“Devastated.” He knows the way in which society works against women. A CEO of a company of which he was a board member refused to complain about her sexual abuse by a senior government official because if she did, “I’ll always be that bitch. I’ll never work in this industry again.” A close family member experienced domestic violence on the eve of the birth of her baby. 'I’ve seen first-hand what men are capable of.' Ross Taylor, Order of Australia recipient “I’ve seen first-hand what men are capable of,” he says. “The award should be directed at people who go beyond the income they get and beyond the normal work they do, and have made a significant difference to the betterment for our community. How does she meet that criterion?”

Arndt says she took up the cause of men’s rights because men get a raw deal. This has to be news to everyone else except the tiny group of men’s rights activists who spread misleading information in order to defame their current or former partners. They relentlessly claim men experience domestic violence at a greater rate than women (there is no reputable study in Australia that supports this) and that 21 men a week suicide because of family court matters (not measurable). Loading Outmoded styles of masculinity There are a handful of such women, devoted to shoring up outmoded styles of masculinity, the heroic breadwinner, the strong and bountiful silverback, a model which constrains both men and women. Her attempts to derail the useful project of understanding what happens to sexual assault victims on campus are embarrassing. It does not matter whether it’s one sex assault or many. Survivors, whether one or many, deserve support and help. Back in the day when Arndt was a sex therapist and editor of Forum, she devoted many column centimetres to the way in which men could be better lovers. Tom Durkin, one of her contributors, said men are “basically in competition with all other men . . . he cannot nurture himself because this behaviour is seen as weak and inappropriate to the male role” (Forum’s Guide to Sexual Growth, 1977, p. 88 and, of course, I still have my copy). Arndt knew then that men were suffering because of stereotypes of masculinity, ones she now supports.