How rare is the Gay + Feminist combo?

Most of the gay men I know would describe themselves as feminists. I wouldn't say it's at all rare--at least not where I live.

 

You called?~

It wouldn't be incorrect to describe myself as an "atheist feminist lesbian" but that's pretty specific, and to be honest I've had people get hostile from learning any of the three alone, much less together.

The way I see it, I'm just honest with myself and value logic and data above traditional values.

 

Most of the gay people I know are feminist.

 

I am bi and don't support feminism. I think these days especially in the west there isn't much point for it anymore. Feminism is not what it used to be back in the old days. I support old feminism not feminism which is present these days. Back in the 80s women used to protest for their rights because they were treated badly, now it's not about that. It's more about power, and which gender is better and it puts a bad name on the male side. Feminism is good, but only when it is used for the right reason.

 

I support feminism. But true feminism that calls for equality amongst the sexes, not this misandry crap that people try to pass off as "feminism".

 

Bisexual egalitarian so like, 75%??

 

Egalitarian and very Libertarian, but I would never identify as a feminist.

 

Under ideal circumstances, feminism and egalitarianism are synonyms.

 

I would say since the later 3rd wave and 4th wave feminism it hasn't.

 

I think people are mixing feminism and misandry. Feminists wants equality for both sexes/gender, misandrist want more rights for women.

I am a feminist and it's interesting to see that everyone on this thread who has said feminism isn't needed in the west anymore, happens to identify has male. No offense of course, but how would a man know whether or not women are treated the same as them? The reality is, even in the west feminism is still very much needed. Women are still paid less for the same work, still overpassed for jobs because they might want to have children in the future and it's safer to promote a man or to hire one, women still have to face not being taken seriously in male dominated industries and still have to pay for the privilege of being women (unless men also have to pay x each month for the privilege of bleeding) women also constantely see themselves sexualized and when they are not being sexualized for being women they lose the autonomy of their own bodies because some governments decide that they they know better what's best for them. So yes even in 2018 you still see women IN THE WEST, being forced to carry the child of their rapist to term because not doing so would be illegal and that happen not anywhere else but in Europe.

In my life I have had to.

- go to interviews where I was asked about my future plans (family-wise) knowing full well my answsers would determine whether or not I got the job
- Pay hundreds in period-related produts.
- Been made not to talk about periods ever because "it's gross" and act like being on them is taboo at best.
- be sexualised in hundreds of ways and sexually harassed on a daily basis to the point that when I go for help I am being told " well you are attractive what do you expect?"
- been threatened of being raped for being a queer women.
- Been raped to then be questionned about what I wore on the day and then be told I will "get over it" and that there are "worse things out there."
- been questionned about things I say that I have full knowledge of because " I am a woman so what do I know about that topic?"
- had to spend hours of my life hearing sexist jokes and statements cause "so funny"
- been made to feel responsible for men not being able to deal with their own damn hormones.
- and yesterday I was followed by a guy twice my age because he was into me and wouldn't take no for an answer.

This happened in the west. How much of this happened to you guys who say feminism isn't needed in the west anymore? Cause most of what's on that list happens on daily or weekly basis for me.


So no, I disagree. Feminism is still very much needed in the west and won't stop being needed until I won't have to pay more for the privilege of being a woman while still having men feeling entitled to my body and dictating what I do with it.

 

never said that love, I said old feminism is better then the new feminism system. It doesn't make sense these days people keep making their own verisan of it.

 

feminism has always been a very broad movement with many different groups making their own versions of it... whether or not all those versions are equally helpful is up for discussion but i don’t think it can be reduced to an old vs new feminism thing.

honestly, i don’t think i could’ve said it any better than @Linning. In response to @CuriousLad ’s original post: while facing oppression yourself makes it a little easier to understand other forms of oppression, it unfortunately doesn’t automatically mean people are willing to fight for the rights of other marginalised groups... for example, the majority of white women in the US voted for Donald Trump despite his overt sexism, and his racist and xenophobic ideals definitely played a significant role in that. The same sort of goes for gay men - just because they have to deal with marginalisation for their sexuality does not automatically mean they’ll stand up for the rights of other marginalised groups, for example women. In the end, gay men are still men and while they also suffer under the patriarchy, they also benefit from it in some ways that women (and even more so gay women) do not.
Also, there are a lot of (often incorrect) interpretations of feminism floating around (not in the least the stereotype that all feminists are hairy, ugly lesbians who want to get rid of men that has been around since the very beginning of feminism because god forbid more socially acceptable women would want to, i don’t know, be allowed to vote, right?) that sometimes make people hesitant to adopt the feminism stance or even resist it. That doesn’t just go for gay men obviously - even a lot of women will say they’re in favour of equality etc but refuse to call themselves feminists because when they think of feminism, they think of the stereotypes and/or extremes out there and don’t want to associate with that.

That said, i’m not sure if the rumour that gay men have no time to be feminist because they’re too busy to fight for their own rights is true. Feminism is not just concerned with women’s rights but equality for all ( certain branches of feminism do forget about that sometimes, unfortunately - but in my opinion feminism should not include improving women’s rights by throwing other groups under the bus) and lgbt rights very much fall under that as well, so technically the two are very compatible. But in the end gay men still form a very diverse group with many different political ideals so even if the rumour that they’re supposedly too busy with gay rights to care about women’s rights is false, that doesn’t mean they’re automatically willing to support feminism.

 

I kind of wondered where these guys live too. The idea that anyone would say that who lived in the present day US just seems mind-boggling to me. I was kind of hoping maybe they all lived in Europe and it was just that much better there...

 

There is no "old" and "new" feminism.

Feminism is about equal rights, that's it, that's the concept. That's feminism.

Anything that isn't for equal rights between men and women isn't feminism it's either machism or misandry.

Women who are for women having more rights than men are misandrist not feminists. Men who are against feminism are machist not equalitarian.

You are either for equal rights or you are not. Saying you are but don't agree with feminism makes no sense. The same way refusing to label yourself as feminist because of misandrists makes absolutely no sense to me.

You either agree with the concept or you don't.

If you do then why does it matter what other people who don't represent the movement do? Would you stop calling yourself gay or bi because some people misuse the label and invent your own word instead (if so, why haven't you?) or you just accept that people who misuse it aren't representative of the entire gay/bi population and don't take away from the label and its meaning and your experience? Cause it does seem to me like you are all happy to stand behind the gay and bi labels despite many people misusing them yet don't want to associate with feminism under the excuse that some people misuse the label. People who misuse the label aren't representative of the movement so it's a non issue. You either don't want to associate with any label that is being misused in that case well, good luck...or you acknowledge that there are always extremes to everything and that it's unfortunate but don't actually represent the movement or take away from the initial message.

 

Things are probably much worse for women (anyone really) under Trump's America than they are in most of Europe to be fair but, like I pointed out, it's ironically mostly men (worldwide) who tend to say " feminism isn't needed anymore". Isn't it very telling actually though that it's men who are talking about women's issues and declaring that WE don't need feminism anymore because this thread is exactly why feminism is still very much needed.The fact that I don't personally experience constant homophobia doesn't mean homophobia doesn't exist in "the West" and that gay activism should stop.
Yet some men (as shown on this thread) who aren't on the receiving end of sexism are happy to say sexism isn't a thing anymore and happy to agree (amongst themselves) that feminism should stop cause there is no point for it .


Very interesting indeed and quite ironic as well.