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Malinowski
Loreto Malinowski

Introduction to Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

24 April 2019

The Male Role in Feminism: Its Current Form

Aims

The entirety of 2018 contained men being aired out to dry, not letting them be hidden any

longer for their transgressions and misdoings – and the years leading up to it helped the fight

against it. However, along the way I could not help but notice all the men siding and fighting

along the women, fighting for the justice rightly deserved. For many men, it is difficult to “put

aside their masculinity”, but I thought it would be fascinating and a good educational tool to

learn what have men done since the beginning? Throughout grade school, social studies taught us

about Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, but what did men do to help? Did any men

help them? How did they continue to help? My goal with approaching this topic is being able to

take it to other (male) students and explain to them that uniting with the topic of feminism does

not mean losing who you are, that it does not make you “less of a man/woman”.

Background and Significance

Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton met each other randomly on the street in

1851, a few years after the first Seneca Fall’s Convention (“Stanton/Anthony Friendship…”).

The Seneca Fall Convention was originally named the “Women’s Rights Convention”, originally

founded by Elizabeth Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Mary M’Clintock, Martha Coffin Wright, and Jane

Hunt (Editors). During the first convention (held over the course of two days), only women were

allowed to attend the first day, followed with the second day being open to men. Although there

was never a recorded number of men who attended, some sources said that despite the plan for
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separate days, a large crowed of both men and women wanted entry to the locked chapel (the

location of the meeting). Approximately 100 to 300 attended the convention, including many

men who supported the concept of women’s rights (“Seneca Falls Convention…”). One of the

most world known men in feminism is Frederick Douglass, ex-slave and abolitionist; while

Douglass primarily was the male star for feminism in the States, John Stuart Mill was the leading

male activist in Britain.

In today’s current climate, two things tend to control what is happening in society –

politics and celebrities. There are hundreds of male figures who consider themselves as

feminists, and while a number of the younger generations look up to them, it continues to be a

difficult area for male feminists. The times have changed, where politics used to be something

kept within the confines of a home, we freely speak our thoughts and opinions, now more than

ever. Many generations are starting to research on various candidates, for all kinds of elections,

and eventually these people are who they choose, who they vote for, who they think of as a

symbol of power. So many male candidates express their want for equality between the sexes,

but they make no move or motion to close the gap.

Research Plan

The first step in researching an effective “teaching plan” is by asking kids within certain

age ranges (5-10, 11-14, and 15-18) how they feel about the word feminism, what it represents to

them, does it affect masculinity, is it important for both men and women to be equal, and who do

they visualize when thinking of a male feminist. I picked these specific age ranges because they

are crucial to the development of a child, so the environment they grow up in has a huge hand in

what they believe in the future. Because environment would be such a huge factor, I anticipate

that I would need to create different ways on how to teach and educate people about the
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importance of having male feminists. Something else I believe would be interesting, is taking the

same questions targeted at the younger audiences and target the older generations, since they

grew up differently, it would also help to shape and understand how to develop my program.

Once I would gather my information, I would instill help from people in the fields of psychology

and sociology, in order to analyze the information given start building the program. Afterwards, I

would run it through grade school administrators, obtaining their opinions and ideas on the topic,

implementing them as well. If the administrators seem keen to the idea, I would ask if I could

start to teach at a school about the history of feminism and the male contribution. Finally, after

conducting more observations and asking follow-up questions (How did the lesson make you

feel? Do you have any questions? Would you like to help? What do you think you can do to

help?), I would conclude my observations and hopefully publish and have the program start in

other schools.

Literature Cited

Editors, History.com. "Seneca Falls Convention." History.com. November 10, 2017.

https://www.history.com/topics/womens-rights/seneca-falls-convention

"Seneca Falls Convention." Dictionary of American History. . Encyclopedia.com. (April 22,

2019). https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-

press-releases/seneca-falls-convention

"Stanton/Anthony Friendship | The Susan B. Anthony Center." The Susan B Anthony Center.

http://www.rochester.edu/sba/suffrage-history/stantonanthony-friendship/

Related Coursework

Introduction to Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Introduction to Psychology