Do you consider yourself to be a feminist?

One of the joys of social media are the accidental meetings one has when two worlds meet. My interest in politics and Twitter led me to follow an energetic Twitterer whose politics was entertaining, first, and feminist, second. Over time it became clear that she was/is an anti-feminist feminist and cast her net broader than usual in exploring attitudes. Recently she asked 'any men following [in the Twitter sense] me' to answer five questions about feminism. here are the questions and my answers.

Q1: Do you consider yourself to be a feminist?
No.

If so, why? If not, why not?
As far as I am concerned the term is gender specific. It describes a political/social outlook taken by women.

From my point of view I would have to be described as pro-common sense/anti-prejudice, or some such horrible and clunky phrasing.

Q2. Look at this list of speakers for a forthcoming Feminism In London conference.
http://www.feminisminlondon.org.uk/p_speakers10.ikml As you can see there are no men speakers scheduled. Would this put you off attending such an event? If not, please elaborate.
The gender of the speakers wouldn’t be the issue. My concern would be about the perceived gender exclusivity of an event like this. I sense a virtual sign up on events like this that says “MEN – KEEP OUT”. Turning up would be a mistake. I mean, we’re all rapists, wife beaters and ne’er do wells aren’t we?

Are there any issues you would like to see discussed at feminist events that are not represented here? What are they?
I wouldn’t want to alter this specific programme but the topic that I would be interested in at some point would be “Feminism: change and achievement across two generations”. Something that acknowledges that so much has been done and sets out the vision for the future. What’s next?

Q3. Do you have any other comments on how you perceive feminism to be at the moment? Especially from the perspective of being a man?
There’s a part of me that says “Feminism? Is that still going on?” and I wonder what the struggle is about these days. I’ve grown up with 40 years of bra-burning, abortion-campaigning, glass ceilings, super-women, contraception debates and the social education of rape and I wonder….what battles remain? How will feminists know when they’ve won?

The language is pertinent. Battles, victory; feminism comes over as a crusade, a channelled anger of confused victim and hero worship.

In some ways the Feminist struggle seems to me to have been overtaken in relevance and energy by the LGBT movements. This summer’s Pride events in London and Europe are celebrations, happy places not nasty snarling angry corrals of inverted prejudice.

But there’s also a part of me that says “It’s cool. Feminism, it’s like a club. It can do what it wants as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone. Live and let live.” I mean, feminism is just the political wing of the Women’s Institute, isn’t it?

So what do I really think?

I think the world is tired. Or maybe that’s just me. Tired of everyone wanting to be special, to be treated differently; tired of demands for this and that with no sense of ‘give’ to go along with the ‘take’. Tired of every little issue being a ‘crisis’ or a ‘tragedy’, of every slight being a ‘contravention of Human Rights’. Come on. There are real disasters, tragedies and injustices in this world, usually far far from our shores. And closer to home we have so much to do to get the fundamentals right: basic literacy, basic health, decent general education. For all.

Feminism is fine. (I’ll wear that T-shirt). But it’s exclusive. And I don’t want to live in a world divided. I want to live in world connected. An inclusive world. A world of respect, common-sense and pragmatism.

Enough already.

Q4. Where do you live? (e.g. UK, Ireland, USA etc)
UK

Q5. What is your ethnic origin?
White British, apparently. Although culturally I’m European with a heavy dose of South-East Asian thrown in for good measure.

I’m straight. White. No physical handicaps. Married, middle-aged and mortgaged. Privately educated. Radio 4 listener, Times reader. Oh dear, there’s no hope for me is there?

Thanks again. All responses will be kept completely anonymous. I will send you any articles that this leads to.