So sieht eine feministische Männerkonferenz aus

Der britische Guardian berichtet über die in New York stattfindende International Conference on Masculinities, zu der, wie es in dem Artikel heißt, "die Besten und Klügsten zusammengekommen sind, die in der Männlichkeitsforschung tätig sind":

Hundreds of academics and activists will attend sessions over four days. Facebook chief operating officer and feminist Sheryl Sandberg, fresh from launching her #leanintogether campaign for gender equality, is among the speakers, and author Naomi Wolf is chairing a session.

Folgendes passiert dem vor Begeisterung ganz hingerissenen Guardian-Autor zufolge auf der Konferenz:

John Bailey, a graduate student at Rutgers University in New Jersey, and Brenna Harvey, a grad student at the University of Connecticut, are showing a group – an even mix of men and women, mostly in their 30s, mostly graduate students studying gender – the fruits of their research into bronies: men who like My Little Pony. They have been studying a particularly extreme subset of bronies, they explain. Men who fetishise the ponies. The pair bring up a screengrab. One brony has posted a picture of a My Little Pony wearing sunglasses and drinking lemonade by a pool. In the comments beneath, the poster has made the fatal mistake, at least within this community, of admitting that he lost his "wizard eligibility 26 years ago" – has had sex with a person – and that he does not "clop" – that is, masturbate – to the images. Another brony had responded immediately: "Go be normal somewhere else, faggot."

(...) Even in a group of "self-described nerds" who meet up to fight each other with foam swords, there are parallels to the ways women are held back in more mainstream society. But the conference will offer some hope for men, too. In one presentation, attendees learn that shed ownership is proving a real boon to gender equality in Ireland. In another, we learn that some men in the US are showing real progress in "friendship labs" – designed to teach men how to be friends with one another.

(...) Bailey and Harvey had found that there was a community on the image-based bulletin board 4chan of men who like My Little Pony. Within this community, having sex with a real person, in real life, is seen as a negative – and not "clopping" is a form of heresy.

(...) After the talk, Bailey tells me that one of the main takeaways from the pair’s research is that it adds to the understanding of how and why even young men can "reject feminism so aggressively and so vehemently".

(...) "We have to help men see that equality is not just the right thing to do, but actually beneficial for them," Sandberg said. "Men who lean in at work and support women do better." According to Sandberg, it’s the same in the home. One of the most notable parts of her campaign is its introduction of the word "choreplay" – introducing men to the idea that those of them who share the housework and childcare with their partners get more sex than those who do not.

(...) At a talk called "Engaging men and boys for gender equality," I had expected a lot of activist-type rhetoric about getting men to sign up for emails, or turn up at marches, or wear badges. But much of the discussion I heard was about identifying what was wrong with men, and working to fix it. (...) Presumably most men don’t want to conform to a state of being an arsehole, but often we still do.

Stehen Ihnen nicht auch Tränen in den Augen, wenn Sie von so etwas Schönem lesen wie dieser Konferenz? Männer, die statt Sex zu haben vor My-Little-Pony-Bildern onanieren? Kämpfe mit Schaumschwertern als Teil einer akademischen Veranstaltung? Männer, denen versprochen wird, dass Frauen öfter für sie die Beine breit machen, wenn sie im Haushalt mehr anpacken? Männer, die, statt mit politischem Aktivismus ihre Zeit zu vergeuden, lernen, warum Männer so oft "Arschlöcher" sind? Und echte "Freundschafts-Labore" und "Gefühlsräder", die selbst diese "Arschlöcher" vielleicht eines Tages dazu bringen können, Freundschaften und Gefühle zu entwickeln und so vielleicht sogar zu echten Menschen zu werden? Das Bundesforum Männer hätte es nicht besser hinbekommen.