Troubling coalitions. Some remarks on the (hardly audible) voice of pro-equality men’s groups in gender equality advocacy

Abstract

This paper sets off to outline some reflections on the subject position occupied by pro-equality men’s groups within overarching discourses of gender equality. Discussion makes reference to the cases of Men Engage Europe and Maschile Plurale, two loosely organized networks of men that support gender equality in different ways at the EU supranational-level and the Italian national-level respectively. Fragments of the voices of these organizations were gathered during two semi-structured interview conducted in the context of my doctoral fieldwork. This paper argues that men supporting gender equality attempt to participate in feminism from the difficult position of ‘unspoken’ subjects. More specifically, I argue that the tension between narrative of inclusion and narratives of ‘sisterhood’ within feminism produce overarching discourses of gender equality in which men’s subject position is unspoken. Based on these premises, I attempt to offer some reflections on what is gained and what is perhaps lost in the process.