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

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You'd mentioned Pillars of Earth before, hadn't you? It's added to the Netflix queue. :)

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I haven't read the book, and you can tell it's a book because it's following approximately a thousand different characters and a BUNCH of stuff happens each episode (because there are only to be 8). BUt I have been intrigued by the character of Ellen. From what I've pieced together from her flashbacks as well as her current story, she was a novitiate nun who rescued a knight who'd washed up from a sunken ship and who was the only witness to the assisination to the king's only son and heir. She fell in love with the knight and carried a letter from the knight to the king explaining the assasination. Unfortunately, she trusted the wrong person (we still don't know who because we aren't shown the faces but I would guess it's the current bishop). Rather than take the letter to the king, the unnamed person led to the arrest of the knight, whose tongue was cut-out, and who was burned at the stake. She was then tried as a witch. Ellen, pregnant with the kinght's child, cursed the three men she held responsible for all of this (again, we aren't shown the faces of the men on the jury, but I'm pretty sure who the three are). She cursed each of them individually to a dfferent -- yet horrible -- fate and managed to escape her tribunal. (All of these things are just flashbacks)

The story takes place eighteen years later. And starts out following other characters. One of which is Thom, a mason/architect with a dream of building a cathedral. Thom and his (starving) family of pregnant wife and two kids are searching for work and travelling on a backroad and are attacked by a thief. Thom's daughter is injured and Ellen and her son (now 18) come to his aid. Thom's wife dies in childbirth, and Ellen strikes a deal with Thom for her son to become his apprentice in stonework and architecture. Other things happen (won't go into it all again) but Thom and Ellen have chemistry from the start so it's really only a matter of time before they begin an affair. Then she's recognized as a convicted witch. Thom insists that it's all ridiculous. Of course she's no witch. But then it is revealed that Ellen and Thom are "living in sin". Ellen is almost shockingly confrontational with her accusers, basically embracing the title of witch. She manages to escape, Thom helps her. She insist that Thom stay in town, continuing to build a cathedral and to take care of her son (that he now referrs to as his step-son even though Ellen and Thom have never been married to each other. Actually, Ellen has never been married). Ellen embraces being an 'outlaw', and lives in the forrest. And in the last ep, it was revealed that Thom still slips away to visit her, still loving her despite her outlaw status and being labeled a witch.

It's a multi-pronged story so that's just one of the many storylines involved. It also followed the daughter of the Earl of Bartholomew, Aliena who struggles penniless after her father had been labelled a traitor. And the elite story of the Princess/Empress Maude who has started a war with King Steven because she believes that her son is the rightful King.

But thus far, I've liked Ellen best.

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Hmmm. It sounds pretty cool - somewhat confusing, lol, but worth checking out.