Article

Can a Man Be a Feminist?

NOVEMBER 1991
Article
Can a Man Be a Feminist?
NOVEMBER 1991

Professor of French & Italian Marianne Hirsch:

YES, MEN CAN BE AND many men are feminists. Inasmuch as a feminist is a person who believes that women have been discriminated against and oppressed in our culture and who is committed to ending any discrimination and oppression based on gender, men can be feminists. Feminist men understand gender hierarchies and actively work to change them. They value women and those qualities which have traditionally been associated with the feminine.

Unlike women, however, men have not experienced discrimination based on their gender women still have a different and more experientially based relationship to feminist commitments, therefore. Still, many men experience discrimination due to other factors, such as race, class, sexual preference, age, national or ethnic identity. This experience may enable men to empathize with women and make it possible for men and women to work together as feminists.

Yes, says Prof. Hirsch.