@michelle-barboza I totally agree with you! So many people have a hard time calling themselves feminist. From own male perspective, I’m pretty sure a lot of men have trouble because of the way feminism has been portrayed in pop culture. The “femi-nazi” is still a stereotype that is portrayed in a lot of media. And for a lot of men whose identity is based around their masculinity, the idea of being a feminist compromises their masculinity as they perceive feminism as favoring or “giving power” to one gender over a another. There is very little intersectional thinking with many men in our sciences. I was lucky enough to have a sort of rare scientific upbringing. The majority of my science teachers and professors in my early career were women. My first mentors in paleontology/museum science were women. I was actually a little naive in my view of sexism in my very early career as I thought women and men were equal in the sciences. That all changed as I got further in my career. BUT because of my upbringing, I had no trouble calling myself a feminist. The power of good role models and mentors can really do a lot to affect someone’s perspective.
I also think there is a lot of lack of empathy amongst our male colleagues for our women colleagues. There is definitely a lot more issues at play here than I am versed in for sure. As a minority in science, I can at least empathize to a degree as to what its like to be marginalized in our field. For many of our white, male counterparts, it may not be as easy to make that connection. I don’t want to point fingers or generalize though. I am simply speaking from my own experience and POV.