FEMINISM AND THE MALE IDENTITY

Baroness Lane-Fox, the new recruit to
the House of Lords, is right to fear that
the focus on Twitter is diverting
attention away from violence against
women.

However, in focusing on the effect of
aggression by some men against women
- the baroness does not mention that
twenty per-cent of domestic violence
is committed by women - she ignores
probable cause: growing male
emasculation and frustration.    

Feminism has and continues to re-define
the identities of young, mainly working-
class men. In doing so, middle-class
followers of the feminist movement
have successfully skewed society to
reflect their own, continuing, anti-male
agenda. Endemic since the 1980s, it is
a process that has been given added
impetus by accelerating economic
and social change. It has happened at
a time when Britain has been
transformed from an industrial to
a mainly service economy, where
different, 'soft' skills are in increasing
demand.

The result has been the greater
empowerment of women in the
workplace over the past fifty years.
They have benefited from improved
educational opportunities and the
ability to control their fertility. It has
meant growing financial independence
from men, not only for those in work,
but also for young, single mothers who
have been prioritised for housing and
receive attractive state benefits.

Along with this has been the changing
perception of what is meant by a
nuclear family. It is a complex and
fluid picture. Marriage continues
to decline with 42% of marriages
ending in divorce.

Serial monogamy and cohabitation
between single-sex couples are
common. Gone is much of the
stability and certainty of family life
in the 1950s.

In its place are more fragmented
environments, often devoid of the
influence of paternal role models,
which are so important in the
development of the male identity.

Feminist opinion-formers in
politics, education, the law and
especially in the media are not
seeking a comapact between the
sexes, but female preferment, in
the form of positive discrimination.

The impact of the corrosive influence
that the feminist lobby has had on
female attitudes to men has been
profound.

In education, where only 12% of
primary school teachers are male,
the predominantly female culture
cannot, nor in many cases would
it seek to, encourage the
development of the male identity
as such.

Female characteristics are seen as
good, male as bad. Many male
graduates are put off teaching
by the threat of being falsely
accused of improper behaviour,
the consequences of which are
often devastating.

Gender bias continues into
secondary education. Some ten
years' ago, Jenny Murray, presenter
of the BBC Woman's Hour, asked
a guest why boys outperformed girls
in GCSEs. She was told that boys
responded better to the pressure of
an examination, whereas girls
preferred coursework.

Murray's reply was that if that was
the system, then change it. It was
and the result of less rigour has
undermined the credibility of the
examination system in schools and
further up the learning process in
higher education.

This creates the backgound for the
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 who are supported by the
state, they feel unwanted and
express growing anger.

Greater tolerance in society for
generalised 'men are useless'
statements, jokes, advertisements
and so on, than would be used to
refer to any other group, reflects a
situation for which there is an
increasing human and economic
cost.

Of course, men who violate
women in this way should be
pursued and punished.However,
at the same time, discounting
original sin, we should question
the consequences of the
defenestration of the male of 
the species.