[Smashpatriarchy] Message from Allison

[Peter Gill]

I’m gonna start this with a caveat, cause there are folks in Solidarity
Against Patriarchy<https://www.facebook.com/SolidarityAgainstPatriarchy?ref=hl&directed_target_id=0>
i’ve
got a lot of respect for, and i believe the group’s intentions come from a
well-meaning place. As well, in relation to the whole MRA ordeal last
summer, the formation of a feminist-allied group of (mostly) men did seem
to make sense, and i still appreciate the “Don’t be a creep!” poster
campaign y’alldid.

However, despite my initial support, a year later I’ve come to see SAP as
problematic, if not outright patriarchal. I’m realizing that “men educating
men” reinforces the idea that men are authority figures - even in the realm
of women’s lib. I can now see how this kind of (public) organizing cedes
more space to men, making their experiences, interests & concerns the focal
point of women’s struggles against male-centric environments. I am
concerned that SAP may be a kind of “safe space” for participants to avoid
having their privileges challenged, and opinions deprioritized by women.
Seeing that solidarity is never a given, I also worry that this kind of
organizing enables men to claim “feminist cred” while still going about
their daily lives treating women as their inferiors, never learning to
listen to their experiences. (Albeit, I will admit, this is not a problem
limited to this kind of organizing; there are plenty of doods who organize
-with- women and still act like know-it-all shits)

I’m not saying this because I want y’all to go out & find some women to
tokenize & take orders from (myself included in that). I’m saying this
because I was openly in support of the group when it first began, despite
many women’s concerns, and now feel it’s my responsibility to publicly
clarify that I am no longer in favor of this kind of organizing. I think
it’s been an interesting journey, and there are certainly some lovely
things that have come out of SAP. For me though, the problems are
outweighing the positives, and I can no longer give a thumbs-up on publicly
organizing as "mostly" men around feminism.

I realize what I’m saying may hurt feelings here, cause y’all have been
invested in this project for some time now, taking risks, experimenting &
all, but y’know – a year ago I was asked what I thought about men
organizing like this, and although my opinion hasn’t been solicited...
well, here it is! **
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