Feminist movement needs male support

Pick-up artist Julien Blanc has a “Ph.D. in female attraction,” or so the infamous “dating coach” claims. In truth, Blanc works for Real Social Dynamics, an American company specializing in teaching men how to win women over.

 

Real Social Dynamics, however, is more than just a male version of Cosmopolitan. A recent video depicts Blanc instructing men to “just go through Tokyo, grab girls and yell ‘Pikachu’ and put her head on your d-ck” before providing footage of him doing just that. As if this weren’t horrific enough, Blanc manages to bring race into the mix as well, proclaiming, “At least in Tokyo, if you’re a white male, you can do what you want.”

The video has garnered a good deal of online backlash, but, in the wake of Emma Watson’s recent speech to the United Nations, the company’s existence is all the more significant. Real Social Dynamics is the antithesis to the contemporary feminist movement, promoting misogyny, violence and racial stereotyping.

As for Blanc himself, the “dating coach” glorifies sexual violence on social media, where he posts photos of himself positioning women in chokeholds. “#ChokingGirlsAroundTheWorld” seems too preposterous to be real, but it is. In her article for the Guardian, Somayya Ismailjee points out, “These men epitomise the rabid culture of male entitlement and the toxic social enabling of violent hypermasculinity that puts women in danger every day.” Of course, Blanc’s actions are not the norm, but this glaring extreme proves that rape culture is still alive and well. Says Ismailjee, “That Blanc can sustain a profitable business out of promoting sexual violence with total impunity” reveals “the extent to which our society accepts … abusive attitudes towards women.” After all, what’s terrifying about Real Social Dynamics isn’t Julien Blanc himself so much as the existence of a market for these services. According to Real Social Dynamics’ website, dating “bootcamps” cost anywhere from $2,000 to $2,500, but “the VALUE of this program will MORE than exceed the cost.”

Certainly Blanc’s words in addition to the company’s motives as a whole complicate arguments against feminism. It’s hard to sustain the argument that male support is a no-brainer when men like Blanc are traipsing around Tokyo, grabbing women left and right. Such blatant misogyny weakens arguments such as that of Time magazine’s Cathy Young. In her Sept. 26 article entitled, “Sorry, Emma Watson, but HeForShe Is Rotten for Men,” Young claims that feminism “has too often ignored sexist biases against males, and sometimes has actively contributed to them.”

In the first place, some feminists have discriminated against men in the past, but it isn’t right to judge an entire movement based on extremist members. Watson explicitly states that the entire goal of HeForShe is to “try and galvanize as many men and boys as possible to be advocates for gender equality.” Perhaps critics such as Young do not realize that Watson is arguing for the very same thing they are. In her Sept. 20 speech, Watson acknowledged that sexism is harmful to all involved.

“I’ve seen young men suffering from mental illness unable to ask for help for fear it would make them look less ‘macho,’” Watson said. “In fact, in the U.K., suicide is the biggest killer of men between 20-49 years of age.”

Outdated expectations of masculinity can be as harmful to men as they are to the women they oppress and exclude. Watson acknowledges this in her speech and reminds listeners that feminism, by definition, aims for gender equality. Feminism is not sexism, but increased male accountability is essential in preventing figures like Blanc from perpetuating misogyny. While opponents of feminism are busy nitpicking, calling for a more gender-neutral name for the movement, real women are suffering from violence.

Owen Jones, a columnist at the Guardian, hit the nail on the head in a Sept. 24 article entitled, “Men need to stand together with Emma Watson against misogyny.” Jones cites some of “the terrifying statistics of violence” against women, “that more than a million British women suffer domestic violence a year, that 400,000 women are sexually assaulted annually, while about 85,000 women are raped.” His article also discusses the threat to release nude photos of Emma Watson immediately following her speech to the United Nations. The EmmaYouAreNext website turned out to be a hoax, but the entire scandal only proves Watson’s cause. Recruiting male feminists is essential in a society where women are threatened for speaking out against oppression, but men like Blanc are free to profit off of misogyny.

The integration of male voices into the feminist movement is crucial amid the unceasing patriarchy. In the words of Owen Jones, “A hand has been extended to men: it needs to be firmly grasped.”