Feminists Don T Hate Men

Dear Ms Valenti, 

I am writing to you regarding your article for the Guardian entitled ‘Feminists Don’t Hate Men. But It Wouldn’t Matter If We Did’. In it you explain why misandry has no real effect on men whereas misogyny can be fatal, and you go on justify so called “ironic misandry” as simply a joke made by frustrated feminists. However, I believe that your argument is undermined by your disregard for the effects of ‘man-hating’, your simplistic approach to the issue and the inherent contradiction between wanting equality yet condoning a hatred of men.

First, you seem to be under the impression that “when women hate men [they] hurt their feelings” but in contrast “when men hate women they kill [them]”. However, ‘man-hating’ is proven to
To me, hate is destructive and should always be discouraged no matter how oppressed the hater may be. Rather than creating a culture where young men think they are inherently bad, I think it would be more beneficial to encourage the positive characteristics that many men (who too fight for equality) display. It is far easier to drive change when you have unity between both men and women, and gender equality will ultimately only be achieved if men want to respect women as equals.

I also disagree with your assertion that feminists often face a “barrage of harassment” as it's a sweeping generalisation and outdated statement given that cases of harassment against women have dramatically dropped since the suffragette movement. Although women, especially in the Middle East, still suffer harassment on a regular basis, describing all feminists’ experience of harassment, if they've had any, as a “constant barrage” suggests it is inescapable and relentless which is simply not the case for most feminists throughout the world. Furthermore, by wearing t-shirts or having mugs with anti-men slogans on them you could be said to be provoking this kind of behaviour and can perhaps then no longer describe it as
I’m not convinced by your claim that women are still “fighting the same battles [they] did 30 years ago”. In the last 30 years issues such as violence towards women, which used to be considered an issue for the private sphere, is now publicly deemed unacceptable and the number of cases has gone down. The gender pay gap has also massively decreased, the percentage of women in the workforce with a university degree has gone up from 11.2 percent in 1970 to 32.6 percent in 2004, rising at almost twice the rate for men, and there are many other examples of where women’s “battles” are won or being