“We need more men like you” is a phrase often said to me when I say that I’m a feminist, to many men that declare that they are feminists. This has always made me uncomfortable. It’s a twisted irony that society thinks that female feminists are passé and male feminists are godsends. The fact is, male feminists shouldn’t be the exception, but the norm. People shouldn’t be excessively congratulated for simply believing in something that should be common sense. The conversation about women’s rights should be led by women themselves, because putting male feminists on a pedestal ironically reinforces the gender inequality that feminism strives to resolve.
Even more ironically, it’s hard to distinguish between men that are genuine feminists from bandwagonists who are simply declaring that they’re feminist to enhance their self-image. For celebrities, it’s great publicity, especially as male feminists can automatically receive lots of female fans (such as Ryan Gosling and Joseph Gordon-Levitt), no matter how insincere their intentions, while perceived misogynists have a very hard time with the media (read: Tony Abbott). More broadly, for certain men there is a perception that declaring that they are feminists will make them look decent and sensitive, and possibly more emotionally attractive to women. Of course, genuine feminists are decent and sensitive people regardless; the difference is the genuineness of the motives, something that is not immediately superficially obvious.
For example, our new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has received much praise for developing a $100 million package to fight domestic violence. He could be doing so for political gain or out of a genuine belief that it’s the right thing to do, or both. Regardless, his perceived progressivism has been hailed by many on both sides of Australian politics. This in itself is problematic, because while outspoken Australian females like Tanya Plibersek, Clementine Ford and Annabel Crabb – all women with substantial influence in Australia – have been speaking about this issue for months and years, it has taken a man to make it front page news. The implication here is that many issues are brought to the forefront of mainstream consciousness only when the privileged choose to do so.
This culture of narcissistic activism, while not necessarily a new phenomenon, has been exacerbated by the arrival of social media. People can share articles (such as this one, potentially), write provocative statements or create appealing videos that can reach all corners of the earth. Regardless of their personal views, many express popular views for attention and self-image. Because of this, it is easy for people to build up a false self-image for the sake of attention itself, rather than out of any genuine belief in the social causes for which they apparently strive. This phenomenon, in Internet lexicon, is called being a ‘white knight’, where men stand up for women purely out of self-interest, not out of any genuine, altruistic desire for social change.
Artwork by Cameron Baker. Find out more about him here.
This kind of behaviour may not be moral. But at the end of the day, it’s better than nothing. As pessimistic as it may sound, the achievement of progressive outcomes for feminism may depend on this selfish faux-chivalry. The fact that ‘white knights’ are doing this to begin with indicates that to be a feminist is becoming the new normal. Even if internally they are feminist for the wrong reasons, externally society will have more and more people speaking up on women’s issues until critical mass is reached and feminism becomes the new norm. In a perfect world, men would just shut up and let women define what should and shouldn’t be done about women’s rights, but due unfortunately to society’s patriarchal structure more men are ironically needed to lead the conversation. And ultimately, white knights are at least still better than outspoken misogynists who feel the need to ‘mansplain’ why women should remain second-class citizens, who add nothing of value whatsoever to society.
Of course, women don’t need another man telling them what is and isn’t right (sorry about that). This is just some food for thought. In an ideal world, people would be supporting feminism of their own free will and out of the goodness of their hearts. After all, feminism is merely the desire for ‘equality of the sexes’, and not the gendercide against men that some seem to think it is. Unfortunately, in our cynical world we have to settle for the next best thing.
P.S. I hope no one thinks I’m a white knight for writing this article.
Adrian is the managing editor of Centrethought. Find out more about him here, and follow him on Twitter at @theadrianyeung.