Male Feminists?

[next_to_normal]

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

[stormwreath.livejournal.com]

You're effectively telling me that it's impossible to prove that this is sexism to you

If someone (a) doesn't have a pattern of sexist behaviour in the past, and (b) doesn't make it clear that they're acting out of sexism in this particular case - then yeah, I'd say it is impossible to prove one way or the other. Unless you're telepathic. Or in the case of a fictional character, you ask the author what they intended.

I don't think it's an impossibly high standard to ask for evidence - either (a) or (b) from above would do fine. Otherwise, it's not provable either way.


Giles acts as a stand-in for the absent Watcher's Council in that episode.

Maybe part of the issue here is that I don't really see it like that. He's a stand-in for Buffy's father, not the Council, just as Spike has to deal with the memories of his mother. Both of them, by the end of the epidode, have cut themselves free of their opposite-sex parent.

[gabrielleabelle.livejournal.com]

If someone (a) doesn't have a pattern of sexist behaviour in the past, and (b) doesn't make it clear that they're acting out of sexism in this particular case - then yeah, I'd say it is impossible to prove one way or the other.

And we're done, dude. Seriously. The basis of feminist critique is accepting that we exist in a world mired with misogyny to the point where people act out of sexist motivations often without realizing. That's a given. Feminist discussion goes one step farther in order to point out instances of such sexism because they're not as immediately noticeable as a person going on an explicit misogynistic spiel (a la Caleb). If you're not willing to accept that basic premise, though, then I don't understand how you can possibly hope to discuss anything from a feminist viewpoint.

Also, men don't get to set the bar for what qualifies as sexism. Sorry.

[stormwreath.livejournal.com]

If you're not willing to accept that basic premise

Of course i'm willing to accept it. My problem all along in this discussion is that you've been moving away from "People can act from sexist motivations, often without realising it" to assuming that sexism must be the reason, and any other possible motivation must be dismissed automatically.

A male character who has a long history of respecting a female character's judgment, but suddenly disagrees with her over something? Clearly he's been taken over by a sudden attack of sexism, rather than just, you know, disagreeing with her.