A post by me in response to John Pilger's recent article 'there is a war on ordinary people and feminists are needed at the front', in which he contributes to the debate around a 'crisis of masculinity'.

In it I address his misrepresentations of feminists, which display not only poor journalism but also an echoing of common sexist left responses to feminism, and suggest better ways for leftist men to solidarise with pro-women struggles.

I also discuss the ideological terrain which shapes both these common left responses and this 'crisis of masculinity' discourse in which men are portrayed as victims of gender:

http://www.zcommunications.org/leftist-men-arent-born-to-lead-radical-struggles-by-ginny-brown

Welcome Ginny.
I have been walking around your thread not sure I want to get involved.
I am a believer in equality of the sex,s, and totally uninterested in radical feminism.
Believe SOME men fall victim to it.
But while not going to hang around thought I would rattle the rock and see what you are trying to say.
A PS history is full of storyes about women being our front with their men in fighting for a cause.

Oh Ginny you poor lamb, it must be so taxing being a First World woman in the 21st Century. How dare men whinge when it is you girls who bleed heaviest in this misogynistic world?

You must hark back to the good old days of your great grandmother….now that woman knew what housework was. When she said that she had made you dinner, she really made your dinner, no microwave for that girl. When she said she washed your clothes……..she washed your clothes….no middle man technology.

She probably lived in a house whose deeds were solely in her husband’s name, and if she attempted to claim what was rightfully hers in court through the matrimonial contract, she had to prove that she added “monetarily” to the household….housekeeping and mothering duties were not given any monetary or other value back then.

If great Gran was intelligent and studious, academia awaited with a chalk ceiling and limited places.

I could go on and on and on about how great it was for you girls only three or four generations ago. But it will only make you sadder regarding the current abysmal situation in regards to women’s rights and probably a bit narky over men demanding anything.

As Alice Cooper said "only women bleed."

Dear SOG,

Here's something I know you'll appreciate:

http://www.newstatesman.com/2013/05/my-crisis-masculinity-and-how-feminism-set-me-free

Yes Lexi, the myth of masculinity. It rather depends on the testosterone for physicality…..but the psychology doth engender both nature and nurture to my mind.

Because of the stereotype societal paradigms that we are nurtured in, there are expectations, and those expectations are valid for the interpersonal relationship system to work. We have to have an expectation of social position rather than social anarchy.

Modern society has identified rights by group…the rights of women, the rights of the child, and the rights of the unborn etc.

I believe that to some formidable percent that when enacting the rights for individual groups, you must disenfranchise others.

Lexi I take the wider Trotskyite view of self emancipation and mass democracy. Whichever rights pertain to one group, so they do to all.

Feminists have outlived their usefulness in the First World, as have cavemen.

Lexi, I enjoyed the article in the link you provided.
The author sounds like a wonderfully intelligent man with incredible insight.

I imagine that such a man, and his insightful thoughts, would be somewhat threatening to some posters on this site.

I would hate to think that feminism, in its purest form, would drop the ball now, with so much left to do...