Male Feminist of the "Week" #4

(Okay, so it's been a month. Tant pis!)

After having posted on Freud, it only makes sense to follow up with...

Kinsey!

There's a good summary on Nerve right now--basically what you know if you saw the Liam Neeson movie, with added stuff about Kinsey's urethra and the things that went in it. Fun! As I'm sure you know, Alfred Kinsey followed up Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) with Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953). With these two books, Kinsey blasted societal mores and showed the world, based on extensive research, that there was no such thing as "normal"--and that this was perfectly normal.

Given that female sexuality is usually further repressed by society than male sexuality, Kinsey no doubt had even a greater impact for women than he did for men--orgasms, masturbation, homosexuality, all the myths regarding these were exploded. Furthermore, Kinsey made up for Freud's mistakes--he knew the importance of clitoral stimulation, better understood female anatomy, didn't judge the validity of various behaviors, and generally took "neurosis" out of the sexual vernacular. (Or, would eventually--I'm not actually sure how long it took his work to catch on.) And, of course, he expanded upon Freud's insistence that everyone was inherently bisexual--making it a spectrum rather than a hard and fast rule. (Tee hee, "hard and fast!")

To me, Kinsey's work anticipated the Third Wave. Kinsey knew that any consensual sex act was a good one, that whatever kind of orgasm you had it shouldn't be politicized* and that exploration, whenever you were ready for it, was crucial to a healthy life. Amen!


*More on this next.

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Male Feminist of the Week! "You'll Probably Hate Me" Edition

I know you've been wondering all weekend: who will be this week's Male Feminist? I know your game. Constantly refreshing your web browser in the hopes I might post early, setting up office pools as to who the lucky fellow would be. Well, your long painful wait is over! The newest Male Feminist of the Week is...

This guy:

I know, I know, I know: What??? Freud???

Simmer down now.

So, yes, there was the whole "penis envy" thing, the "masculinity complex," the unfortunate "women who like clitoral stimulation are neurotic" theory. But this is what I've always held: Freud did great things for women. Like all people who are ahead of their time, Freud was still a product of his time--back in his day, even concepts of female anatomywere phallocentric and inaccurate, with diagrams of the uterus and ovaries looking like an inverted penis and testicles [trying to find an image; not doing so well]. My main point has always been this: Freud pioneered the radical idea that maybe someone should start talking to women. Asking them questions! Ascribing value to their thoughts and feelings! Figuring out why they had the troubles that they had*! Most of his patients were women, and he respected their pain. Even more progressively, he convinced the Western world that women had natural sexual desires that were as healthy and vital as men's**.

Freud got a lot wrong about women. Freud, frankly, said a lot crazy shit. But he was inventing a new way of looking at life, and was bound to fuck up a little. And he also admitted that in order for the world to truly understand female sexuality, we would have to wait for the female psychoanalysts. He knew he had shortcomings. And his shortcomings were far outweighed by the attention he paid to a long-ignored gender.

It's hip to hate on Freud, especially in our generation. I think most people who hate on him know little about him. There are certainly things in his oeuvre to roll your eyes at, but he took major steps forward in terms of Western culture's understanding of the female gender. He is my homeboy. I hope he will be yours.


*For heaven's sake, women were running around smelling burnt pudding that wasn't there!
**He also was insistent that homosexuality is innate, incurable, totally healthy and in general peachy keen, which was good for men and women alike. ("It is a great injustice to persecute homosexuality as a crime, and cruelty too.")

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Male Feminist of the Week!

Hello again dear readers.

It is sadly difficult to find substantive information on our male feminist friends. A preliminary google search mostly brings up obnoxious rants on whether "male feminist" is an oxymoron (which I confess I haven't REALLY read yet because I'm very busy right now and can't afford to depress myself).

BUT. I just today found a link to this fellow:


He is the man behind No Cookies For Me, a male feminist blog that I think you would all enjoy. Recent posts involve issues such as chivalry (and how people who say the feminism killed it don't actually know what the word means), the underrepresented sexism of police, and misogyny in gaming and webcomics.

But, to quote my buddy LeVar, you don't have to take my word for it!

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More Linguistics

In prepping for this weeks "Male Feminist of the Week," I've discovered that a lot of men and women in the movement feel it is inappropriate for men to call themselves feminists--they should, rather, consider themselves "pro-feminist."

This goes, basically, against everything I believe in. As far as I'm concerned, most people I know are feminists, whether or not they embrace the label, whether or not they have evolved feminist stances on every issue, whether or not they are feminist activists (or, indeed, actively feminist). I don't think you have to fully understand what it's like to be a woman in order to support and further feminist causes and ideals. To quote my friend Steve: "I don't need a special group just because I have a dick."

I think it could be argued that people of any gender who are more passively in favor of feminist ideals should be called "pro-feminist." But defining it along gender lines is divisive, exclusionary, and more than a little depressing. Calling men feminists encourages them to take up the cause--calling them "pro-feminist" makes it sound like they sit on their recliners watching the game going, "yeah, I'd let my wife work--whatever, right?" It makes it sound like it's okay for men to sit on the sidelines passively saying, "you go girl" and shrugging their shoulders about anything subtler than the 19th Ammendment.

You go, you male feminist you. We're in this together!

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