Leslie Armstrong
Arts Editor
@peachcrate
Watch out for the “white knight,” these so-called male feminists who wear their identity like a badge on their sleeve and claim to support women’s rights. They also treat women like damsels in distress, rushing to their aid and stunning them with chivalry. The biggest problem with white knights is that they aren’t feminists at all.
A term coined by no one in particular and easy to locate on urbandictionary.com, the recent phenomenon of “white knighting” or “the white knight syndrome” happens when a man openly claims his respect for women in front of women, but cancels it out by treating them like victims who don’t know how to fend for themselves.
Famous white knights like comedian Andy Samberg are making the public wonder if there’s something in it for men. Samberg strutted across the stage in a National Organization for Women T-shirt at the Spike TV awards back in 2007, and when the public questioned his motives, he later told Nerve that it was “totally sincere.”
Samberg may be using feminism as a way to get girls to drool over him, and that isn’t cool. But for the world to waste their time speculating over whether or not the comedian is a douchebag is a waste of time.
Because of the way the public has treated him since his stand on national television, most men feel discouraged about doing similar actions.
Although there’s no mistaking the sickly-sweet chivalry of “Greg F” from Illinois (@irespectfemales on Twitter) who tweets relationship advice and empowering messages for women, the public shouldn’t be allowed to wage war on people trying to stand up for the women’s movement, simply because we don’t know what their motives are.
How are we to know whether or not a man is sincere? It’s bad enough that we don’t call them male feminists. We give them the next best thing—they fall under “pro-feminism” because, supposedly, a man could never understand what it’s like being a woman. The feminist movement should be excited that men are taking part in spreading awareness.
And many men are doing just that. XY magazine, founded by Michael Flood, is a pro-feminist magazine that publishes articles on important topics like rape culture, gender equality, and recruiting more men into the movement. Why do we focus on the bad examples instead of the good ones?
Gender equality may not be widespread yet, but shooting down our supporters isn’t going to affect any change. Even if we’re right about Andy Samberg using feminism as his crutch, the feminist movement needs to pick its battles. For now, let’s work on putting an end to violence against women and unequal pay in the work force. In the meantime, let a man open a door for you.
