Observe, from It’s a Jungle Out There: “Feminism… does not see what is for men the eroticism or fun element in rape, especially the wild, infectious delirium of gang rape.” Yeah, so sorry that I can’t get down with that necessary, giddy component of male bonding, crazy lady.

Sorry again, Ronan, but I really felt compelled to say something given the nature of this forum.

I do, however, agree with Nancy- a post about intersectionality would be a great contribution to this blog, and I think that the want for a broader voice in feminism and this movement would be a wonderful impetus for that.

Obviously not all people of color are sexist – Carmen is Puerto Rican herself, and there are a huge amount of black and Latino people at college and elsewhere I’ve met who are tolerant and open minded. I’m not discussing them in this post, I’m discussing the sexist people of all ethnicities I worked with, and mentioning “oh they’re not all like this!” is pandering to political correctness for its own sake, and a more offensive use of white privilege in its condescension.

I grew up with working class people of all colors around me, and I could write books on their positives and the things I like about them, and friends have told me stories about how rich families can be just as sexist; it’s not constructive to this post on a feminist blog.

I’m glad you shared your actual unvarnished opinions, without editing yourself (at least so far as I can tell).

With that said, you seem kind of racist and snobbish – you have this broad brush view of African American and Latino men as all being sexist brutes, Latinas all being submissive and working class people in general being crude, crass and abusive.

It’s truly unfortunate that the main thing you seemed to have learned from going to college is to look down on those less privileged than you are – and, quite frankly, the racial and class bigotry tend to cancel out your feminism (unless, of course, you only believe in equality for upper class White women).

Ronan I appreciate greatly your story, and Jonathon as a colleague and someone I am growing to admire more and more, I really appreciate your honesty as well as the awareness and courage to hold yourself and others accountable for our words and beliefs, especially in such a compassionate and open way. I will say as a white guy doing gender-based violence myself, one of the most important steps I have personally taken in this work is to force myself to more proactively engage around my white privilege – I am lucky enough to live and work in a place where there are resources and support for me to do so (white anti-racist organizations/trainings/etc.) This has helped me immensely to begin to understand some of the similarities and the differences between anti-sexism and anti-racism work, and how crucial what Jonathon talks to is – that if we do not place our work to prevent gender based violence firmly in the context of other oppressions, then it lacks integrity and effectiveness, and really in the end is not anti-oppression work. Rob Okun said it well in re to homophobia and heterosexism at the conference….

Anyway, one more recommendation for men at the level of awareness of Ronan is to get involved with this issue in a more structured way (not assuming Ronan is not!). Whether joining a pro-feminist men’s organization, writing regularly for a blog, starting a men’s group at your local school, etc this can be a way to continue to grow as a feminist, be challenged in ever deeper and more meaningful ways, and will be a HUGE contribution to a movement that still needs a lot more involvement (Stupak anyone? sigh…) from men as aware and open to engaging on these issues as Ronan and Jonathan. Keep up the great work all and thanks to Nancy for giving us the space to hash this stuff out!