Man, not Men--Kellen Gable

In Kimmel’s “Masculinity as Homophobia” he talks about the paradox of men having power but feeling powerless. I think men feel this way because they do not see men as a group, they see themselves as individuals because any time they are confronted with the notion that they as men have power they almost always say “No I don’t, and here’s my specific experience and why I think I have no power.” They seem to only see man, not men. I have talked to a man about the wage gap before and his argument was that he worked with women doing the same job and he got paid less than them when he started. Which makes sense because they had years of experience and he had one day. (He was also promoted about a month later even though one of those women had worked there for three years).

The inability of men to admit their privileges makes talking to them about anything like the wage gap almost like a chore and I think that is why a lot of women do not bring it up to the men in their lives. They feel as if they will start a fight but that would not happen if men weren’t so defensive about it and every other problem had with them.