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H Hall of Shame: The "Advocate"

By Fannie

What's more hypocritical than a marriage defender visiting a prostitute?

A male "feminist" blogger and dormitory resident advisor who "claimed to use activism and education to promote 'a more just and life-affirming culture of sexuality' for women, especially those women who have been victims of sexual violence" who pleads guilty to this:

"with an intent to arouse my sexual desire, I photographed and filmed Jane Doe and her breast without her consent."

His name? Kyle Pane. His pleading stems from his arrest back in February 2008:

"A search warrant was executed at Pierce Hall room #B10 on April 26th of last year. Authorities seized a computer and a digital camera from 22-year-old Kyle Payne's room. A search of the Ida Grove man's car turned up photographs described as personal in nature that also showed the woman may have been assaulted physically without knowing it.

A search of Payne's Ida Grove home turned up more evidence including another computer. All items were sent to the DCI Crime Lab for forensic analysis.

Through investigation it was found that Payne, on January 3rd of 2007, was serving as RA for Buena Vista University when he attended to an intoxicated 18-year-old female student in her dorm room. He allegedly physically assaulted her while she was unconscious and video taped the act and downloaded the images onto his laptop." [emphasis added]

Takes on this incident are making rounds throughout the feminist blogosphere, and rightly so. As a resident advisor, he abused a position of trust and authority. As a "feminist" man, he abused the access to women that that label gave him.

Frankly, I don't care what the fuck label a guy slaps on himself. I'm far more interested in (a) whether he sees me, and other women, as his true equal and (b) whether he's capable of acknowledging that men have certain privileges in the world that women do not have. For, I've seen far too many men use the "feminist" label in order to gain access to women and make them think they're Nice Guys (TM) who "get it." While I think men are capable of being feminists, it's men like Payne who make many of us pause before accepting a man's feminist cred.

See, what I've learned is that those who are secure that their inner beliefs match their outer ones don't have to constantly shout their self-label from the rooftops in order to convince the rest of the world that they are what they say they are. A fitting analogy is the marriage defender who casually mentions his devout religious beliefs in nearly every article he writes just so we all know he's a religious, and therefore, "moral" man.

So to all the feminist men out there I can only say this.

Don't tell me that you're a feminist. Be one.

Full post as published by Fannie's Room on July 14, 2008 (boomark / email).