Sir, – Of the many points that I could take exception to in Mark Paul's article, there are three particular ones that need to be challenged ("Feminists busy shooting themselves in the foot", Opinion & Analysis, June 15th). First is the idea that men need to be invited by women to be feminists and to participate in the feminist movement. There is nothing stopping men from becoming feminists; the more the merrier, as far as I am concerned. For men to truly practise feminism, however, the first and crucial step is to listen to women about their experiences of violence and oppression without judgment, because as a man you will never know what it is like to live in a woman's body.
The second is that feminism must cater to male sensibilities so as not to scare men off and alienate them from the cause. I can’t think of any other radical movement in the history of social change that is expected to pander to the oppressor’s (read patriarchy’s) sensibilities. Telling women how to be feminist will never work. Women have been told for centuries how to behave and that is why feminism exists.
Finally, his reference to “crass comments” that could have been rebutted easily by educated women completely misunderstands the cycle of everyday violence and misogyny that many women experience. It is not for men who rarely experience consistent micro-aggressions in the form of sexist comments to judge how hurtful or demeaning these can be.
It is an absolute pleasure to read Una Mullally’s thoughtful contributions on women, feminism and LGBT rights. Can we have more of that and less of disgruntled white males who feel they have been slighted by feminists? – Yours, etc,
AISLING WALSH,
Guatemala City.
Sir, – I had thought the point being made in Mark Paul's article was reasonably straightforward – that any conversation about men's behaviours and attitudes must necessarily include men but that many men find themselves shouted-down whenever their views fail to adhere to certain feminists' standards of acceptability. Despite this, and without any apparent irony, June 17th's letters page saw your columnist duly shouted down. Specifically, he was accused of condescension (often referred to these days as "mansplaining") and failing to "check his privilege" – a shorthand way of rejecting the validity of any viewpoint not based on first-hand experience of being victimised. Other contributors simply "informed" Mark Paul that women suffer sexual harassment – a reality that the overwhelming majority of men accept and that your columnist explicitly highlighted.
Indeed, I get the sense that most men would gladly participate in any conversation that would help reduce instances of harassment and rape. However, I do not believe that a condition for such participation should be that men must never challenge the repeated assertion that they are complicit in the crimes of rapists simply because we are of the same gender. – Yours, etc,
DENIS McCARTHY,
Dublin 16.