As some of you may have been aware, there have recently been complaints made against the UUEAS Feminist Society for sexism against men. We aim to be as inclusive as possible – feminism, after all, is a movement towards gender equality and that involves everyone. However, we also aim to allow the voices of those who are oppressed to be heard over those who are privileged. “But Asia, that’s not equality!” I hear you cry. No, dear reader, it isn’t. Nor is the fact that most of the time in society the oppressed voices will not be heard over the privileged ones. It’s nice to have a space where your opinion is valued and people do things in a way that consider your well-being when normally, they don’t. Now (hopefully) you can start seeing why we do what we do. People also complained that we don’t have rules; that we just make them up as we go along. So I made a constitution. Read it, understand how we do what we do, call us out if we do something wrong. But please remember that if you’re willing to call us out on how we do things, you must also be willing to listen to us when we call you out and try to help you see things
from another’s perspective. Contrary to popular belief, feminism can be a man’s space too. I like men, just like quite a lot of other feminists. In fact, men are pretty important to the gender equality cause. When our voices are being ignored, sometimes you need that foot in the door, or that alternative perspective, or even someone more relatable to explain what the hell is going on and why everyone is so damn angry. So that is what lays ahead of you. A whole collection of writing by people more relatable to cis, white, heterosexual men than brown, bisexual, genderqueer me (they call me the quota-queen). Happy reading. I hope you learn something new!
Asia Patel
VOICE OF THE VOICEFUL By Charlie Goodkind "Calling all men / male feminists", the announcement said. When offered the opportunity to make our voices heard, we didn't hesitate. I had volunteered before I'd even considered what I might write. It was only after I'd asked to contribute to this 'zine that I thought about the way I had responded a bit more carefully.
but seldom demonstrated so clearly.
This is far from the only incident where this is evident; you can see it throughout every public discussion on feminism (if you can filter out the abuse and trolling, two other things that men seem to specialise in). No doubt much of the noise we make is well-meaning, but perhaps we might There's surely nothing wrong with expand our self-awareness in this men being enthusiastic supporters of regard. Privilege confers on all of us feminism. That's a victory. Femithe societal equivalent of meganism's goals cut across all parts of phones and, no matter how detersociety, and working around men is a mined we are, we can't turn the damn lot harder than working with them. things off. SORRY, WE DON'T Sometimes, they might even be able MEAN TO DROWN YOU OUT WITH to provide constructive input. But, as OUR SELF-INTERESTED CHATthe request for contributions to this TER. IT'S JUST, THE PRIVILEGE, 'zine all too clearly illustrated, we're YOU SEE. very quick to offer our opinions. I've The solution? We need to learn to not often seen a response like this to shut up. Not silence ourselves – such a request; we men, we male move along, free speech brigade – feminists, we allies - we like to talk but self-censor a bit. When we reach about ourselves. Not exactly news, for the keyboard, we should ask: is
this something that someone else will es and spread the word. say just as effectively? Is my insight unique to me, or is it something that will occur to another? Points 2 and 3 on the Geek Feminism Wiki's guide to being a good ally are to listen and not to make it all about ourselves. Even if we've got the not-being-a-shit bit down, we need to work on these two. We like to broadcast our opinions. We need to learn some restraint. Men, male allies and feminists: when you feel the urge to raise your voice in a feminist discussion, consider whether you need to make yourself heard. I’m aware of the irony in saying this; I’m trying too. On Facebook and Twitter, where many such conversations take place, the options to ‘like’ or ‘favourite’ a comment speak clearly whilst reducing the volume conferred by privilege. If you must speak, could it not be a blog post, a tweet or a status update on your own wall? We should not be ashamed to speak, but we must be aware of the context in which we do so. Right now, we’re filling feminist spaces with our racket. If we want to make a more meaningful contribution, we should take our chatter to other spac-
WHY ALL MEN SHOULD BE A LITTLE MORE LIKE THE GREEN CROSS CODE MAN By Joe Murphy Imagine this:
road, I mean.”
