Shut Up, Sit Down

Does this satisfy the guidelines? I believe you wrote it.

But the thing is that just like some of us really are fat, ugly, hairy-legged and shaven-headed (and proud and comfortable with this appearance), some of us really do hate men. I have known for a long time that I hate men. This post was inspired by a ‘real-life’ radical feminist friend of mine who has only recently become comfortable in the fact that she hates men – she thought that if she admitted it to herself before, she was somehow doing a disservice to feminism by upholding the stereotypes. I am immensely proud of her because by admitting her hatred, she is not doing feminism a disservice – she is doing good for all feminists, by feeling able to voice something that many feel but few speak of.

There are men in my life, as any regular readers here will know. My father is a man, my boyfriend is a man, my best friend is a man and my son is a future man. These individual men I love dearly. There are a couple of other men I consider friends. But love for an individual from a group is not the same as love for the group. I love a few individual males – but men as a gender, men as a ’species’, have nothing but my contempt and suspicion.

For what reason would I, or any other woman, have for liking men? One in four of them are rapists. They have many, many privileges over us, they are favoured in just about every walk of life. Every man is a potential attacker to a woman who does not know his intentions, every unknown man (and even known men) is capable of becoming violent, abusive or cruel, and the statistics on male violence shows that it is not just possible, it is likely.

I hate men, and I am not ashamed of saying so. Aside from the few who have proved their love and friendship to be worthwhile, I will continue to hate men, to be suspicious of them until they prove that there is no longer a need for my hatred or suspicion.