First of all, I’m really excited to see that Evid3nc3, one of my favourite youtubers, has started a blog. Well, OK he started it more than a year ago, but I don’t have as much time as I’d like to keep up with the happenings of the blogging world.
But second, and more importantly, he has just written an outstanding piece entitled Why I am not a feminist. I have been meaning to post some similar thoughts for a while now. But, since Evid3nc3 has basically said everything I would want to say, and since he has said it so well, I will simply reproduce his words below:
Why I am not a Feminist (by Evid3nc3)
Over the past decade, many men in the secular movement have made a point of identifying as Feminists to show their support for women’s rights.
While I support women’s rights, I personally will probably never identify as a Feminist. I just don’t think that “Feminism” is the right name for a movement that is supposed to give equal support to the needs and goals of both genders, women and men.
It would be like having a Race Equality movement called “Africanism”, “Caucasianism”, or “Latinoism”. It just doesn’t make any sense if your goal is to keep a vigilant watch on the rights of all races.
And having a Gender Equity movement called “Feminism” doesn’t make sense if your goal is to keep a vigilant watch on the rights of all genders.
In some contexts of modern society, the balance of power leans towards women. In others, it leans towards men. In my opinion, Feminist rights activists only focus on correcting the latter situations and either completely ignore or never even think to look for the former.
The reality is, in a society where we are constantly pushing for advantages for women, there will (and in some cases has) come a point where women have an unequal advantage over men. The only way to correct those inevitable imbalances is to have a mindset that pushes for balance between the genders rather than for advantage of one of them.
So my mindset will never be one that pushes for the rights of a single gender. I’m not a Men’s Rights Activist and I’m not a Feminist. Rather, I look for balance between the genders. I’m constantly on the lookout for injustices to either women or men. I am a Gender Egalitarian and support Gender Equity.
In fact, I would probably drop the label Gender Egalitarian, as this could lead to confusion among some who might interpret it differently to how I intend it. I’d prefer to just get on with loving and respecting all people equally, regardless of their gender.
