Framing ‘men in feminism’: theoretical locations, local contexts and practical passings in men's gender-conscious positionings on gender equality and feminism

Abstract

This article addresses some aspects of the ‘Man Question’ in feminism, by way of the analysis of men's diverse gender-conscious positionings in relation to gender, gender equality and feminism. It builds on earlier work, making use of theoretical models in feminist literature combined with the micro-sociological concept of passing. The article is primarily concerned with the theoretical and empirical complexities, contradictions and ambiguities of men's positionings, as when they are self-defined as ‘feminists’ (or similar identifications) in radical or deconstructive ways. In this, Swedish interview data are used. Sweden is considered particularly interesting, with a qualified societal consensus on gender equality and a broadly positive place accorded to men's relations with feminism. The authors argue in the final section that there is a need to further dialogue between analyses of men/masculinities and the multidimensionality of feminisms, as well as a need for more empirical studies of men's different (pro)feminist positionings in order to elaborate the theoretical implications of different social contexts. The framing presented seeks to provide greater possibilities for such complex, nuanced and situated understandings of men's relation to feminism, theoretically, analytically and politically.

Keywords:

• feminism
• gender equality
• men
• masculinity
• passing
• positioning

Notes

 1. In Sweden there is often no or less apparent contradiction in men using the term ‘feminist’; indeed the term ‘pro-feminism’ is sometimes viewed as somewhat academic, too specific or even unnecessary. This is also often the case in the academic literature on men and feminism and it was rare that the men interviewed found it important to refer to themselves as ‘pro-’. At the same time we acknowledge the prevalence of different ideological and theoretical perspectives within feminism as to whether men could or should call themselves feminist. To bridge these contextual and conceptual discrepancies we will use the term ‘(pro)feminist’ throughout the article, except for mere citations and encapsulations. For the sake of readability, ‘(pro)feminist’ works as an abridgement for ‘feminist or pro-feminist’. This will then include both how Swedish men usually refer to themselves and what in Anglophone contexts might be referred to as a ‘pro-feminist’ position.

 2. The sex/gender distinction used in English is not exactly paralleled in the Swedish language, as in many other languages. Terms that appear to have a broad correspondence to ‘sex’ in English, such as ‘male’ and ‘female’, are often used in Swedish when referring to ‘gender’. This raises some complications in the use of such words in English as ‘man’, ‘male’, ‘masculinity’ and ‘manly’. As a consequence, a notion such as ‘male feminism’ can have a double connotation, suggesting that there could be both ‘(biologically) male feminism’ and ‘manly feminism’. For this reason, in the remainder of this article we use ‘male’ in inverted commas along with the terms, ‘man’ or ‘men’.

 3. R.W. (now Raewyn) Connell began the book, Gender and power (1987), with five reasons why heterosexual men might detach from defence of patriarchy against entrenched interests to maintain it. For example the beneficiaries can come to see the oppressiveness of the system, wishing for a better situation in life for women and other men around them. In the same year Hearn concluded (1987) with six ‘material reasons for men to change against patriarchy’: increased possibilities of love, emotional support and care for and from other men; benefits from increased contact and work with children; improved health; creation of conditions for transformation of capitalism; avoidance of other men's violence and fear of men, killing, being killed; and reduction of the likelihood of nuclear annihilation.

 4. For example in the UK Men's Movement (UKMM) and the UK-based direct action group Fathers 4 Justice (F4J).

 5. Examples include the European Profeminist Network (http://www.europrofem.org); the Ending gender-based violence project (Ferguson et al. 2004); Critical Research on Men in Europe (http://www.cromenet.org); and the International Network for the Radical Critique of Masculinities.

 6. The longest continuous government apparatus on men and gender equality is the Finnish Subcommittee on Men's Issues established in 1988 within the Council for Equality between Women and Men. The UN Division for the Advancement of Women has promoted ‘The role of men and boys in achieving gender equality’ (http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/egm/men-boys2003/). The Council of the European Union passed positive recommendations on men and gender equality in 2006. This theme was a priority in the 2006 Finnish EU presidency (Varanka et al. 2006). The UK government recently provided limited finance to the Coalition on Men and Boys in 2008 for a policy report on men and masculinities.

 7. To get hold of interviewees a short text declaring the wish to get in touch with men who call themselves feminist/pro-feminist/anti-sexist was sent out to major Swedish email lists, both ‘non-political’ and (party)political. Thereafter the call spread itself to smaller networks and through word-of-mouth. Interviewees hereby come from different parts of the feminist movement and are scattered geographically.

 8. By using the term ‘radical’ it is not intended to put the narratives into a uniform theoretical perspective or singular feminist ideology; rather it points to a more general aim at a thorough restructuring of society and a shift in the very meaning or existence of gender, rather than ‘merely’ a levelling-out of power relations.

 9. In the Swedish language, it is possible to make verbs out of nouns by putting the letter ‘a’ at the end of the word. This is somewhat difficult to translate since the verb for ‘to feminist oneself’ (‘feminista sig’) in Swedish is not correct grammatically, although fully understandable in English.

10. In this interview Sven is the one to bring cleaning up as a concrete example. It has its place in a broader discussion on the problem and lack of gender equality among heterosexual couples living together. Although a statement like this brought out of context could just as likely be interpreted (and criticised) to be a functional performance or cognitive reframing, in some cases within feminist discourse, taking more responsibility for household chores is one of the most frequent examples in the study of (pro)feminist practices in everyday life.

11. Since the analytical scope of this article is focused on (pro)feminist positions and passings as (pro)feminist in social settings, issues of doing masculinity (here through competitiveness) are not analysed further. For more critical accounts of gender, narrative performance and negotiation of control over the presentation of (pro)feminist positions in interviews, see Egeberg Holmgren (2008, 2009).

12. Such a positioning for men has a longer history than may often be realised. In the US context examples include Unbecoming men (Bradley and Danchik 1971), Effeminist manifesto (Dansky et al. 1977) as well as the more well-known work of John Stoltenberg (1989).