire to call you overrated, but I do have every desire to squash the inclination in me to feel particularly grateful or especially impressed with your comment because you are a man. This inclination that I have is shared by many, and I think it gives praise where it isn’t necessarily due. Your apparent desire to refrain from using your male privilege to hurt or hinder other people is appreciated by those you don’t hurt or hinder, don’t get me wrong. But while my Intro to Women’s Studies students don’t go on and on praising each other for not burning crosses in the yards of African Americans, they can’t seem to stop falling all over themselves about any man who calls himself a feminist or an ally. They seem to understand that trying not to be a racist is just what decent people do, but trying not to be a misogynist is an Earth shattering act of generosity or enlightenment”

If I’m reading this correctly, she’s essentially said that men-as-feminists are not themselves overrated or unnecessary, but the way that men-as-feminists are heralded as this huge, great, wonderful thing is overrated and unnecessary.  It’s a reflection of the community and its division.

I also think, and this may be offensive to some, that is also has to do with some sexism on the part of more traditional, “second wave” feminists.  The Second Wave, as I’ve always understood it, believes in fighting exclusively for women to be in more control.  If it’s not a strict cis gender women’s issue, then it’s not feminist and not worth talking about in a feminist forum.  With this is also the idea that only a woman can truly understand a woman’s suffering through the patriarchy – much like only a racial minority can understand what it’s like to be that minority, the same with sexual minorities and those who are non-conformist to the gender binary.  Because these men “just can never understand”, they can never really have a full say in feminist matters.

This was touched upon by Marc a few weeks ago when he posted about areas of Feminism where “ought not to go”.  This reinforces this accepted norm of things that men know and women know, and that neither will have an understanding of the other.  While it was not the entire slant of where he was going with his post, it was where he landed towards the middle of his posting.  As I did then, and you probably pretty clearly see now, I disagree very strongly with his position.

I feel that this community, and the community at large of feminists, is coming into an age of Othering those within the movement.  It’s a fracturing because we’ve become, honestly, image obsessed.  If you’re not a cis gendered woman, then you can’t be a feminist.  You can’t really understand the patriarchy, because you (1)are part of it (2)opted into it or (3)opted under it.  This line of reasoning is very damaging and counter productive.

Firstly, feminism is a set of ideals, not an experiential identification through actions or feelings.  Anyone who acknowledges the set of ideals belonging to all feminist thought (gender inequality in the world exists, this gender inequality is inherently unfair, this unfairness means it needs to be stopped) is a feminist.  There is diversity within the community because we all have our approaches and viewpoints on how to attack the unfairness of gender inequality.  Some feminists, like myself, believe that all struggles against systems of oppression are rooted in the same basic fight and we must all be together to get our rights; the oppressed oppressing other oppressed is not productive and counter to the betterment of society as a whole.  Others believe that to do this, they must focus on women’s issues exclusively to have that climb through that focus – an attainable set of standards to mark improvement.  Others believe that women should just take over the world governments, or absolve them completely.  There are a myriad of other thoughts, all with their own labels, but they’re all still feminist.

Secondly, as a community, we need to acknowledge our differences, but still work towards our common goal.  We still all want to make sure that all people, regardless of gender identification, are equal in society.  This stepping stone brings us all together.  We must unite around it, or risk failing our brothers and sisters from the past in moving equality forward for people of all gender identities.

Ultimately, we as feminists need to look at how we view each other and find a way to move past our suspicions of those who do not hold our exact beliefs.  We’re all here with the same ultimate goals, and I think we’ve lost site of that.

Whether our feminism takes us into specifically women’s issues, or those and queer issues, or those and trans issues or those and race issues, or those and international politics, we need to respect each other more and realize that we are all in this together.  We are an international Sisterhood of Feminists.  A Sisterhood that has withstood a lot since its inception, and which can do so much more good.

We can’t forget that all people who make up feminism are people who believe in feminist causes.  Man, woman, trans or cis gender, from anywhere in the vast range of sexual self-identification, socioeconomic strata, or racial identification.

We are one feminist movement.

Disclaimer: This post was written by a Feministing Community user and does not necessarily reflect the views of any Feministing columnist, editor, or executive director.

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