Should men be leaders in the feminist movement?

[kdmorris]

100. Most leaders rise to the position by consent of the people they are leading

During the Civil Rights movement, it was very unlikely that a Caucasian would rise to the same position as Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, etc. Without the support, help and hard work of other races than African American, I think it would have taken longer to get to passing the Civil Rights movement.

I believe the same holds true of feminism. I think that a man certainly could lead, but it's unlikely that one would rise to that level within a feminist organization. But excluding a man outright on the basis of him having a penis is wrong. But we certainly want the support and help of feminist men out there.

I'm disheartened by this thread. The original question and the subsequent responses seem to just set it up as another opportunity to bash men. I've long been upset by this male bashing ("I'm sick of men telling me what to do" makes it sound like that's all men) because my husband is a feminist - we raised 3 daughters together and he actually taught me a lot of what I know about feminism (I was raised in the Southern Baptist church... they don't exactly go out of their way to teach young girls about equality).

Now I found out that both of the babies I'm carrying are boys and I'm going to have two sons in June/July... and this has gotten me to thinking even harder about this. All men are not the enemy and I refuse to believe that my husband and I can't raise two men who are just as passionate about equality as we are, who are just as supportive and work just as hard to get women there as our three daughters. If they were to become involved in feminist organizations and the organization felt that they could and should lead - I would be honored. (though I think that scenario is still highly unlikely due to the nature of most of these struggles).