Title: Why men should care about gender stereotypes - The F-Word
Headings: Why men should care about gender stereotypes
Why men should care about gender stereotypes
Alex Gibson considers the harm done by stereotypes of men as beer-swilling, emotionally-stunted brutes

Content: A lot of men don’t realise that instead of feeling troubled because they fail to fit this mould, they should be rejoicing in breaking free of it. Let’s start converting some more men to feminism: considering the problems caused by gender for women is a fantastic way to make them think about how gender also holds them back. It worked for me
Feminism has taught women who are prepared to listen that their traditional gender roles needn’t be upheld as a good thing, that to branch out from the way women are ‘supposed to be’ is a way of marking yourself out as independent and intelligent. Men simply haven’t got anything to raise their consciousness about this issue: we are still, as a gender, wedded to these damaging ideas of manhood that do nothing but churn out generation after generation of men unable to aspire to any goals worth having. So what can we, a group of individuals who clearly care about gender equality and despise gender stereotypes, do about this? Granted, it isn’t fair of men to expect feminism to deal with male gender stereotypes as well as female ones, and I don’t for a second they should, but it is a problem that affects all of us. A prevailing culture of stupidity just isn’t good enough for men or women, even if the former often don’t realise it. Men can be the attentive and understanding partners that women want, and it is a tragic shame that society has conditioned the male mind to reject this sensitivity as weak and inappropriate.