"This was my first lesson in feminism: Using a feminist lens to analyze and understand your life is one of the most powerful things you can do. This is what led me to realize that sexual violence and domestic abuse; inequality in pay, education, and politics; biased media representation; gender stereotypes; and beauty norms aren’t women’s issues, they are social issues that shape everyone’s life. Understanding how men are gendered beings —yes, including you—can be transformational...
After my initial class with Jaksch, I attended a feminist theory class with Professor Brian Jara. For me, having a class taught by a man was important. It showed me there was a place for me in the feminist movement if I held myself accountable. Jara pulled me aside after class one day, thanked me for all of my excited, thoughtful, and intelligent contributions to the class—and then told me, kindly, to shut up... He reminded me that anytime I am speaking, someone else in the class (most likely a woman) is not speaking...
Men are treated so differently from women in our society that it can be difficult to see the world from their perspective, their standpoint—and that makes it difficult to understand how to be an effective and accountable antisexist man. Lesson five, then, is to listen to women."
A useful 101.
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