BEING MALE IN A FEMINIST CULTURE

Janice Fiamengo (fiamengo@uottawa.ca)
Professor of English, University of Ottawa

Abstract

According to our dominant cultural narrative, men in western societies are privileged and powerful, and have used their power throughout history to oppress and control women. Men's own accounts of their experiences, however, tell a very different story. They highlight how it feels to believe, with justification, that one is unwelcome--even despised--in one's own society. Such stories of alienation must no longer be ignored. We can keep on telling men that when they articulate experiences of powerlessness and injustice, they’re really just bitter about sharing power with women, but the sting of the injustice will not thereby diminish. We can keep on showing men that if they object to the feminist story, a massive arsenal of shame will be unleashed upon them, but that will only increase men’s anger and withdrawal.

Keywords: feminism's false narrative of male privilege; men's experience; injustice against men

Author Biography

Janice Fiamengo, creator of the Fiamengo File YouTube series at Studio Brulé, is a writer, Professor of English, and advocate for men’s issues. She teaches literature at the University of Ottawa and is the author of The Woman’s Page (2007), a study of early Canadian female journalists, as well as of numerous periodical essays and edited books. She has also published online articles criticizing feminism and political correctness in journals such as PJ Media and Front Page Magazine. She lives in the Thousand Islands region of Ontario with her husband, poet and songwriter David Solway.

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