You are a man. In front of you is a discussion about feminism, but this is going to be an analogy, so in this case this discussion is a road.
“What do you mean?” you ask, offended. “Why shouldn’t I cross the road? I’m fully in favour of crossing roads. Anyone should be able to cross the road.”
“Hey,” you think to yourself, “I should cross this road! I’m interested in crossing roads.” “Are you sure you’ve thought this through?” says a voice behind you.
“I’m just saying,” says the Green Cross Code Man patiently, “do you really need to cross the road? Have you thought about my advice?”
I don’t remember your advice, I wasn’t alive in the 70s,” you say. “Aren’t you the Green Cross Code “Anyway, that’s what the road is here Man from the 70s?” you ask. for: to be crossed! If I can’t cross it, “I am,” replies the Green Cross Code that’s just unfair.” Man from the 70s, “but as this is an So you ignore the advice of the analogy, I’m also the little voice at the Green Cross Code Man, and you go back of your head you know you running out into the road, arms flailing should listen to.” as you charge towards the other side, You turn around.
“Oh,” you say. “What do you want?” “I was just wondering if you’ve really thought this through. Crossing the
calling out “But just to play devil’s advocate…!” Also in this analogy you are now driv-
ing the cars, and you’re mowing down pedestrians, who are now people’s opinions, like lots of little bulls making up one collective bull in a china shop that also sells unnecessarily mixed metaphors. You pull yourself onto the pavement on the other side of the road. Your head is bruised and bloodied from the articulated lorry of dismissing the experiences of others, your clothes are covered in the engine oil of making up hypothetical scenarios just to prove a point. “I just wanted to cross the road,” you say sadly. “I know,” says the Green Cross Code Man, sitting down beside you. “But you didn’t have to cross the road, did you This isn’t your rhetorical playground. There are people who need to drive on the road, and you’ve ruined their journeys when you could have waited to cross. I think you do remember my advice, don’t you?” You sigh deeply, because you do remember the Green Cross Code Man’s Advice. “Stop, look, listen,” you say.
You smile sadly and nod, partly be-
cause you know that you should have listened to the Green Cross Code Man all along, and partly because you’re very concussed.
“FEMINISM TO ME HAS MAINLY BEEN AN EDUCATIONAL PROCESS” By Josh Melling First of all, I want to highlight that my views may not be representative of everyone within the movement, but I think that is what feminism is about: diversity. Feminism can have many meanings to different people and understanding that one person’s feminism may not equal yours, to me, is highly important.
has also made it even more evident to me that people who oppose feminism or believe there is no longer a need for the movement are unequivocally wrong and need to perhaps take on board what mainstream feminism is about. If you’re against feminism, you’re against equality, and that’s not cool bro.
As I am not part of a minority group I feel that feminism to me has mainly been an educational process. This process has taught me about privilege and how to use this in a positive way to further equality and dismantle the patriarchy wherever possible. Feminism has helped me to understand the issues within society that I myself am not subjected to, which has given me a greater understanding of why feminism is important to so many people and why it is an essential movement towards a fairer and more intersectional society. This fact
One of the most important things I have learnt from feminism is that so much of society is ruled by and open to straight white men who are able to assert their power and voice their opinion with little backlash which in turn creates a culture of silencing voices of those in minority groups. However, to me the feminist space creates a positive opportunity for all genders to become allies and work towards the abolition of these restrictive societal norms, leading to low level structural change and the advancement of said groups.
Recently within UEA’s feminist circle there has been much debate about body autonomy where people have pushed their ideas onto others. However, society should not dictate what being a woman means or what constitutes acceptable womanhood. Said discussions have only lead me to believe further that ideas on gender roles that society have should not just be accepted they should be challenged avidly. To me, taking part in feminism can mean going to marches and being involved in demonstrations, but it also involves micro-level action, which can be debating with others or simply questioning what people say and calling them out when they are oppressive of offensive.
