How Men Can Be Allies in the #MeToo Movement

April 17, 2018

Writing for the Ms Magazine blog,  Sahana Dharmapuri and Jolynn Shoemaker provide some useful suggestions for conscientious, caring men who want to know how they can help achieve the goals of the #MeToo movement.  “It is important to recognize that this movement is not just about specific instances of sexual harassment and violence against women,” say Dharmapuri and Shoemaker, “It’s about the broader issue of men’s privilege and power—and the unbalanced dynamics that it has created, and the ways those dynamics shape women’s lives.”

The writers tell men that hiding their heads In the sand or “retreating to the sidelines” aren’t helpful responses. “You are the missing link to addressing these problems,” they remind men.  “We need your help to fix this. And we want to give you the tools to join this fight.”

Dharmapuri and Shoemaker say they “wanted to know why some men become committed champions for women, and why they think it is so fundamental to our collective future.”  So they decided to interview 75 such men from around the world, all of whom hold leadership positions and are active in promoting the rights and equality of women.

Read their blog post, “Feeling Guilty about #MeToo? Three Ways Men Can Do Something about It,” and see the suggestions that emerged from the interviews.

 

Posted by Letha Dawson Scanzoni

 

Letha Dawson Scanzoni is an independent scholar, writer, and editor, and is the author or coauthor of nine books. In 1978, she and Virginia Ramey Mollenkott wrote Is the Homosexual My Neighbor?, one of the earliest books urging evangelical Christians to rethink their views on homosexuality (updated edition, 1994, HarperOne). More recently, Letha coauthored (with social psychologist David G. Myers) What God Has Joined Together: The Christian Case for Gay Marriage (HarperOne, 2005 and 2006). Another of Letha’s most well-known books is All We’re Meant to Be: Biblical Feminism for Today, coauthored with Nancy A. Hardesty (Word Books, 1974; revised edition, Abingdon, 1986; updated and expanded edition, Eerdmans, 1992). Letha served as editor of Christian Feminism Today in both its former print edition (EEWC Update) and its website for 19 years until her retirement in December 2013.

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