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A Talk by Barbara Kay Columnist, National Post
Summary by Cecilia Forsyth
Western Vice-President
REAL Women of Canada
Saskatoon
In introducing her talk, a critique of feminist ideology, Barbara Kay noted a shared belief with REAL Women that “many of our present social ills can be traced not only to the breakdown of the traditional family, but to a breakdown of respect for the idea of the traditional family, which in turn can be traced back to the feminist revolution.”
The feminists' zeal to redress alleged past imbalances has resulted in their regarding men as the collective enemy in a gender war. Kay called this phenomenon of targeting men with suspicion and resentment “misandry”. She described misandry as a gendered worldview where the negative aspects of manliness exhibited by a minority of men - sexual aggression, brutality and territoriality - are portrayed as the majority masculine characteristics.
Kay said, “Culturally, misandry is the most troubling fallout from the feminist revolution because it seeks to suppress the qualities of trust, the instinct for collaboration, protection, and mutual gratitude for the sacrifices and strengths of the other sex - that a healthy society demands.” She explained that once entrenched, prejudice is extremely difficult to uproot. Examples are found in governments funding feminist groups, women-friendly family law decisions, school curricula with men-bashing domestic violence material, social services for women but not for men, and of course, advertising and entertainment portraying women as competent, smart and attractive, while men are portrayed as crude, ineffectual and infantile.
Barbara Kay, rightly, called herself one of the few opinion columnists in the mainstream media who addresses the marginalization of men's rights and the denigration of their character. With only one side of the story dominating the public forum, society has become compliant in accepting these radical feminist revolution theories and speech.
Although calling the feminist revolution a spent force, Kay explained that the feminists have, nonetheless, “captured the culture” through the institutions. Today's family lawyers, governmental staff, judges, and family therapists were taught the feminist ideology that women are victims of a patriarchy.
According to Kay, domestic violence is the single most effective propaganda tool feminists have found for entrenching misandry in the general population. She said, “the truth is that domestic violence affects perhaps 7% of the population, is initiated in near-equal proportion by men and women and results in Canada in about 70 intimate partner deaths a year.” Noting that more women are killed than men, Kay explained that “the overall figure is nugatory in a country of 35 million, and clearly individual dysfunction accounts for all of it, and no possible generalization about the nature of one sex or the other can be drawn from it.” Unfortunately, authorities on domestic violence, who have arrived at this conclusion, are ignored.
Family Courts
Calling the family court the most illustrative example of the punitive character of feminist excesses, Kay said, “It is where misandry in its most open, cynical and pernicious form is found.”
She noted over 85% of contested custody suits end with mothers receiving sole custody over children, with the remaining 15% going to other family members, agencies and fathers. In fact, fathers receive sole custody about 7% of the time.
Kay explained, “Only an extreme systemic contempt for the value of a father’s role in the life of a child can explain such a disparity, and only an extreme prejudice against men in general can explain that contempt, and nobody pretends otherwise.” She continued, “ In totalitarian societies, some people are more equal than others, and in the totalitarian world of family court, it is mothers who are more equal than fathers.” Kay called “family court, a visible shame, the Berlin Wall, erected by feminism, that stands between men and their human rights. It must come down.”
Mrs. Kay concluded, “Every healthy individual knows that children want, and have a right to, the love of both their parents in equal measure. It is time – past time - to entrench this principle in law.”
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