ONE GRATEFUL DAD By Nic Bouskill Feminism grabbed me when I was, what, 19? Uni seemed pointless, I wasn’t a happy student, but a friend dragged me to a lecture and there was Dr. Peggy Reynolds and her queer reading of Goblin Market and I was hooked, gobsmacked, the veil was ripped off, I could see at last, it all made sense and so on and so on. I went to all Peggy’s classes the next term, the next year, the only boy in 19th Century Women’s Literature, the only boy in 20th Century Women’s Literature, the only boy in Feminist Literary Theory. Peggy would ask occasionally for a ‘male perspective’ and I’d blush and mumble something, and never admit (why?) that as far as I could tell I felt just like my classmates.
the early 90s). Then I travelled the world a lot, then came back and got a job in a secondary school teaching English and Cultural Studies for a dozen years. And now I stay at home and look after two kids, and writing this tonight reminds me just how lucky I was that feminism grabbed me, changed me, explained me to the world and the world to me. I’ve been able to live a (more-or-less) feminist life, and when my partner had our first kid I went part-time (I had to resign before my headteacher believed me), and then I quit altogether when our second arrived. It makes sense; my wife earns more, loves her job more, has the kind of job where career breaks are harder to recover from.
So, I did academic feminism, followed There are lots of stay-at-home dads it up with an MA on Madonna videos now, right? It’s mainstream. Well, and the male lesbian gaze, or somekind of. I take my daughter to toddler thing like that, yes, really (this was groups most mornings. Mondays it’s
all mums or grandmas, Tuesdays the like this. same, Wednesdays I do coffee with (female) friends, Thursdays there’s sometimes another dad or two, Fridays not so often. It’s a bit like being in Peggy’s classes again, 25 years ago. I’m used to it by now, able (I hope) to express to the women I meet that I share their concerns, interests, lifestyle (ridiculous of course to generalise to the extent I just have). We talk sleep patterns, feeding, teething, crawling, walking, socialising, language development, more about sleep, potty training, last night’s tv, the weather, morning naps vs afternoon naps, we exchange tips, how to remove stains, we hand on hand-me-downs, tell each other how gorgeous each other’s kids are, we break up fights, we talk politics, literature, foreign languages, then yawn, get back to talking about sleep, how to get the kids to sleep. ‘You’re brave,’ one mum said one Monday, ‘with all these mums.’ And it’s not true. I’m just so very very lucky that feminism grabbed me way back then, and not only do I continue my academic interest in the subject (Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Sara Ahmed most recently), but I get to live
FEMALE TO FEMINIST When I was 15, if you’d mentioned feminism to me, I’m not proud to admit that I would have probably scoffed at you. Then said something along the lines of “We don’t need feminism anymore, women have it fine now!” (I’m sure you’ve never heard that before). I’m glad to say that I, and my views, have matured considerably since then; but I haven’t just got older. When I was 15 I was also living as female. It’s perhaps slightly ironic to think that it wasn’t until I transitioned from female to male that I ‘became’ a feminist.
taken me by surprise how many changes I noticed when I started to transition. Here is just a brief summary of some of the main things, because I could go on forever.
