Men shouldn’t be afraid to identify as ‘feminists’:

TO THE EDITOR:

Meredith Engelen’s column “Not all about bra-burning” (April 23) has the right attitude. There are many misconceptions about what it means to be a feminist. It doesn’t mean you are a crazy fanatic, but rather a human who realizes women are people.

There are different ways of making women equal to men in reality. I encourage everyone to educate themselves about the movements and use reasoned debate to see that the appropriate changes are made. It is logical and reasonable to look at the statistics that show areas of inequality and work to see them corrected.

Engelen’s editorial mentions that young women are hesitant to self-identify as feminist but doesn’t mention men identifying themselves as such. The stereotype of feminist men is that they aren’t masculine or they are lesser men.

Men do not need to be afraid about self-identifying as feminists because it doesn’t make men any less masculine for caring about women. There are many women in our lives that mean the world to us, and we should honor our respect for them by supporting a movement that aligns our conviction that women are equal to men with reality.

Although I applaud Engelen, she should bring congruence with her views of feminism and her role in The Daily Tar Heel.

The DTH refuses to adopt a gender-neutral language policy. Far from “bra-burning,” a gender-neutral language policy would be one small step where we, as feminists, can start eliminating barriers and norms that devalue women.



Jennings Carpenter
Co-President
Greeks for Greeks