Male Feminists?

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So, the other day, gabrielleabelle made a post questioning the labeling of Angel as a feminist icon. The general consensus, not surprisingly, is that Angel is NOT the feminist icon we are looking for. But it did make me wonder - are there ANY male feminist icons in popular culture? I can't think of any.

Okay. "Icon" is a pretty high bar. How about just a portrayal of a male feminist character? Any medium. How many can you think of?

I'm also including gingerwall's list of criteria from the same post, just for reference. Your criteria may be different (I expect the third one is particularly difficult to find in pop culture, which might eliminate everybody, lol), but I thought it might be helpful for people who want guidelines.

Here would be my qualifications for the Best Male Feminist Role Model in All of Everything Ever:
- Let the women in his life be autonomous agents and make their own decisions.
- Listen to and carefully consider what women have to say about issues that affect both of them.
- Be aware of how organizations that he is a part of contribute to the oppression of the women in his life and work to change or protest those cultures, all the while getting feedback from those women to make sure he is accurately reflecting their lived experience.
- Encourage the women in his life to defy traditional gender roles and take on powerful positions, even at the expense of his own control and power.

Comments

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

That's a perfect description of Spike.

[eilowyn.livejournal.com]

Season 7 Spike, yes. The guy has some visible evolution that makes him realize that "out. for. a. walk. bitch." behavior is undesirable, and matures beyond it to be Buffy's right-hand man without any quibble about stepping into the secondary role..

[gabrielleabelle.livejournal.com]

Word. In S5 and S6, Spike also appears to have a rather sexist perception of entitlement to Buffy's love. Because he wants it, because he wants her, she should love him. Part of his development is losing this notion (which he does in stages, often with regressions).

[next_to_normal]

Yeah, I'd agree with eilowyn that S7 Spike is a feminist, which I'd attribute partly to the soul. It's really, really hard for me to call someone a feminist when they treat women the way Spike treated Harmony.