Outrage Over Calendar Shows That Even Tiny Acts of Feminism Rile the Haters
Marcella Leininger Kocolatos had a simple goal when she launched her Kickstarter project this week: to show that men can be feminists too. The 24-year-old NYU law student aimed to achieve that mission by enlisting 12 of her women’s rights–loving male friends to pose for a 2016 calendar dubbed Feminist Men of New York. Half the proceeds would benefit a reproductive health organization.
Before the first dollar was pledged toward her $1,800 goal, she suspected that her 12-month tribute might not be the perfect gift for everybody’s wish list. Maybe she’d even get some flak from so-called men’s rights groups who publicly take potshots at feminists. What she didn’t expect was that her well-intentioned calendar—and the dozen young men featured in it—would become the laughingstock of one sizeable corner of the Internet.
“I’ve never been publicly attacked on the Internet before,” Kocolatos said, cautiously prefacing our phone conversation on Thursday after having read an article that turned her feminist fund-raiser into a punch line. She paused nervously. “I guess that means I’ve been doing something right.”
At the time of this writing, the project had 50 backers and was about $100 short of its goal, which Kocolatos said would be used to hire her photographer friend, Juleigh Lucas, and cover the costs of printing about 80 calendars at $10 apiece from the publishing website Lulu.com. But despite measurable support on Kickstarter, Feminist Men of New York also has its skeptics.
Writers from New York, The Frisky, and Gothamist spoofed the Kickstarter with satirical headlines like “Calendar Will Finally Give Feminist NYC Men a Platform of Their Own.” Some critics took issue with male saviors being framed as the face of feminism when it's women who have been actively working toward gender equality for decades. Others questioned the effectiveness of the project’s old-timey calendar format, which in the digital age is typically reserved for ironic images of adorable puppies, shirtless firefighters, and bikini-clad women.
They’re both fair points: It would be naive to think that a calendar spotlighting 12 men who choose to self-identify as feminists could end systemic sexism in our country. Kocolatos, who will be starting as a Carr Center for Reproductive Justice Fellow at A Better Balance in the fall, acknowledged that the medium might not be ideal; she simply saw it as a means to package and sell a product on Kickstarter, with the end goal of raising money for a charity where she previously interned.
“They are not men who are demanding recognition for calling themselves feminists,” said Kocolatos, defending the calendar’s dozen featured guys, half of whom are law-school classmates. There are also a couple of actors, a construction worker, a soon-to-be-diplomat, and a guy who writes “feminist hip-hop,” she said.
The project may not be revolutionary, but it’s a small, symbolic gesture toward combatting long-held misconceptions about feminism. It’s the second effort this week to do so. When the hashtag #HowToSpotAFeminist spawned a flood of disparaging tweets such as “Usually fat and ugly, always inherently unlikable,” it was taken over by men and women who wanted to set the record straight: A feminist is someone who believes in gender equality.
“One of the tired stereotypes you hear is that all feminists hate men. I think it’s a convenient response to this,” Kocolatos said. “Well, here are 12 men who are feminists. So what about feminism is incompatible with being a man?”
Toward the end of our conversation, Kocolatos’ voice perked up as she saw a notification on her Kickstarter page. “I just got another pledge from someone I don't know!” she said. All the previous backers had either been acquaintances or friends of the men in the calendar.
“So maybe the negative press isn’t so bad.”
Related stories on TakePart:
• Hey Girl, Ryan Gosling Might Turn Men Into Feminists
• Emma Watson Is Sorry to Tell You, but You’re Probably a Feminist
• Comedian Aziz Ansari Explains Why You're a Feminist—Even If the F-Word Scares You
Original article from TakePart
