What do women want from men?

What do women want from men in the modern world? What deal must we make with each other at the start of a parlous century that is coming down the hill at us like a boulder?

We want men to be our allies, our good friends. Young men and woman are doing good work in achieving this, but the latest anti-feminist backlash — this one over summer jobs of all things — is coming from a strange controlling group of men indeed.

A flurry of mostly male political columnists think anti-abortion and antigay religious groups should be able to get government grants on principle. I watch the men huffle and puffle, patting each other on the back. (There are very few female columnists in Ottawa.)

The groups use the grants to hire summer students to campaign against abortion rights by displaying distorted bloody fetus photos on the streets and delivering them to people’s homes. Yes, extreme religionists like the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform make children cry. As a principle, it’s a shabby one.

I am pleased to learn that Employment Minister Patty Hajdu is adamant. After her department got complaints about the cards and posters — and that gay youth were often being blocked from summer jobs — she changed the rules slightly. Applicants have to sign an attestation that they will respect the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as well as LGBTQ and reproductive rights.

Anti-abortion groups are not being told what to think. Their beliefs are immaterial. But they are being told to follow the law in what they do.

As Michael Coren pointed out in a compassionate column in the Star recently, “It’s all largely a sham of course, just a convenient vehicle to drive at Justin Trudeau and the Liberals.” He says, wrenchingly, that many of these groups tell “young LGBTQ2 people — those most at risk of persecution, suicide attempts, and depression” — that they’re unhireable.

Columnists still pompously cry, “But it’s the principle.” It’s not the principle they think it is. These extremist groups choose their target: the pregnant teenage girl, broke, powerless and frightened. If they talk her out of abortion, she will have to endure the hardships of pregnancy, the pain of childbirth, and ensuing poverty and desperation. This is the “principle” on which columnists make their stand: bullying.

It’s not a good look. I’m always astonished by the efforts newspapers will make to repel younger readers, particularly female ones. Journalism should always make readers feel they are up to speed with modern times, not drag them back to the days when sperm was considered sacred.

I find it particularly egregious when gay male columnists write this way. This is not their world. Perhaps they want to be one of the boys. For there are very few female political columnists, I note.

In 2014, the Harper government, as it preferred to be called, banned international aid that would provide maternal care for poor women overseas that included abortion. Few columnists protested then.

The Liberal government has consistently been an ally of women, and Prime Minister Trudeau, a feminist, has not backed down. Half his cabinet is female, he works to advance the feminist cause nationally and internationally, and he backs up his words with action. He wants women employed, moving into the middle class, with daycare, able to obtain an abortion, able to escape the old ways.

Staged retro backlashes pop up again and again. The State of Texas forces women to incinerate their fetuses, imprisoned Dreamer girls beg American judges for the right to an abortion, pregnant American women are charged with murder after shooting themselves in the stomach because they can’t get abortions.

We’ve just seen the 45th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the #MeToo marches, woman-hating Trump in office, and the parade goes on. Republican brutes panic at losing control of women’s bodies, while Canadians look south in horror.

I don’t want to hear from men, especially older men, on this subject unless it’s supportive. The charm of Dr. Henry Morgentaler, who won abortion rights for Canadian women, was that he liked women all his life. He died at 90, still liking us. Let’s hear from older men (and older women) who share that beneficent state.

Let’s get along, generationally and otherwise. Let’s stick together.

Journalism should always make readers feel they are up to speed with modern times, not drag them back to the days when sperm was considered sacred