TORONTO

“When you look at the way feminists have responded to men’s issues it’s a pretty bad record,” said American journalist Cathy Young at a controversial event in Toronto Thursday night. A movement that was once about equality seems to have transformed in strange ways, its excesses amplified by the internet and campus theatrics.

It’s sad that I even need to describe Young’s talk, entitled “The Politics of Gender and Victimhood”, as “controversial”.

Young - whose writing has appeared in The New York Times, Daily Beast, Reason and more - was initially a feminist when she arrived in the U.S. from the USSR in 1980. But after following the movement questions arose and she’s now a critic.

Her engaging and fact-based speech was a far cry from the angry, misogynist chest-thumping “men’s rights” shindig that opponents of similar events on campus have tried to label them.

Young’s overview of the current state of feminism in our culture mostly touched on online harassment and the elusive “rape culture” phenomenon. She looked at the statistics surrounding online abuse and harassment of men and women and found them more or less equal. The internet isn’t the cesspool of misogyny many activists would have us believe - or if it is, men have it just as rough.

She delves into the stories about “rape culture” at high schools and universities - pointing out cases where teenage boys are sexually assaulted and raped but there’s no media outcry like there is for a female victim.

She notes that the Centre for Disease Control, in tallying rape statistics, includes otherwise consensual encounters if intoxication is involved. So drunk sex between partners inflates rape numbers.

“I’m not calling here for more male victimhood,” Young concluded, pointing out today’s “victimhood Olympics” that too many people seem to be competing in. “We need to recognize genuine victimization when it occurs regardless of gender… While at the same time discouraging a victimhood mentality.”

It's an empowering notion. But for some people, even probing the validity of rape statistics and separating exaggeration from “genuine victimization” is a no-go.

It makes you a “rape apologist”, as one of the signs held by a protester at an event read, before the group of five were escorted out by police.

The organizer, the Canadian Association for Equality, a group that describes their focus as the “status, health and well-being of boys and men”, was happy for the protesters to stay if they paid the entrance fee, but - as protester Emily said - “we weren’t willing to pay the money to support this group.”

“Most of the people in there have no lived experience,” said protester Brandon, in explaining their opposition. He added: “This is more like a NASCAR rally,” presumably referring to how the crowd was largely male and not all of them dressed for a night at the opera. Some snobbery, that.

The event even had to be relocated to a downtown Toronto hotel from its original location on the University of Toronto campus lest it offend the delicate sensibilities of feminists on campus.

But these troubles were nothing compared to the large and angry crowds that tried to stop former feminists turned critics Warren Farrell and Janice Fiamengo from speaking at similar events in previous years.

A bit of advice to those so afraid of Young: Put down the placards and the rhetoric and read her informative work.

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