A Man's Feminism by Raja Jonhson-Howe (pp 610-611)

The writer brings forth a different perspective on the feminist movement from a male's point of view.  While he applauds and supports the accomplishments and progress made by the movement that has positioned women on a playing field far more equal than in the past, he argues the gender expectations on males remain unfair.  He feels the feminist movement needs to address the inequalities, which place specific roles on males from a young age that discourage feminine traits such as "cooperation, empathy, and desire for strong emotional connection".

The feminist movement has made great strides for rights but the effort needs to expand in scope to address expectations that can't be mandated....... ......We need to nurture all that makes us human, the feminine and masculine

 I understand the writer's view but not completely.  I think the author makes the assumption that all readers are familiar with the details of the feminist movement while someone such as myself is only knowledgeable about legal rights gained by women as well as independence as individuals.  It's pretty factual that women didn't have the right to vote and were rarely employed up until recent history.  It seems the writer's argument is solely based on social roles as opposed to actual inequalities.  There are no laws that say a man can't be empathetic nor that it is a solid feminine trait.  I feel the author does a poor job of distinguishing what is socially acceptable from a real plight like humans being denied the right to vote.

I agree that a range of qualities should be encouraged for males so we can "experience a broader range of human possibility".  I'm just not sure how these qualities exactly coincide with feminism and the feminist movement.  Outside of social construction, males have testosterone and females have estrogen.  Everyone is entitled to individuality but at the same time there are certain characteristics that should be emphasized that draws the line between man and woman in terms of identity.  I just don't think Johnson-Howe even slightly addressed my counter argument.  Although the passage lacks evidence and statistics the writer does make great use of appeals to emotion and value.  Overall, I am interested to hear more perspectives on the subject.

Ok bye.