Men who are feminists exist, and I like them

By Gabrielle Jackson

In my final year of high school I got the award for ‘BEST BRA-BURNING FEMINIST’. My major drama project was a monologue about female inequality. The last line was: ‘We’ve all been duped and we don’t even know it.’

While I was proud to get that award, it had never occurred to me that I was a feminist. I thought that labels didn’t matter, but as time wore on and people stopped talking about feminism, I realised that without a label – without a word to call the cause – people forgot about the cause.

For a long time I thought women denied being feminists because they thought men found it unattractive. Feminism has never been about bra burning or man hating but it serves the interests of the patriarchy for people to believe it.

For change to occur, it needs men and women to believe in it. I was pleased, therefore, that when Sky Sports’ presenters Andy Gray and Richard Keys were sacked following their derogatory comments about women, some of the loudest voices condemning their behaviour were male.

I don’t care if they call themselves male feminists, feminists or Trekker feminists, men who are feminists exist, and I like them. 

Gabrielle Jackson is a feminist writer and publisher of this blog. She is travelling around eating kebabs. You can follow her on Twitter @gabriellecj