Kimmel speaking on the TED stage

Bwogger Amara Banks brings you the scoop on last night’s lecture with sociologist Michael Kimmel on how to engage men in the fight for gender equality.

With the recent debates on campus about gender issues in society, Michael Kimmel’s lecture yesterday could not have arrived at a more perfect time. Simply titled “Engaging Men in Gender Equality,” he discussed exactly that, and opens the minds of Columbia students who may or may not have already thought that they were feminists.

He discussed the issue that women have been articulating for centuries—men need to realize that gender inequality exists, sucks, and should not be a societal norm. Another plus: he delivered his ideas with humor and simple language, making his message accessible and easy to comprehend.

Kimmel is our privilege poster child: a white middle class male—and he knows this. In fact, the anecdote he gave in the beginning explaining the moment he realized his privilege was so loaded that it could have been a lecture in itself.

Before, he immediately thought of himself as an ordinary human. But when he overheard two of his female peers discussing their ideas of identity (one white, one black), one said that she immediately thought of herself as a woman, and the other said she immediately thought of herself as a black woman. This was when Kimmel had his revelation: people who are privileged cannot see their privilege, and therefore do not realize that they are treated differently in society. This is why men do not realize that gender inequality exists and affects women everyday.

Kimmel also doesn’t ignore race as an oppressive factor in society. He keeps his thoughts organized and sticks to the topic at hand very well, but it should be noted that he subliminally establishes the struggles that not only women face, but women of color as well. In the cases he shared, he intentionally chose ones that demonstrate this fact. For example, Kimmel talked about an experience with white men who were frustrated that a black woman “stole” a job they were qualified for. These men thought that they were qualified for the position, and were thus victims of reverse discrimination.

There are numerous examples that could have supported his claim; he actively decided to choose one that highlights the oppression of black women. He made another low-key nod toward people of color when he ended his talk with, “similarly to how we cannot talk about racism without talking about white people, we cannot talk about gender inequality without talking about men.”

The underlying reason why Kimmel’s lecture is so powerful is because it is coming from Kimmel: a middle class white male–someone with privilege, and someone to whose voice people will probably give more authority. Women have been saying what he is saying for decades, but as soon as a woman says the words “gender equality,” she is labeled as a crazy feminist. In order to get men to take issues in gender equality seriously, they often have to hear it from a man. Kimmel is not only that man, but is trying to get other men to be that man, too.

One of the audience questions came from a woman asking about how to react positively to men who realize that gender inequality exists, because when they tell her of their discovery, she tends to respond sarcastically. Kimmel’s advice to her was to encourage men to start the conversation with other men, and to encourage them to campaign this issue in the “male community.” So, to all men who want to spread gender equality: tell your bros about it.

I was standing next to a window in the back of a lecture room that was not air conditioned for an hour and a half, and would’ve been willing to stay longer—but so would the other 10 people standing back there with me. The room was packed because if you know of Michael Kimmel, you will drop your plans to go hear him speak. His message and ideas were so engaging and relevant that it would be a shame for any Columbia student to not experience it. Luckily, his TED talk was very similar to what he said today, and it is available online for free.

A revelation via Kimmel’s website