OK men - we need to have a heart to heart with...men! 538 blog on the Gender Gap...

[stevenleser]

49. The question is "How to further rights for women and minorities without alienating the majority."

There is an axiom in feminism that says "Well behaved women seldom make History" which comes from a book by Laurel Ulrich. This phrase really applies to any discriminated against group. None of the famous activists from any group who made a difference were considered "well behaved" in their time.

Acting in ways that are considered 'ill behaved' in the eyes of the majority is often what is required to move the ball forward. The question is, does it sometimes hurt you at the ballot box in the short term if you embrace the more 'ill-behaved' activists or measures.

Clearly, the Republican party, and blowhards like Rush Limbaugh and others have profited from portraying activists as crazy and against white men and then tying those activists to the Democratic party.

The question is what do we do about it. Clearly we don't stop being active for womens rights or LGBT rights, etc.

I guess my first suggestion would be not to use language that paints white, straight, men as evil or stupid or any of those pejoratives. I dont think effective advocacy for women or any minority group requires that. I've seen way too many people even here on DU reflexively joke or make negative remarks about "white, straight men" and I have tried to raise objections when I have seen it. It does not help our cause.