OPPOSITION: The #IAmSexist movement challenges men around the world to stand up to violence against women.
By Shelbie Nelson, Staff Writer
The New York Times recently published article “#IAmSexist,” by Emory University’s professor of philosophy, George Yancy, challenges many opinions based on the #MeToo movement. Yancy shares his opinion on how men should respond to the current feminist trends. Yancy explains his balance of feminist support and maintaining his masculinity while referencing many of the #MeToo stories, including the Brett Kavanaugh hearings and the Harvey Weinstein, Charlie Rose, and Bill Cosby accusations.
With all of the recent issues regarding female safety and equality, it’s become difficult to be just a bystander. Women standing up for themselves is a fairly new concept. Historically, women have played submissive roles under men, with few rebelling against this unspoken rule, but now the dynamic is shifting for the better. Due to this dramatic shift, men across the nation are being given an ultimatum, to stand up for women with the risk of losing their masculinity, or to stay silent with the risk of being seen as a supporter of the accused.“Certainly, some of us men have spoken out on behalf of women. But many more of us have remained silent. Some have kept silent out of fear of being judged, fear of criticism or censure, others out of genuine respect,” Yancy describes. Many men simply don’t know how to respond to the explosion caused by the #MeToo movement.
The confusion and controversy that accompanied the accusations of sexual injustice and overall inequality against women inspired Yancy to create the #IAmSexist movement. Generally, men fail to be voices for the women that aren’t being heard in today’s society and Yancy recognizes this, declaring “[W]e, as men, need to join in the dialogue in ways we have failed to in the past. We need to admit our roles in the larger problem of male violence against women.” There’s no better time to act than now, and that’s what the whole movement is about. If more men decide to stand with women in their fight for equal rights, it will no longer be men against women, but rather human beings against injustice.
The #IAmSexist movement provides a whole new point of view for not only the men of America, but also for the women of America. It’s time that men stand with women and that we all speak up against sexual violence and inequality as a whole.