Jibran Nasir clarifies why upcoming panel on feminism is a manel

He says it's a talk by men for men. But any discourse about feminism without including women is a sham.

Updated 20 Nov, 2019

On Monday, a poster for a panel discussion hosted by The Arts Council of Pakistan started doing the rounds on social media.

Titled 'Feminism: The Other Perspective', the talk will feature five speakers and surprise surprise, they're all men.

On 22 November, Duraid Qureshi, Jibran Nasir, Mohsin Sayeed, Muaaz Ahsan and Nabeel Qureshi will be chatting about feminism without the inclusion of a single woman.

You can see why this is a troubling line-up and Twitter didn't hold back on calling them out on it:

People started predicting how that dialogue would go:

Just sayin'

Jibran Nasir has since responded to the backlash online, explaining how the title might be misleading. "I've requested the organizers to change it. I was informed the panel is about men talking to other men about rethinking masculinity and why as men we need feminism. It wasn't to explain feminism or talk about women issues as men," he wrote.

He also said, "It's about how as men we must support women around us... Im a vocal critic of manels. But this is about men speaking to other men. I've already communicated these concerns which are legitimate to the organizers and have asked them to issue a clarification about the intended discussion of panel and whom the panel is addressing."

We're glad that Jibran figured out that the title is also what's problematic about this. Just calling it some thing else like 'Male Privilege Made Me A Feminist' or 'Redefining Masculinity' would have made all the difference.

And while it is important to talk about toxic masculinity and allyship, and it's sad but true that men have a a far better shot at getting through to each other, can you really have a fruitful discourse about how to support women without any women present? An all-male meeting like this minimises the value of women's insight and representation.