Can You Be a Feminist if You’re Not Female: An Ongoing Debate

Feminism is sometimes a misunderstood concept. Some people think it means you believe women are superior to other genders. That’s false, though. Feminism means you believe women should have equal rights like other genders enjoy. It’s about equality.

Can You Be a Feminist if You’re Not Female: An Ongoing Debate
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Some people also feel you can’t be a feminist if you’re not female. We’ll examine that concept now.

Strong Beliefs Can End Relationships

Feminism can cause rifts between people sometimes. In that respect, it’s similar to any deeply-held belief.  

Irreconcilable differences are sufficient grounds for divorce, and sometimes, marriages crumble because a woman feels she’s a feminist and her partner doesn’t like that. Some men don’t like the term and feel it has negative connotations.

If you understand that feminism isn’t harmful or radical, though, you should not let it threaten you. It shouldn’t be an issue if you have a partner or spouse who says they’re a feminist. They’re not trying to subvert some order that should remain in place. They’re just trying to promote equality, which is always a positive thing to do.

This still leaves the question of whether another gender besides female can claim the feminist moniker, though.

How Do You Live Your Life?

Since some people speak out against feminism, the term might have negative connotations in some circles. People shouldn’t feel that way, but some of them do.

You can have feminist tendencies, though, without claiming that title. For instance, as a male, you might own a company. If you have two candidates for the same job, one male and one female, you can judge their resumes and hire the most qualified one without considering gender.

That’s a relatively benign action, but that’s feminism. You’re giving both genders a fair opportunity. In this way, you can have feminist tendencies, even if you don’t think about it in those terms.

Feminism Knows No Gender

Feminism is something that must continue on an upward trajectory. That’s particularly true with fields that remain traditionally male.

Feminism made a huge leap when the armed forces started allowing women to join their ranks. Other professions followed suit. Female CEOs began appearing. Women started working in construction and similar blue-collar jobs.

That’s feminism progressing gradually in society, and both men and women gave women those opportunities. This establishes that anyone can embrace feminism, whether male or female.

You Can Learn Feminist Lessons While Younger or Older

Many men who claim they’re feminists say that women raised them or they had strong female role models. Maybe they look to a mother who worked long hours outside the home or an aunt who worked at a traditionally male job.

You can learn about feminism by seeing it in action when you’re young and embracing it without thinking about it. You can also learn more about it and embrace it when you’re older, though.

You might come from an older generation that sees more gender distinction regarding jobs and industries. If you work alongside women, though, you will soon see that any thoughts about female inferiority don’t apply. Just like a man, a woman can learn a particular job skill, and they can prove their worth daily in the workplace.

A later-in-life feminist can advance the cause, just like someone who embraced the concept at a young age. This is additional proof that you can advocate for women even if you’re not one yourself.

Will Feminism Always Seem Necessary?

You’d hope we’ll reach a time when feminism becomes obsolete. We’ll no longer need the concept because women get the same rights and privileges males have without fighting for them tooth and nail. We’ve made tremendous strides in the last hundred years, but many women will tell you that we still have far to go.

Normalizing women as CEOs, women in the military, women in politics, and any other world that welcomes men should remain a societal focal point. It’s also vital you understand that you can support women and embrace the feminist cause regardless of your gender.

Some other countries continue to repress women, and feminism is far from the public consciousness. The very concept seems foreign. That’s unfortunate, but women in those countries continue fighting against this mindset.

Social media can help with that. The world’s connectivity helps identify the female plight in countries where women remain a repressed group.

Feminism continues along a long and winding road. It still has far to go, but it’s amazing how far it has come.