Women's issues / Men's Issues

Women's issues are men's issues first and foremost because everyone is living together in the same world. Any action that one group has, therefore, will have some impact, great or small, on the other group. This works both for the problem as well as the solution: you can’t have either without the participation of both groups.

The women's movement in particular is all about freedom. It's about the freedom to work different jobs and get paid fairly for them; it's about the freedom to express thoughts and opinions on a national and global scale through positions of power like the media and political office. Most importantly it's about the freedom to choose the kind of life that is appropriate for the individual – not what tradition or society dictates is proper.

This kind of thinking opens doors. It makes people question the idea that something is wrong just because it's never been done before, and that kind of thinking can only ever lead to more freedom for all people, men as well as women. If someone sees that a women had been voted into office - into a position that has mostly always been held by a man - and that women is shown to be as competent, effective and successful as any man has been, than that someone might think twice about condemning a man just because he is a stay-at-home dad. In addition that man wouldn’t be able to afford staying at home if his wife wasn't allowed to have a high-paying job, and if education wasn't available to her that allowed to qualify for that high-paying job, and if none of that happened than they might not be able to care for their kids in the first place - something that society condemns both men and women for.

A lot of the issues facing women have to do with stereotyping, whether that's about body shape or clothing choice or education and career options and stereotypes affects men just as much as women. If a women is shown to be appreciated for whatever type of beauty she possesses then it makes it a natural jump for guys with different types of body builds to be appreciated as well. This works the opposite way as well in that if the only women being shown on magazine covers are airbrushed, hourglass-shaped twigs, then the men magazines are going to airbrush muscles onto their cover models because they assume that if the present-day society is buying the women’s magazine then they must value the traditional view of physical beauty.

The issues facing women today aren’t really gender-issues at all but societal, and if we are to change them then our society itself must change, and that means progressing the thinking of everyone in it: all genders and all identities included.

LGBT Activists

                They say that change is happening. They say that laws are becoming more inclusive; that more and more political parties are using anti-homophobia as part of their platforms. But for the young child sitting at home, struggling with his sexuality and hearing the student’s from school chanting “homo” into his head, this isn’t enough. But if that child turns on his television and sees a person, an ordinary person, gay, like himself, speaking through the television as if directly to that young boy and tells him that that person (he or she or somewhere in between) is fighting for him; that someone just like him is making a difference in ensuring that young people struggling with their sexuality all over the world don’t have to be frightened anymore, then that starts something. Something is implanted in that boy’s mind and the mind of others watching the same thing, and that something is a little like hope and a little like courage and that boy, who might’ve otherwise overdosed on painkillers one day and never woken up, becomes a politician or a journalist or a lawyer to support the LGBT cause. Because activists don’t create change; activists create other activists who all work together to make an obstacle move.

            More than anything, The Laramie Project, showed us just how much work is still left to do for LGBT people to gain equality. Since Laramie is such a small town, what it really lacks is exposure. Without exposure to all kinds of people no new ideas can be created and the practices and mindsets that have been present for many years will continue to stamp out any small sparks lit in their path. So this is when the leaders become useful; people who are already in a position of power or in the public eye who can change people’s definition of normal. When people see celebrities they admire like Ellen Degeneres, Darren Criss, Daniel Radcliffe, Pink - some gay, some not - supporting gay rights, it makes them reevaluate their stances, if only just a little bit, and helps break down the barrier between the straight Us and the gay Them.

            “Celebrity” activists also help by bringing wider media coverage to certain problems. A good example of this is Lady Gaga with the DADT policy, that she brought worldwide attention to by bringing fired soldiers as her guests to the Grammy awards. The amount of people who watch the Grammys is significantly higher than the amount of people who follow the politics of the US army, and because of her small action she got almost all major newspapers and television stations talking about the policy. With her publicity, she was able to get people to focus their energy on a specific way to make change.

This is exactly what Harvey Milk was doing for the entire country when he encouraged supporters not to move to San Francisico so they could vote for him but to go back to their own oppressive towns, “to go back to San Antonio and fight.” He made fans into activists just by giving them a little inspiration and a little direction.

So yes, change is happening, but with the work of the activists, the people saying it aren’t a faceless “they” any longer. “They” have different skin colours, and different hair colours, and backgrounds and families and lives. “They” are Ellen Degeneres, Harvey Milk, your favourite singer who made a video for the Trevor project, and that kid in your class who did a presentation for Homophobia Awareness Day. “They” aren’t stopping the problems themselves but providing the inspiration and the pathways for everyone to do so. And they are giving scared people everywhere the idea that things will change because in Harvey Milk’s words “You’ve got to give them hope.”