A message from stackedcrates

The issue I have with men calling themselves feminists is that they often do so to be loud about it. That's not your job. Your job, as a man who supports feminism, is to amplify the voices of women and to use your privilege to spread those ideas. I'm not saying it's totally wrong to identify as a male feminist, but perhaps you should be spending less time defending that label (esp. when women call you out on it!) and more time actually promoting feminism and letting the label follow naturally.

A reply from shychemist

I’m never hugely loud about it. I’m usually sharing and agreeing with women.

But men do have a role to play. I will be loud and vocal when I’m calling out sexism by other men. Or when I get an ignorant anon, I will vocally respond intelligently with facts.

The majority of the women on here have supported me, not challenged me on the label. Its literally only that one anon that had a beef with me identifying as a feminist.

Yeah, and you have, in the past, been pretty good about not being super loud about it. But you really haven’t, in the context of this particular debate. Again, I’m not (personally; not speaking for anyone else involved here) debating you calling yourself a feminist to begin with—but it’s not just that one anon that has called you out on you trying to defend your status as a male feminist. I’m calling you out—so have spacepetals, booksmakeme, etc. When women are telling you to stop, don’t argue back. If other women on here have a differing opinion, it’s okay for you to publish their asks and the like. But you needn’t be taking sides when feminism isn’t your movement to have.

(I didn’t have room to mention this in my ask, but this is quite analogous to the debate over cis/het people calling themselves allies to the LGBTQIA+ movement. Sure, it’s not wrong to be one, but defending the label should not be your end goal.)