Hey men, this is why you should support feminism

Read this article, please. Just read it. Thanks

http://jezebel.com/5992479/if-i-admit-that-hating-men-is-a-thing-will-you-stop-turning-it-into-a-self+fulfilling-prophecy

I have to say I read most of this article with an overwhelming sense of glee. "Damn, feminism is so totes cool and awesome!" would sum up my feelings nicely.

I really admire the author Lindy West, she has put together a brilliant summary of the issues and put layers of justification onto my already (in my own honest opinion) strong rationale why I support feminists. Jezebel was already a cool website but this is definitely one of the best articles I've read on it for a while.

I have a few comments on some specific points though:

Part 1: I think that Humanism developed as a movement before feminism really took off. As I understand it, it was mainly conceived as a legitimate belief system, alternative to religion. So it was never meant to be specifically fighting for feminism: but this is just one of its goals among many. Otherwise, agreed.

Part 2: Completely agree. A man denying that sexism is a problem, is basically a selfish bigot. It is blatantly obvious to me that it is a huge problem permeating the entire fabric of society.

Part 3: Very well explained. Tough, but keeping it real. Agree.

Absolutely loving Part 4. So interesting! I never even realised most of these notions were actually the case but it makes sense now - thanks for enlightening me! Of course a lot of vociferous men (including MRAs) would disagree with almost all of this, but they're idiots for it.

Also, more worryingly, some Evolutionary Psychologists would have a lot to say:

"The notions that women are better caregivers, housekeepers and should make babies rather than wealth, as well as the attachment of value to physical attributes, are genetic facts that have been evolved into the human brain during the Pleistocene era"...might be their general gist.

The science behind this has some value. It is controversial in some cases, and the confidence of the findings may not be 100%, but we can't really just discount it completely because we don't like it. This is one of the very few issues I have with feminism. I think it would be more intellectually honest for some of this to be accepted rather than denied, despite the obvious bad taste it leaves in the mouth. There is another, even stronger and morally robust argument than simply ignoring these findings: accepting them, but still not letting them stop what we want to achieve.

So here is the crux of my problem: is it really 100% true to say that the assumption that women are better caregivers is just a part of patriarchy? I'm not so sure. There is scientific evidence saying at least some part of it is genetic rather than just socially ingrained. And why deny this obvious advantage? It is a clear plus for women in my book. It may be stereotyping women to admit this, but not admitting it is just feeding the stereotype that women are irrational science-deniers. I simply refuse to accept that latter stereotype, from personal experience, it is utterly repugnant to me.

There is a part of me that almost feels that the article is TOO KIND to men. Why not accept the positive parts of steroetype, such as women are better caregivers, more in tune with their feelings, more resistnt to pain and have more empathy? Just because something is true, we don't need to live up to it if we don't want to. That's just fatalism. I think women are being too hard on themselves and should have their cake AND eat it, as it were. Why can't you be a bit superior to men, not just equal. I would still support that movement! There is certainly some evidence for it: humanity certainly needs women, it needs men a lot less. Let's get to equality first, I suppose.

In case you didn't realise by now, for a man I am actually quite pro-radical feminism!

The other points of Part 4 I accept completely.

My main point on this is: Even if the Evo Psychology arguments are true, so what? I don't think we should reinforce stereotypes that we find objectionable. Let's try making women at least equal and see where it goes. Let's try making the future for ourselves that we think we deserve and should have, not the one that would seem to have been predetermined for us.

It is a bitter pill to swallow admittedly, but at the end of the day I believe it is just a placebo (see what I did there?) which won't adversely affect our chances of making "Movement Feminism" work.