Women Will Not Achieve Sexual Equality Through Man Hating

I watched the movie Invictus last night directed by Clint Eastwood, starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon.  It was a powerful story about the relationship between Nelson Mandela, the first black man elected president of South Africa, and a primarily white rugby team.  Just prior to his presidency Mandela was released from prison, where he spent many years alone in a small cell because of his involvement in the fight against Apartheid.   The story involves Mandela’s support for what was a primarily white rugby team, that to many was symbolic of apartheid.  Many Mandela supporters wanted to rid their country of the people and things from the apartheid era.  The Athletics Counsel wanted to change the name and face of the primarily white National rugby team.  They hated the idea of supporting anyone who had harmed and oppressed them.  While one can understand that reaction, Mandela believed that in order to end racism, to heal, and to progress as a country, blacks and whites had to work together.  Madela felt it was important that the rugby team was allowed to remain as is.  Because the local rugby team was watched by so many, Mandela became personally involved in support of the team, and through his involvement, he gained support from those who were once his opponents, and brought the races together.

Since I started this blog, I am hyperalert to anything I can relate to the struggle for gender equality. The movie reinforced to me the importance of forgiveness and welcoming the so-called enemy to join your cause, with open arms.  Mandela’s strategy was brilliant.  He realized that he could not achieve peace, acceptance, respect, and togetherness through hate, anger, and revenge.  Other brilliant leaders such as King and Gandhi used similar tactics.

For women participating in the fight towards sexual equality, there is no long-term benefit that will come from bitterness, or hatred towards men.  I have found that men can be some of our greatest supporters.  I’ve also found that one of the biggest reasons people are turned off by advocates of sexual equality is their belief that we are bitter, easily angered, and hate men.  A misconception that we are trying to take away men’s power and success, rather then share in it.

I’ve come across many men who are strong supporters of sexual equality.  Sure, there are some men who don’t and never will respect women, and I do my best to avoid those men, but there are more men who do, or who are at least capable of learning to see women as their equals.   I realize that some people are just negative contributors to society, it doesn’t matter what their sex is.  Hatred or reverse sexism does not, and will not lead to positive change, because there will always be connections between men and women, though marriage, other relationships, and work. Hating men will only lead to negativity, for us personally, for womankind, and for the world.