5 signs a man thinks he’s a better feminist than you

Who doesn’t love Justin Trudeau? He’s young, he’s good-looking, he’s upbeat and he’s right on. And despite all that, he’s in power - albeit in Canada. (If he was here, we’d most definitely hate him by now.) However, Justin has taken it just a little too far. Fielding questions at MacEwan University in Edmonton last week, the Canadian prime minister interrupted a woman to correct her use of the word “mankind,” telling her: “We like to say peoplekind, not necessarily mankind ‘cause it’s more inclusive.”

This little piece of sermonising went down surprisingly well in the hall, where Trudeau’s intervention was greeted with approval by both the woman he interrupted and the audience. (Who doesn't love being interrupted by a man correcting them on a word they've used?) It played less well with those on the outside, where he was swiftly accused of “mansplaining feminism” and widely mocked for his efforts.

Now, there are ways to be a male feminist and ways not to be, it seems; and judging by the outpouring of derision over this, we fear Mr Trudeau may have crossed the fine line.

But if he's wishing he had just let that unspeakably offensive word “mankind” go unchallenged, perhaps he can take comfort in the fact that he is not alone in attempting to out-feminist a woman. We all know men who’ve been guilty of the same, falling over themselves to prove their feminist street-cred. It can be sweet, sometimes, but it can also be slightly annoying.

Here are the five signs a man thinks he’s a better feminist than you:

1. Over-eagerness

When you say something pertaining to the feminist cause, he is right there with you, nodding along hard - too hard, in fact. You’re worried his neck is going to snap. He looks straight into your eyes the whole time, to make it quite clear he is definitely not now and has absolutely not ever been looking at your chest. It’s endearing for the first few minutes but ultimately grows irritating to the point that you’re tempted to say something outrageously off-key to provoke him into dissent.

2. Wearing the t-shirt

Remember the ‘This is what a feminist looks like’ t-shirt from back in 2014? It was briefly quite cool, until Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband ruined it for everyone by donning the garments themselves. As everyone knows, once a politician touches something, it instantly turns uncool - we might call it the Reverse Midas - and few male politicians have thus far proved an exception. When the item in question is a feminist t-shirt, it somehow brings to mind a middle-aged dad dancing with absolute commitment to Beyonce's Single Ladies at a wedding. In both cases, we admire their good intentions. We just wish they could find a way to express them without making anyone cringe.

3. Online sharing

When a man shares some feminist content online in the hope of attaching to himself just a tiny bit of its reflected glory, it’s hard not to wonder if he’s even read the thing. Especially when he prefaces his post with the words: “Wow, everyone MUST read this! So powerful,” accompanied by a strong arm emoji. Umm...if you don’t mind us saying so: yuck.

4. “Speaking as a father of daughters…”

He struggles to get through a conversation without an ostentatious reference (or seven) to the fact that he’s the father of daughters. This is code for “I know what girls go through. I’ve seen it at home with my own eyes. How could I not be on your side when the children I’ve fathered happen to have two X chromosomes each?” It's the male equivalent of the "speaking as a mum..." line of argument, which is frequently just another way of saying "don't dare challenge me if you haven't pushed any tiny humans out of your body." 

5.  'As a white male…'

This man has checked his privilege more times than he’s had ethically sourced hot dinners. He qualifies everything with a tacit acknowledgement that what he’s about to say may well be complete rubbish, calling himself out on the privileged position from which he speaks long before anyone else can. Akin to this are the men largely found lurking on the fringes of arguments on social media, who will occasionally interject - utterly needlessly - to say “Guys, I think we ought to shut up and listen to what the ladies have to say.” Thanks and all that, but it would have been more effective if you’d just done that, rather than said it.