Malign feminism

IT’S time to point out how the corrosive influence of the feminist lobby is affecting relationships in our increasingly nihilistic society (Mail).

Feminism has redefined the identities of young, mainly working-class men, and middle- class followers of the feminist movement have successfully skewed society to reflect their antimale agenda.

Since the Eighties, accelerating economic and social changes have transformed Britain from an industrial to a service economy in which ‘soft’ skills are increasingly in demand and brought about greater empowerment of women in the workplace.

Women have benefited from improved education opportunities and can control their fertility. It has meant growing financial independence, not only for those in work, but also for young, single mothers who have been prioritised for housing and receive attractive state benefits.

There has also been a changing perception of the ‘nuclear family’. Marriage continues to decline, with 42 per cent of such unions ending in divorce. Serial monogamy and cohabitation between single- sex couples is now commonplace.

Gone is the stability and certainty of family life in the Fifties. In its place are more fragmented environments, often devoid of the influence of paternal role models, so important in the development of male identity.

Ten years ago, BBC Woman’s Hour presenter Jenni Murray asked a guest why boys outperformed girls in GCSEs. When told boys responded better to exam pressure whereas girls preferred coursework, Murray replied that the system should be changed. It was, and the result of less rigour has undermined the credibility of the exam system in schools and colleges.

This creates the background for the root causes of many of the chronic social problems relating to young men. They leave school with inferior qualifications, poorer job prospects and face unemployment.

Dismissed as potential husbands, fathers and providers by young women supported by the State, they feel unwanted and express growing anger.

A greater tolerance for generalised ‘men are useless’ statements, jokes and television ads than would be accepted if women were the butt reflects a situation for which there is an increasing human and economic cost.

JOHN BARKER, Prestbury, Cheshire. IT’S not so much the feminist aspect of the way men are treated (Mail) that angers me, but the sheer hypocrisy.

A current hot topic among women is Poldark actor Aidan Turner, and the wealth of column inches by female journalists raving about his physical attributes borders on the desperate.

Can anyone doubt the outcry from those same women if a drama boasting an attractive female lead garnered similar commentary?

Imagine the avalanche of complaints from the ‘sisterhood’ about dirty old men if a panel of middle-aged males on a Loose Women-type programme relentlessly exchanged double entendres and crude comments about female actors, pop stars and models young enough to be their daughters?

Feminist columnists write vitriolic and hurtful articles about men, the equivalent of which by a male columnist would never get past an editor.

Look at the number of TV ads in which men are depicted as little more than lobotomised morons, ridiculed by their partners and even their children. Show me one advert in which a woman is belittled in this way.

DAVID HALLAS, Birstall, Yorks.