This is a think-piece.  I hope that it will inspire you to think about its subject matter. Please approach it with an open mind.

Hello World!  I’m going to take a moment to discuss feminism, gender parity, “men’s rights”, and TERFs.  Feminism is “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes”. 

So, let’s talk about it.

Feminism is about achieving gender parity.

It is true that the feminist movement focuses on advocating for women’s rights.  It should be.  Femininity is the marginalized pole of the gender spectrum.  Women are most affected by a lack of gender parity.  

Conversely, men benefit most from a lack of gender parity.  There is a gender social hierarchy, with men at the top. 

This does not mean that we don’t deal with our own issues on account of our gender.  It means that people see “man” and “male” as the default, as “normal”. 

When reviewing job applications, we consider men to be more capable and desirable.  We offer men better pay for the same jobs.  This occurs even when the applications are identical - only the name and gender are different.  Also, we consider jobs that are mainly held by women to be less desirable. 

Men predominate in the roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege, and control of the means of production.  This system is called patriarchy, or hegemonic masculinity.

Feminism is about destroying that system – the idea that femininity is “less than.”  The idea that women should not hold the same political, economic, and social power afforded to men. 

Women should be free to choose to be “mother”, “caretaker”, and/or “housekeeper”. They should also be free to choose to be anything else.  Feminism is about freedom.

The reactionary movements that sprung up in its wake aim to eliminate that freedom.

Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminism (TERFs) is a right-wing reactionary movement that promotes a social hierarchy that privileges cisgender women over transgender women. 

In theory, this is a celebration of the traits that make cisgender women special.  This is the hook; how new members are recruited.

In practice, TERFs reduce womanhood to sex organs and chromosomes.  It limits freedom.

This is done to explicitly deny the existence of transgender people through the promotion of a gender binary.  Even though there are women born with XY chromosomes.  Even though there are people who are born intersex.  Even though both sex and gender are more bimodal than binary. 

The scientific prefix trans- means “denoting or relating to a molecular structure in which two particular atoms or groups lie on opposite sides of a given plane in the molecule.” It means “opposite side.”

Cis-, on the other hand, means “denoting or relating to a molecular structure in which two particular atoms or groups lie on the same side of a given plane in the molecule.”  It means “same side.”

Trans women are women. Their gender lies on the opposite side of their assigned sex at birth.  Trans men are men. Trans non-binaries are non-binary. 

Arguing otherwise has the same energy as arguing that dark red is not red.

TERFs promote conformity to a narrow definition of womanhood that reduces it to genitalia and chromosomes.  Feminists acknowledge that gender is a diverse group of traits, some biological and others socially constructed. 

Men’s Rights Activists (MRAs) is a right-wing reactionary movement that aims to conserve the social hierarchy that privileges cisgender men over all other gender identities. 

Fun fact, Google searches for “International Men’s Day” peak around the time of “International Women’s Day.” 

The MRA movement is that concept but as a political movement. 

MRAs are primarily focused on bringing attention to the issues that men face on account of their gender.  In theory, they are focused on disparities in suicide, family court, and worsening health outcomes and life expectancy for men.  It is acknowledging that men suffer too.

This is the hook; how new members are recruited.

In practice, they are best defined by being anti-feminist and anti-woman.  

This is an example of two movements agreeing on a problem, but disagreeing on the source and solution.   Like TERFs, MRAs desire conformity and freedom for just a specific type of man.  Feminists desire diversity and freedom, for all men to be who they are meant to be.

Feminism is liberating for all gender identities.

It’s about freeing all people from gender discrimination.

I originally thought feminism was only for women, so I wanted to find a similar movement for me.  I found the MRA movement, and fell for the “hook.”  I quickly found out that this movement was predominantly concerned with overt and covert hatred of women and femininity. 

Hard pass.

I eventually found feminism.  It had solutions to all the problems that MRAs focus on but without the hate.  It was encouraging to be around people who would point out all the ways that a rigidly gendered society fails all of us. 

I once heard that “the greatest gift that feminism gave to men was for men to question their own gender roles”.  There is no men’s rights movement without feminism.  I grew up understanding that I had to do certain things and be a certain person to keep my “man card”.  It was a club, and I didn’t get to decide whether I was in it or not.  MRAs and TERFs serve as gatekeepers for these clubs.  They are exclusionary by nature.  Feminists have a more diverse understanding of sex and gender and are more inclusive.

Intersectional feminism takes things one step further and highlights how other social hierarchies intersect with the gender hierarchy.  It acknowledges that the experiences of a Black trans woman will differ from those of a disabled white woman.  This means that the liberation of all genders will require the elimination of other related social hierarchies.

It is not misandry.  It is not feminine supremacy.  It is not a “war on men.”

Patriarchy hurts everyone.  Feminism is for everyone.

How do you feel about the content and topics covered in this post? Feel free to let me know in the comments, or reach out to me on social media if you prefer a private discussion. If you enjoyed reading this post, click here to read more!