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Thursday, Oct. 31
The Indiana Daily Student

Adventures in Manland

The average college guy has this weird idea of feminists that involves unshaved legs, burning bras and a general refusal to wear anything remotely feminine.  

It also calls to mind an angry woman.

It’s true that men often misjudge passion in feminists as anger.

Some men don’t understand this passion because they haven’t experienced the sexism and feminist issues women complain about. Or, so they think.

What men don’t get about feminism — the way I view feminism — is that women are not hoping to escape social oppression by begging to be recognized in Manland.

As if Manland is the greatest thing we can strive for, and feminism is about fighting the dudes who won’t let us into their guys’ club.

Actually, I don’t want to live in Manland. It doesn’t seem very fun there, either.
The social standards put on women aren’t just unfair for women. Gender stereotypes also apply to men.

A football player would likely not give up his career for a life in the ballet. He would be ridiculed by being called a girl, which for some reason has become an insult.

A little boy can’t pick pink as his favorite color.

Men can’t be stay-at-home dads without someone wondering what is wrong with them.
A frat guy can’t be open about his rom-com obsession.

Men and women have to meet somewhere in the middle to combat gender stereotypes on both sides.

Men shouldn’t be content in a Manland where they are also judged, albeit in different ways and arguably to a lesser degree.

Please don’t call feminists angry.

We are passionate about this issue because it’s been there since the day we were born and put into a pink onesie.

It’s been there since the very first books we read. Incidentally, even today only 31 percent of children’s books have female protagonists.

The general perception is that the ideal hero, society’s highest ideal of what a person should be, takes the form of a man.

My hope for the world of feminism is to change the way we view societal progressions for women.

I don’t want to be a man. I don’t want to start wearing a tie to convince you that I can become a leader or an intelligent, powerful member of society.   

Some feminists believe in condemning makeup or high heels.

For me, though, that would mean I somehow feel outward expressions of being a woman are demeaning in some way, or that being a woman is something I should learn to ignore in order to be taken seriously.  

I’m not trying to reach Manland. I’m trying to show that the female version of doing things has just as much merit as the male version.

I’m trying to make sure we’re all given as equal a chance as possible, and that applies to both sexes.

I’m trying to reach a place where being a woman is something to be celebrated, not overcome.

­— cjellert@indiana.edu
Follow columnist Caroline Ellert on Twitter @cjellert.

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