A definition of an Ally

Occasionally the issue of whether a man can be a feminist comes up in discussing feminist issues. Some feminists believe that men should limit themselves to the label of feminist ally. However, I have not often seen a good definition of how exactly you define who is a feminist and who is an ally in any given context. So, I thought I would have a go at addressing this issue. The views below are my own but I believe they are on sound footing and follow from a common sense understanding of language and the issues at hand. I welcome feedback from others.
The way I see it, within every movement there are front line activists and allies. Both groups would generally be considered advocates for their cause and therefore activists generally. The cause of a movement is made up of any number of issues – which may be linked to other issues through complex intersectionality or just come under the umbrella of the cause.
The difference between an ally and a front line activist (FLA) is that an FLA belongs to the group directly affected by the issue presently being discussed/fought. This definition works for any movement: racism, ableism, enviromentalism, etc.

Feminism is a movement. It’s cause described succinctly in the as, “To end the perpetuation of gender expectations that, on balance, harm women.” The difficulty within feminism generally, revolves around not having a seperate term for activists and FLAs, most people refer to both groups as feminists; they refer to the allies as allies.
The feminists who argue that men should not call themselves such, don’t seem to use the term feminist to describe all activists within feminism. Instead they reserve the term for the FLAs. However there are some issues within the cause of feminism* which primarily affect men. There are issues of masculinity that need to be addressed because of the kyriarchial nature of the patriarchy. In these particular situations, under this definition, it is the men who are the feminists and the women who are the allies.
Thus I think it is fair, when speaking generally, for men to describe themselves as feminists. Other times, it might be more appropriate to, for example, begin a dialouge by saying, ‘As a feminist allie…’ It depends on the context.
Perhaps, when looking for a term to destinguish front line activists from allies in a feminist issue, the terms front line feminist (FLF) or affected feminist could be useful.
I hope that by trying to more rigorously define what an ally is – in distinction from an FLF – it will be easier to have a discussion about what their role is within feminism.
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*(Note the ‘on balance’ within the definition of the cause)