Time for a New Social Movement

“Grappling With History” (On the Campus, Jan. 10) makes us Princetonians proud that our university has presented us with a challenge to be ever more just and relevant to our time. The article ends with two specific challenges to us: to orient our lives to justice (“Ultimately, uncovering past injustices must motivate a commitment to eliminating present ones ...”) and to actively engage in justice (“We are making history today …”). Recalling slavery reawakens us to a serious injustice in our time. America’s women (over half of our population, as our mothers, wives, daughters, and other important people in our lives) have experienced, or fear, injustices and attacks because of being a woman.

I challenge myself and fellow male Princetonians to be co-agents with our newly vocal “sisters.” We see from history that slaves acting alone could not un-enslave themselves; they required a dedicated abolitionist movement of the enslavers, namely whites. Women now require a dedicated abolitionist-like movement of men who are dedicated to standing shoulder-to-shoulder with activist women, awakening our country to the imperative of no-longer-delayed respectful treatment of women. 

Let’s call our effort “Men for Women.” Contact me at ronnaymark@gmail.com, and we can get it started. I have no preconceived agenda or tactics. Let’s figure it out and be a vocal, proud, and important part of a long-overdue, and now rapidly growing, social movement.