The complete lack of pressure or expectation to look a certain way. Growing up, I was always a ‘tom-boy’, and have memories all the way back to my early years in primary school of being teased and criticised for how I looked and dressed. In secondardy school I was teased about my hair, lack of make-up or bra, even my interests (Scouting, camping, outdoor It’s important to mention at this point sports). This way pretty much on a that I come from a privileged backweekly basis, at least, for the majority ground; I am white, able-bodied, grew of my school life. I am not exaggeratup in a nice house in the centre of ing when I say, since I started passLondon, and went to a very good, all- ing as male, I can pretty much dress girls school where they were very how I like and nobody bats an eyelid. passionate about creating a safe, People pay attention to me and take supportive environment for young me seriously. As a female, I rememgirls to thrive. It’s safe to say I was ber feeling constantly frustrated that pretty ‘sheltered’. But even coming people weren’t listening to me. When from the background I have done, it’s
they did listen, they didn’t take me seriously or would be very critical of my opinions. I’m certainly no more outspoken than I used to be – if anything I’m more so because I’ve gained a lot of confidence since transitioning. Yet I can only remember about 2 occasions off the top of my head where someone other than a close friend actually challenged something that I said. I can’t think of a single recent example where I didn’t feel like I was being listened to. People respect me. I don’t get wolfwhistled in the street. I get compliments based on my achievements instead of my appearance. Women are wary of me. I have memories of walking home through London with my keys between my fingers in case anyone tried to attack me. My mum’s partner got me breakaway/self -defence lessons. Now, I have had women cross the road to avoid me at night. And I’m not even very big or very threatening to look at – but I am a man. People think it’s weird that I like kids. As a female, when I said I didn’t want to be pregnant/give birth, people said I was weird or that I’d change my
mind. Now, they find it weird that I want kids and they find it weird that I like working with them. I’ve even had some really gross comments made by people.
Living as a female, I got used to certain things that I assumed were 'just how things are' and it didn't necessarily occur to me that it might be due to my perceived gender that I had those experiences. Considering the background I come from, I have been shocked at just how much I’ve noticed these changes. Now, I’m proud to call myself a feminist. But I think it’s sad that it took gaining male privilege to realise.
“I WAS BORN INTO THIS KIND OF LUXURY” By Jay Slayton-Joslin These opening lines should serve as nothing but a cold open about the reality of the writer: I am a heterosexual, white, middle-class, male. The only way my privilege compares to anyone else is the measure of what I have versus what they do not. Please understand, this is not a boast of any sorts, but to deny these things that I was born into would be offensive and patronizing to those who do not have the same luxuries I do. The thing is, it completely disgusts me that by chance I was born into this kind of luxury – and I’ve been spending some time trying to figure out why others in my group aren’t as appalled.
him why. This was something that struck me when I burst out of the bubble of naivety from youth – why? It dawned on me one day while talking with my parents, the harsh realization to the question that I asked; why would people be treated differently from factors that they cannot change?
Perhaps one of the reasons people struggle to understand the disposition of others is because to do so challenges one of the most unspoken thoughts in society, which is that the world revolves around me, and most people don’t appreciate the struggle of those in worse positions than themselves. All the evidence in the Back before Joss Whedon was discontrary to those binary figures may liked for the portrayal of Black Widow feel like an attack on their life, bein The Avengers: Age of Ultron, he cause they didn’t choose or create a was something of a hero to regular society like this – but they take place folk who wanted to see women emin one without calling it out, which repowered on screen. The days of inforces those glass ceilings. Maybe Buffy, and that famous speech when it’s because lots of gender writing is asks why he writes powerful women, rooted in academia, so one has to go he responds because people still ask through less accessible material than
the ease to access traditional, stereotype-enforcing material. Furthermore, one of the hardest parts to believe – past all the basic humanitarian level of caring and treatment for others, is the benefits that occur to these people who choose to follow through with enabling others and lowering the pedestal that they are on. Surely if, in this example, we have a generic male who is interested in casual sex – he would find the sexual liberation of females and want an end to slut shaming, so that without social fear or pressure he could sleep with whoever wanted to sleep with him, rather than the act being degrading? There is no magic bullet, as far as I am aware. The journey to equality is getting more and more coverage but also has more adversaries. It is ignorant of the privileges elite to want to change everything for their own benefit, but the fight for change should extend passed that, it should extend to their fiber’s of human beings, the one who feel bad for homeless people and don’t enjoy war in the world – they have to be prepared to correct others around them, and the hardest part, themselves.
“BASICALLY GUYS, DON’T BE A TWAT” By Jacob Holder “Basically guys, don’t be a twat”.
