The Volokh Conspiracy

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Crime

Cathy Young on feminism and men

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From Cathy Young, "Feminists treat men badly. It's bad for feminism.":

Feminist male-bashing has come to sound like a cliche - a misogynist caricature. Feminism, its loudest proponents vow, is about fighting for equality. The man-hating label is either a smear or a misunderstanding.

Yet a lot of feminist rhetoric today does cross the line from attacks on sexism into attacks on men, with a strong focus on personal behavior: the way they talk, the way they approach relationships, even the way they sit on public transit. Male faults are stated as sweeping condemnations; objecting to such generalizations is taken as a sign of complicity. Meanwhile, similar indictments of women would be considered grossly misogynistic. …

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