How to be Man enough to say 'I am a Feminist'

This week David Cameron refused to attribute the word 'feminist' to his beliefs in equality for men and women. There is a simple reason for this. The word ‘feminist’, over the past 40 years, has garnered somewhat of a bad reputation. A perception that has worked its way into our collective conscience. The general thought is that being a feminist is the reserve of a certain group of women. At the beginning of Summer I read Caitlin Moran’s ‘How To Be A Woman’. It was a brilliant book both content and entertainment wise. Amongst the humour, however, there was some very serious content on how men perceive the feminist movement. Below is the review that I wrote at the time and I feel it gives a good context to the predicament Cameron found himself in this week.

I have been meaning to read Caitlin Moran's 'How to Be a Woman' since it came out. Exams, and general life 'stuff', however, put my reading of it on hold but now, after emerging out of the other end of my first year University exams I decided to pick it up.

Now. Let's get one thing clear. I am a Man, so naturally I approached reading a book titled 'How To Be A Woman' with some trepidation. When I told one of my male friends what I was reading post-exams he laughed and said 'don't turn in to one'. This book, however, does not exclude men from its own branch of feminism. At one point Moran encourages women to stand on a chair and say 'I am a strident Feminist', adding that the men should do this too. And why not, I say? As Moran points out anyone who thinks it was ridiculous that women didn't have the vote, and let’s face it that is anyone in their right mind, is a feminist. The word 'feminism' has for far too long been something that has been dirty. Men seemed to have this weird unwillingness to use the word, even if they believed in the movement behind it. Even for intelligent, and well thinking men the word has often been hard to use. The difficulty with it has often come from other men, not the idea of feminism itself. If you meet a man down the pub and the conversation turns to feminism, more often than not he will start talking about women not shaving their armpits, (which they have every right to do), and ‘women who hate men’. Admittedly there are women who think this, just as there are men who hate women but Moran in her brilliant book opens up your eyes to a different world of feminism. One in which the simple belief that women should be equal with men is at the core of feminism.  

Part of the brilliance of Moran’s writing is combining her real life experiences, at their most candid, with her real, feminist theory. 

'Opening my cervix opened my 'doors of perception' more than drugs ever did - to be frank, all I learned from Ecstasy was that, if you're caned enough, you can dance on a podium to someone saying 'Time to go home now, ladies and gentlemen' over and over again on a PA.' 

She is, essentially, trying to make feminism (and I use the next word begrudgingly), 'cool'. For too long feminism has been perceived as something that is reserved for women and even then a certain group of women. I find it ridiculous that there are still women who will not declare themselves feminists, let alone men joining the party too. The thought that you (a) have to be a woman to be a feminist and (b) one who doesn’t shave their armpits is ridiculous. Moran is bringing this to the forefront of people's minds with an incredibly witty, truthful and correct book. I urge you all, male or female, to read it.

They were my first thoughts upon encountering Caitlin Moran’s genius writing and they were, again, brought to the forefront of my mind when David Cameron refused to admit to being a feminist. He has now since gone back on his initial denial and announced that of course he is a feminist. And of course he is, if our Prime Minister didn’t believe in equal rights for men and women I would be very worried about the state of our nation. It may have been too little, too late from Cameron, but at least he is heading in the right direction. Men, to finish, I ask you one question. Do you believe that women should still have the vote? If the answer is yes then you are a feminist and you, unlike Cameron, should be Man enough to admit it.