FemSoc has always advocated people being good and for me, the most If I had to sum up FemSoc in a senimportant lesson that FemSoc has tence then, “don’t be a twat”, would taught me is this; if someone is happy be a great way to do it. I’ll tell you doing what they’re doing, and what why; they do harms no one, what right do I identify as a male feminist (or “ally” if you have to attack their happiness? people prefer). Before coming to UEA And, even more importantly, if somethe ideas of feminism were in my one is unhappy with their life, you head; that of helping the oppressed, should ask them if they want your destroying oppression and generally help. trying to make people as free and Whenever FemSoc talked about happy as possible. FemSoc taught something that I, at the time, was unme the various forms that feminism sure about or that I thought to be can take; whether it be fighting for maybe not an example of oppression, representation in STEM subjects, I always took a step back, and concalling people out on language that I sidered why I thought that was. I am didn’t, at the time, realise to be offena white male. There are other aspects sive and…. well. The list could go on. to me, but I am a white male. I can But at the meetings, whenever we never truly understand the oppression talked about how we could help femi- that a woman faces every day. And nism a phrase that would often be because I identify as male, I can nevsaid at the end would be “basically er truly know what it is to be a womguys, don’t be a twat”. If nothing else, an. So, to try and gain some under-
standing, I will open my mouth and say “Sorry guys, I’m not trying to be a twat, but what does this mean?” FemSoc has never made me feel unable to say those words. It is a space where all are welcome, so long as you stick to the one rule, you’ll be fine, and the rule is “basically guys, don’t be a twat”.
“I LEARNT MY POLITICS AT THE COALFACE” By Liam McCafferty I’m not afraid to admit it, I’m a socialist of a very old-fashioned kind. My socialism comes from brass bands, picket lines and labour clubs: more Arthur Scargill than Sylvia Pankhurst. Growing up in a former mining village as its soul was shattered by the impact of the pit closures programme, I learnt my politics – forgive the pun – at the coalface. These were communities that were once proud and principled, now downtrodden and desolated, as unemployment, addiction, and social degradation crept in to become the norm. It was like our generation was flung onto the monstrous pit tip that grimaced the horizon of our village. This was the politics of ‘aspiration’ really looked like. But what does this have to do with the ideas of feminism?
way that transformed how they were perceived and perceived of themselves in their communities. Anyone who has seen Pride will recognise the similar effect of LGBT+ people. These experience are what led me to realise you can’t just believe in equality for one group of people, the struggle for equality has to be universal. The struggle for a fairer, egalitarian society is one that has to liberate all peoples and end all oppressions, if we to escape the vicious cycle of systems based on the exploitation of one group of people by another. It is at that moment I began to care about Women’s liberation and the ideas of Feminism. In the words of the late, great, Tony Benn, I learnt that we have to ‘tie our rope together’.
White working class men in the communities I come from are exploited in our sociSeeing poverty first hand in what made ety, which simultaneously structurally me care about inequality. The communidiscriminates against women and people ties like the one I grew up in were certainof colour. But can they benefit from cerly not egalitarian utopias. Deeply contain given aspects of that structural disservative attitudes towards women, crimination at any given moment? When LGBT+ people, and people of colour white workers during Apartheid were paid were part of the fabric. The process of more than black workers, they were in an struggle however can shift ideas. Women immediate sense benefitting from the were central to the Miner’s Strike in a
structural discrimination against black people. They however weren’t benefitting from the system as a whole, because both sets of workers were being exploited and paid less than the products of the labour. Likewise for women: the point stands. Men possess privilege in a whole variety of ways in a structurally sexist society, often in ways they may not even realise. That’s because it is a precisely structural discrimination, it is built into the system that permeates every aspect of our lives. Do white working-class men benefit from that system based upon exploitation? I believe not, but they can simultaneously not benefit from a system based on oppression and possess the privileges accorded to by possessing some attributes of the oppressing groups. It is precisely because we can never understand what it is actually like to identify as a woman in a structurally sexist society – we haven’t had the lived experience – we have to respect the rights of those women to organise in the ways that they are comfortable with. This means respecting women-only spaces, and if we are invited to be involved in those spaces understanding that our role is to be allies in what is their struggle. That means respecting their rules, their boundaries and their expectations. If we want to see equality between genders, the best way to achieve that is by sup-
porting and allowing women to empower themselves through their own struggle, not to insist on the parity between oppressor (men) and oppressed (nonmen). In doing that you are reproducing the structural inequality that exists in every other sphere of our life. You are aggressively re-asserting the patriarchy. I consider myself an ally in the struggle for women’s liberation because I believe in the liberation of all people, and the end to a system that is based fundamentally on the dynamic between exploiters and exploited. I will support women in their struggle whenever I’m asked to, and however they see fit. I know crucially, the best thing I can do is support anyone in liberation groups fighting inequalities manifested by the system, and work together towards creating a fairer, more egalitarian society for everyone.
