Men have much to gain from a pro-feminist movement which seeks to liberate all of us from fear and prejudice (part two)

There is, undoubtedly, a growing number of men - intelligent, compassionate, politically aware and self-aware men - who recognise the enormous injustice of male institutions holding so much power over the past 8,000 years, and using that power to dominate and exploit and sometimes physically hurt women, just for being women. 
To an increasing number of enlightened men, this is simply unacceptable and ultimately unsustainable.  And the feminist movement does need men to come out and express their rejection of those old misogynist views, but we have to appreciate it is not easy for an individual man to put his own balls on the line, as it were, and speak out in favour of his sisters in society.  When men do feel compelled to do this though, women everywhere admire and cherish them.  If we are to move things forward, to benefit all of us, we have to take men with us, individual men in society are not the enemy here, but embedded sexism that's encouraged and endorsed by male institutions, happy to brainwash men as boys and divide us and set us against each other as good, decent, loving human beings who are all part of the same species.
Fathers can play a really important role, in helping to try and shift the balance of power, by endorsing their daughters, expressing admiration for their achievements, as they grow up, and not simply reserving praise for a young girl's appearance.  Also by frequently expressing their respect for women, not just women in the family, but women in society; again not so much women famous for
their "beauty" but women who have achieved great things with a mind of their own, sports personalities, women in the arts, women in politics.  Little girls do look up to their fathers, and his values will be internalised by her and this will affect the decisions she makes in life and ultimately the type of partner she feels comfortable settling down with - a partner who sees her every bit as his equal, or one who tends to put her down and invalidate her feelings and views.
Accepting that most individual men are probably decent guys, who do respect women, at least the women in their own lives, it has been asked:  why don't they feel able to stand up for women more, why do they let these huge injustices go on without feeling the need to vocalise their objection.  It would appear that most men are experiencing more fear about their own self-image, and how other men might react to them, than their sense of care and compassion for women and the need to protect us as a gender.  Which illustrates just how damaging and divisive the brainwashing in childhood is.  Because I'm certain many men would love to feel more empowered, to share their endorsement of women, so let's give them some encouragement, and show our appreciation when they do, for we probably can't achieve what we need, for us, for our own daughters and sons, and for society as a whole, without the help of all those fantastically cool men out there!

#Feminism #CoolMen  :-)xx