Around this same time last year, a French feminist author by the name of Pauline Harmange was fielding angry calls from the state about her newly published, and inflammatory book, Moi les hommes, je les deteste or simply, I Hate Men.
Published in August of 2020, this 80-page manifesto makes the argument that her unease, dislike, and hatred of men should be made acceptable by the general public. She calls her ideas “misandry,” and justifies the definition. She said, “We should have the right not to like men.”
But a member of the French ministry for gender equality didn’t think so. Citing the book’s use and blatant justification of hatred for another gender, minister Ralph Zurmely attempted to ban Harmange’s book. I Hate Men was not banned, but promoted, and sold to a top French publisher a couple months later. And while the newly out-of-touch Zurmely was “being moved” to a different department, I Hate Men sold 20,000 copies before being translated into 17 languages. Harper Collins purchased the English version in January of 2021. How the tables have turned.
Roxane Gay, an American commentator and author of Bad Feminist, affirmed Harmange’s philosophy. She said, “What if distrusting men, disliking men–and yes, maybe even hating men–is, in fact, a useful response to sexism? What if it even offers a path to joy, solidarity and sisterhood?”
Solidarity? Some women seem to be drastically moving beyond dreams of an egalitarian society, and instead unifying in hatred and marching against the Great Enemy that is purportedly the male species.
This new branch of feminism rings so different than all the others. All women wanted was pure unadulterated suffrage in the 20s, and higher education in the 40s and 50s. After WWII, then they wanted to work. It was a largely egalitarian, “let’s level the playing field” approach. The same goes for the motivation behind the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) that flirted with, but never became a bill in the 70s. Title IX came about to many woman’s delight, and they rejoiced that they could play baseball, soccer, and football. Then the real kicker hit in 2015 with the #MeToo Movement, when over 200 men in high places were rightfully shamed and convicted for the inappropriate conduct and sexual harassment women received from them over decades. In step with this was, and is, the ongoing struggle to fight anti-abortion legislation, in the name of female autonomy over their own bodies.
Yet modern feminism has taken a new low. Now, the idea of hating men is not only a valid thought but a cause for action.
There are reasons women are not too fond of men right now. For one, the #MeToo movement has brought every abusive man in power to the forefront and shown him for his true colors. Never before have this many women started speaking up about their discomfort, and to many, it feels good, vindicating, and just. It’s a constant reminder too- we’re still in the aftermath of watching Andrew Cuomo’s four, five, six… 11?! sexual harassment allegations, and Ravi Zacharias’ international foundation crumbling beneath the findings in the “massage parlor” report.
More women finally get to use their brains, too. The Wall Street Journal recently published a report that in the 2020-2021 school year, 59.6 percent of college students were female, and 40.5 percent were male. “In the next few years,” the article reads, “two women will earn a college degree for every man, if the trend continues.” We seem to be beating men in academics, and with that, reading up on the history of women, and probably getting angry about it, too.
The past 100 years have taught women that they are strong, smart, and powerful something not too commonly believed before the 21st century. Women have found that they themselves can gain intellect, compete, and stand up for themselves sexually.
And after this breakthrough we’ve decided to hate men? For what? What’s the point?
As a woman, I see the injustices of the past and still see them today. But looking back at the last 200 years has taught me that I have the strength and intellect to overcome them, in a uniquely feminine way. And strength does not derive from hate, “only love can do that,” to quote Martin Luther King Jr. Must we belittle a group of individuals, simply because we were belittled by them? For thousands of years have we not lived by a better moral code than this one?
This might seem a traditional, unprogressive thought to some, but it could not be more nuanced in its basis- the basis that women should define and order themselves around no one but themselves. Their purpose, aim, priorities should lay in their own minds, hearts, and actions. A woman prides herself in who she wants to be, not who has only attempted to hold her back. Modern 4th Wave feminists of today are not accomplishing this; they are only doing the opposite.
Who could say this better than the infamous lesbian anti-feminist feminist Camile Paglia. Women have power, Paglia has always argued, and they fail to realize it. Here’s what she said in a 2017 CBC interview:
Interviewer: Are you saying that women are too focused on their careers?
Paglia: What I am saying is that in the Anglo-American world, there has been a shift towards looking at your job as a definer of your identity. Once there was a world of women and a world of men-that is not our world right now. Women, stop blaming men for your feelings of unhappiness. What’s happened is you’ve lost that old era of elder care, infant care, cooking, and doing the laundry, everything was together- women were together for tens of thousands of years.
Interviewer: So you want women to go back?
Paglia: Absolutely not. I’m saying stop blaming men. Stop blaming men for your unhappiness.
Paglia (later on): My personal amazon code of feminism is about putting personal responsibility onto women. Every single moment of every day, you have a responsibility to present to men and to women what you will tolerate and what you will not… Life is difficult- step up to the plate.
A proper female response is not outward hate. Neither is it silenced disdain. But it is love, and strength, and hope not that men should make a difference, but that you, male or female, should make a difference.
My message to Pauline Harmange, Roxane Gay and Modern Feminists? Utilize your strength, and stop blaming men.
The views and opinions expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the values and beliefs of Cogitare Magazine.
