Life

Bono Named Glamour’s First ‘Man of the Year’ at ‘Women of the Year’ Ceremony

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By Phoebe Maltz Bovy November 16, 2016

Fine, so I don’t know much about Bono, other than that he’s the guy from U2, and that on BBC podcasts, they make fun of his earnestness. Also that he is a supporter of Jewish poetry, and an opponent of Donald Trump, so, go Bono! I mention Bono now, on the Sisterhood, because he has recently #CausedControversy by getting selected as Glamour magazine’s “Man of the Year Award” for his activism. He received the honor at Glamour’s “Women of the Year Awards,” which… yup.

How are we supposed to feel about this? That is, about an award otherwise given to women, going instead to a dude? A mix of ways. I think it’s important, given the down-the-toilet-ish-ness of contemporary politics, to take support where you find it. Even from Bono name-checking Sheryl Sandberg and Lena Dunham at a women’s magazine event, a convergence of tidbits that probably caused some socialist heads to explode. Now is not the moment to start calling out would-be ‘allies’ for being too self-righteous. If a man trips up a bit when trying to promote feminism, or a non-Jew when trying to oppose anti-Semitism, it’s like, nobody’s perfect, at least they’re not being Bannon-esque? And points, I suppose, for acknowledging the criticism?

At the same time, without shaming either Glamour or Bono, without devolving into a rant about members of privileged groups making it about them, we can use this moment to remember that activism can’t just be well-meaning haves doing their part. It can’t just be the leveraging of privilege for the greater good, followed by the proverbial cookie. Now is probably not the moment to make an enormous thing about how, whenever women get together to try to enact political change, a man comes charging in to make it about him. But it’s a phenomenon worth keeping in the back of our minds.

Phoebe Maltz Bovy edits the Sisterhood, and can be reached at bovy@forward.com. Her book, The Perils of “Privilege”, will be published by St. Martin’s Press in March 2017.

Phoebe Maltz Bovy is a former editor of the Sisterhood blog at the Forward. Her writing has appeared in several publications, including The New Republic and The Atlantic. Her book, “The Perils of ‘Privilege,’” was published by St. Martin’s Press in March 2017. She has a PhD in French and French Studies from New York University, and has read a lot of 19th century French Jewish newspapers for a 21st century American.

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