It�s time, men, to go to the bunkers. We�re being targeted. There�s growing pressure for men to embrace an unsavory label: Feminist.

It�s time, men, to go to the bunkers.

We�re being targeted.

There�s growing pressure for men to embrace an unsavory label.

They want us to all declare ourselves � I can�t say it.

OK, I will.

Feminists.

The pressure began a few weeks ago, when Pharrell Williams, who sang the chartbuster �Happy,� announced he can�t be a feminist because he�s a man. Women piled on. How dare he? Of course he can be a feminist, and should be. All men should.

Then the pressure got worse.

A male New York Times columnist named Charles Blow last week wrote a piece scolding men who resist the term.

�Yes,� he wrote, �we should all be feminists.�

He self-righteously explained why:

�Fighting female objectification and discrimination and violence against women isn�t simply the job of women; it must also be the pursuit of men.�

To join the fight, he said, all guys should declare ourselves feminists.

Here�s my response:

Forget it, chief.

Not this male.

I suppose that makes me sound like an anti-woman Neanderthal. People like Charles Blow set it up that way by saying feminism�s on the side of truth and light, and if you don�t call yourself one, it means you favor women being sexually harassed or worse. And you don�t care that globally, gender bias blocks women from good jobs, education and political power.

In short, it proves you�re a chauvinist bigot.

No it doesn�t.

Like most men, I think anyone who assaults women should be locked up. And I�m against gender bias, too.

But I�m not going to cave to self-righteous lectures about it being my duty to embrace some doctrinaire �ism,� especially one I consider among the most dogmatic of all � feminism.

It�s offensive the way feminists cherry-pick obvious outrages, such as rape and workplace harassment, and imply men are in favor of such things if we don�t cheer on feminism as a movement. Or proudly wear the label. Nonsense.

Obviously, there�s no one definition of feminism, and in many ways, we�re in a post-feminist era in which plenty of women take equal opportunity for granted and see no need to stand at the barricades anymore.

Still, I�ve long been wary of both the word and the movement � though not because I�m anti-woman. It�s that I�m anti-strident. Which is what feminism is. Its proponents then and now have given it an overbearing, extremist image.

Extremist in what way? For one, feminism is anti-male, often implying men in general are predators. It�s also anti-traditionalist; many women who choose to raise kids full-time or take secretarial jobs feel judged as selling out.

That�s not just me talking. It�s why you seldom see accomplished women � especially in politics � rushing to declare themselves feminists. They feel the word would make them seem strident. And it would, because it�s a tarnished brand, at least in image.

No � not tarnished because critics unfairly caricatured it. It�s because feminism has long been one-sided. Despite its lip service about women�s rights equaling human rights, it ignores the ways gender bias hurts men, too.

You never hear feminists talking about the problem of boys underperforming academically, or men dying younger. And though I�m in favor of Title IX�s push for girls in sports, I never heard feminists decry the price boy athletes had to pay � such as Providence College dropping men�s baseball, golf and tennis to meet the bill�s requirement for absolute equality of resources.

Worst of all, feminism is hypocritically guilty of reverse prejudice: it stereotypes males as a problematic gender and sees our rambunctious, spirited nature as a problem that needs to be tamed. That�s a lousy message for boys.

The obvious truth is that most men oppose gender bias and the abuse of women. But to say we also have to declare ourselves �feminist� is self-righteous and judgmental. Kind of like feminism itself.

I�m not doing it.

I�m staying in my guy bunker.

They�ll never take me alive.

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