ON BEAUTY By Lewis Buston guarded by metaphorical chastity belts. These metaphors provide a euphemistic way of discussing someIn bars, in football changing rooms, in thing we are uncomfortable with. Parclassrooms, in offices, with strangers, allel to this they imply an inherent frateam mates, colleagues, friends I gility and a sanctity around female have found it difficult to talk about virginity – that sex for a woman is a beauty. I am always trying to say loss of something rather than a hapsomething about attraction, or sex, or pening between two people. love and find myself tripping over my own tongue. As boys we are taught to Men on the other hand are presented be men, not to be human, and this with sporting, warring metaphors, the has left us with a central flaw in our most common place being the baselanguage. We are faced the inability ball metaphor: 1st base, 2nd base, to express properly our emotions to- 3rd base - home runs. There is a mowards women in a language that is ment in Alan Bennett’s The History twisted into a masculine shape. We Boys where one boy explains the use bulbous, steroid pumped words slow progression of his sex life to a that always feel clammy in my mouth. friend. He uses the metaphor of Words like ‘fit’ and ‘hot’ – monosylla- World War One and the allies march bles that won’t bely anything stronger through Europe, gathering land than sexual attraction. trench by trench, for his sexual advances on his girlfriend in the bedTake the metaphors that surround room, gathering confidence breast by sex. Women are given organic, fragbreast. These metaphors are dangerile, fertile metaphors for virginity: flowous because they teach men that sex ers waiting to be given or plucked or happens on two sides of a team, or a cherries waiting to be popped, all Content warning: descriptions of sex
war. It makes men subject and puts them in the role of ‘doer’, batter, soldier, and women simply as the enemy camp forced to negotiate terms of retreat. Sex becomes the slow requisitioning of land, one by one the loss of sporting ground, the puritanical protection of but inevitable loss of virginity. The final step is the home run, V day, Berlin. The other day on my way home I went out of my way to pick up a copy of the Evening Standard. I wouldn’t usually but there was a picture of Taylor Swift on the front. I love Taylor Swift. She looked amazing in the picture. I then went to meet a friend, the newspaper rolled up and erect in my bag. I tried to explain to him why I had gone out of my way but all I could manage was: “Taylor Swift is so fit…I totally would”. Even now I can’t articulate exactly what I wanted to say about it, but as poet B.H Fairchild puts it: “It occurs to me again that no male member of my family has ever used the word ‘beauty’ in my hearing or anyone else's except
in reference, perhaps, to a new pickup or dead deer.” That word ‘beauty’ is one I am going to start using more, in reference to Taylor Swift on the front cover of the Evening Standard, or the way the sea of my friend’s beard washes against the beach of his cheek, or the way my girlfriend looks drawing murals on her eyelids. Sex doesn’t have to be beautiful, but it definitely shouldn’t be epitomised by two boys on the W3 bus in North London saying ‘I could have fit two dicks in her’. “Beauty and beautiful are powerful words” and I am just putting them forward as a possible alternative to the blunt, euphemistic, out dated statements we currently have to be satisfied with.
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Front cover and borders by Asia Patel. If you would also like to submit a piece for future zines, please contact us using the details above or contact Asia directly!