Boys Do Cry

This was an awesome article. I chose it because I generally enjoy Valenti's writing and I wasn't disappointed! She brings up a really good point; men are also affected by gender roles. Because feminism is usually seen as a woman-centered movement, we don't often think of men and how they are affected. Women are taught to act a certain way but so are men! Why don't men care that they are oppressed just as women are? Hmmm.. because men's roles are celebrated. The reason that there are feminist groups and not necessarily men's groups is because there is no social consequence of being a man. No one would dare dispute the idea of raising boys to be masculine. Although this is true, not all men grow up to accept these gender roles. What happens then? Well..they are penalized for not being masculine enough. No wonder men are scared of feminism. They only know one thing; MASCULINE. So when someone starts preaching feminist values, what are men to do? Change sides, or rebel? No man would risk the repercussions of changing sides so they rebel! I really do not know where this leaves us..getting men to respect and understand feminism is going to be tough.