Hi there.

I think a lot of men dismiss feminism because feminism poses a threat to the norms of soceity, norms that directly benefit those that are male.

As one of my best friends says: “I wake up everyone morning, look in the mirror and thank my lucky stars I was born male”.

I think most men who dismiss feminism like to think that feminism isn’t fighting for equal rights, because men are oppressed to (supposedly). To use a common straw man argument: You won’t find one feminist who argues that the current system around paternity leave and children being placed with the mother after a divorce is right, yet many anti-feminists will tell you that’s so. You’ll find that most feminists recognise this as a problem and will argue that by allowing the patriarchy to continue, we are allowing a world in which fathers aren’t granted the same parenting rights. I find that most anti-feminists will argue that it’s because men are oppressed than women.

I think men are defensive because it’s hard and scary to relinquish power at the top when you’ve have it for so long.