Monday, April 21, 2014

Patrick Stweard - Pro-Feminist Work

Many times the issues that are most dear to us, are the ones that have affected us personally. When we think of male alley's we know this is often the case, like with Sir Patrick Stewart. Growing up in an abusive home and watching his mother's experiences, violence against women and women's rights have become very public issues for him. He's been advocating for some time now, but recently it has become more popular with sites like Pinterest and Tumblr. Now teamed up with Amnesty International to create real change, he has begun to spearhead this campaign. 

As a male advocate for feminist work, he has recognized that coming into the conversation from a position of privilege he can manipulate the system to work for him. By being a male advocate, he has access to different resources than women do and realistically gets treated differently. After a lifetime of acting that has established a huge fan base, he can use both his male privilege and career to platform the work he is doing to end violence against women and improve the work done towards women's rights. 


While some of his dialogue is controversial, such as when he describes the man who hit his mother by saying 'he couldn't control himself' his honest exposition is fraught with emotional poignancy and honest sincerity to create change. Talking about his own struggles helps ground this work in honesty, motivation, and real concern

No comments: