In a recent article on Breitbart.com, a website well known for its Fox News-esque drivel, a man of less integrity than a soggy digestive biscuit wrote an article entitled 'Don't laugh, but British feminists have founded their own women's equality party'. The man responsible for this 'article', Milo Yiannopoulos, is a homosexual Catholic man who is known for championing various noble causes. Such causes include: protecting rights for men, supporting police brutality towards G20 protesters (or "those wankers" as he likes to call them) and most bizarrely, campaigning against gay marriage and "gay culture". In an attempt to save you from having to read this insult to journalism, I'll try to pick out the highlights.
With an impressive moral argument for finding the cause of women's equality to be so banal, he gets down to the core issues right from the word 'go'. Core issues like the movement's inability to decide on the right twitter hashtag, or his own personal vendetta against Sandi Toksvig. This "dreary" woman left a successful career of apparently making "Michael McIntyre look like Bill Hicks" (as well as hosting the most popular comedy radio show in the UK), to get involved with politics and make a difference rather than mock from the sidelines. But forget all of that, because according to Milo, "Toksvig's idea of fun is an evening of Scrabble, knitting and feeding the cat".
So thanks for the warning Milo, but actually I don't think I'm going to find it incredibly difficult not to laugh at the idea of a Women's Equality Party. I don't want to laugh when I hear that women only make up 30% of MPs, 25% of judges and 20% of FTSE 100 directors, either. I can even keep a straight face when someone tells me that I'll earn, on average, £361000 more than a similarly qualified woman during my life time. And believe it or not, I can stifle a snigger when I hear that 400'000 women year are sexually assaulted, with 120'000 of these cases involving rape. In your own words: "what larks!"
You seem to have convinced yourself, based on no evidence whatsoever, that you just happen to be living in the time where women have finally become equal. Real change is a slow and exhausting process, and there are still many more battles to be won. Your writing is an insult to all the women who find themselves harassed and objectified on a daily basis. Or as you put it, an insult to all of the women "in the shackles of their well-paid columns in national newspapers and cushy presenting gigs at our national broadcaster".
So I hope you'll pardon some of my ad hominems, but I'm afraid I couldn't help it. As a 'lefty' (not self-labelling), I sometimes get accused of resorting to rhetoric and insults instead of using evidence. Well as a 'human', I hope I've managed to provide you with both. I hope you're not an awful person, I'm sure there are reasons why you are the way you are, and maybe we'd even get on if we didn't talk about gender equality, but I'm afraid I can offer your ideas no such friendship.
I usually reserve voicing my opinion on what direction the feminist movement should take (something you should definitely consider) as I believe that women should shape the direction of their own movement, and men should just be here to support them with that. But I'm afraid I can't let people be fooled into thinking you represent all those men out there who actually live in the 21st century. So do yourself and everyone else a favour, and catch up.
With an impressive moral argument for finding the cause of women's equality to be so banal, he gets down to the core issues right from the word 'go'. Core issues like the movement's inability to decide on the right twitter hashtag, or his own personal vendetta against Sandi Toksvig. This "dreary" woman left a successful career of apparently making "Michael McIntyre look like Bill Hicks" (as well as hosting the most popular comedy radio show in the UK), to get involved with politics and make a difference rather than mock from the sidelines. But forget all of that, because according to Milo, "Toksvig's idea of fun is an evening of Scrabble, knitting and feeding the cat".
So thanks for the warning Milo, but actually I don't think I'm going to find it incredibly difficult not to laugh at the idea of a Women's Equality Party. I don't want to laugh when I hear that women only make up 30% of MPs, 25% of judges and 20% of FTSE 100 directors, either. I can even keep a straight face when someone tells me that I'll earn, on average, £361000 more than a similarly qualified woman during my life time. And believe it or not, I can stifle a snigger when I hear that 400'000 women year are sexually assaulted, with 120'000 of these cases involving rape. In your own words: "what larks!"
You seem to have convinced yourself, based on no evidence whatsoever, that you just happen to be living in the time where women have finally become equal. Real change is a slow and exhausting process, and there are still many more battles to be won. Your writing is an insult to all the women who find themselves harassed and objectified on a daily basis. Or as you put it, an insult to all of the women "in the shackles of their well-paid columns in national newspapers and cushy presenting gigs at our national broadcaster".
So I hope you'll pardon some of my ad hominems, but I'm afraid I couldn't help it. As a 'lefty' (not self-labelling), I sometimes get accused of resorting to rhetoric and insults instead of using evidence. Well as a 'human', I hope I've managed to provide you with both. I hope you're not an awful person, I'm sure there are reasons why you are the way you are, and maybe we'd even get on if we didn't talk about gender equality, but I'm afraid I can offer your ideas no such friendship.
I usually reserve voicing my opinion on what direction the feminist movement should take (something you should definitely consider) as I believe that women should shape the direction of their own movement, and men should just be here to support them with that. But I'm afraid I can't let people be fooled into thinking you represent all those men out there who actually live in the 21st century. So do yourself and everyone else a favour, and catch up.