The International Conference on Men’s Issues is a vital annual event which gives much needed publicity to the devastating issues affecting men and boys today. It was founded by two men – Paul Elam, who set up A Voice for Men, and Mike Buchanan, who founded the political party Justice for Men and Boys.

The first such event I attended was in 2016. It impressed me with the range of views as well the people it brought together by the general feeling of dismay about the devastation feminism has wreaked on society, and the particularly dire consequences for men and boys. The anti-feminist and men’s rights movements had come together to challenge the ever more extreme thinking that has come to dominate public and social policy.

I am honoured to have been invited to speak at this year’s meeting in July. Some of you will have read my critiques of feminism on this site. This conference gives me a chance to present my most recent thinking about an alternative way of understanding men and masculinity, based on what I believe to be their essential role in the family, something I call responsive masculinity. I am looking forward to seeing how the men there will respond to it!

Among the many other speakers this year will be Canadian Professor Janice Fiamengo, who’ll be talking about the demonisation of young men on college campuses in the USA

and the accompanying sexual misconduct trials; Nick Langford, a family law expert, on the damage feminism is doing to the family through changes in family law, and Ian McNicholl on a subject only rarely discussed in the mainstream media, the impact of domestic abuse on men, and the fact that men make up considerable numbers of domestic abuse victims.

The really wonderful thing about the conference, apart from its questioning of received wisdoms, is the chance to meet so many people from so many different fields working in different ways to bring about positive change to shortchanged men and boys. One of the highlights for me will be Anil Kumar, who has done so much to grow the men’s movement in India.

Nor will it be without some vim. For the first time all three of Canada’s three leading anti-feminist women, known as ‘Canadian Honey Badgers’ – Janice Fiamengo, Alison Tieman and Karen Straughan – will be speaking in the UK on the same platform. If you don’t know why they call themselves honey badgers, just check out the fearless reputation of their namesake! You can get a preview of what they each think here, here and here.

If that’s not enough by way of strong opinion, the conference will also hear The Conservative Woman’s ‘Rebel Priest’, the Rev Jules Gomes, on the damage feminism has done to the Church of England – a theme close to my own heart.

For more details about the conference and its speakers click here.