Don't forget about the men...

Several universities, including Manchester University and Oxford, have recently launched 'men's groups' - exclusive male groups that will "celebrate and explore the concept of masculinity". Not surprisingly, this has provoked outrage by many. Prominent feminists say these men's groups undermine efforts to achieve equality and that society in general is already male-oriented. Herstorian says: it's true that most social spaces are male-oriented. Which is exactly why we need men's groups to discuss masculinity and traditional gender roles. Alex Linsley, founder of the men's group at Oxford explains:

"There is so much conflicting information for men. There is massive confusion as to what being a man means, and how to be a good man. Should you be the sensitive all-caring, perhaps the 'feminised' man? Or should you be the hard, take no crap from anybody kind of figure?

Neither of those are particularly useful paradigms. But there's perhaps things we could learn from both perspectives."

If feminists really want to achieve equality, then they have to develop a more nuanced, complex understanding of the subordination of women - namely, how it is made possible by dominant female and male gender archetypes. Social equality for women is unlikely to be achieved simply by overthrowing old notions about what women should do, be and want. We need a similar revolution in how we think men should behave and what we think masculinity should mean.