Leftwing men: can’t live with them, can’t shoot them. Instead, they can be splattered with faint praise for being “well-meaning”. Jess Phillips, the Marmite MP (I love Marmite) has taken a little pop at lefty men at the Edinburgh book festival. She was asked about the behaviour of men on the left and said they are the “absolute worst” sexists. They claim that they want to see women treated the same as men but they are guilty of “benign neglect” and don’t really fight for gender equality. They were worse, she said, than the “out and out sexists of the right”.

Phillips has long been critical of Jeremy Corbyn surrounding himself with male advisers although his new cabinet now has more balance. But she was stirring about more than just Corbyn. She is surely right when she says many men pay lip service to better female representation, but when it comes to risking their own jobs say: “oh you mean me? But I am so clever. I’ve got so much to offer the world”.

She added that women were “entirely missing” from the Labour party’s industrial strategy because that was all about “men with shovels”. This may be broad-brush stuff – there are a lot of brilliant women in the Labour party who battle away – but it remains embarrassing surely, that the Tories have had two women leaders and Labour none. Leadership is one issue and culture another, but they are connected.

Many men on the left hum the tune of anti-sexism; they just have no idea of the words

Many men on the left hum the tune of anti-sexism; they just have no idea of the words. The far left is dire on women’s rights, better at commemorating dead revolutionary women. Its cult leaders engage in abuse while reassuring us that gender equality can only flourish after the class revolution.

Historical memory omits Mo Mowlam or even Harriet Harman. Current MPs like Luciana Berger, Naz Shah or Stella Creasy are told they are never good enough and, of course, it’s a shame they get abuse, but what matters is their support for Corbyn, with what they do for women coming second.

Some of this is personal, and some of it is political, but it is certainly isn’t the leader’s fault alone. It is the product of the kind of male leftism that is prevalent now. The hopeful populism of football chants and absolute boydom is fun. Maybe. The laddishness of slagging off “melts” and liberals as heretics is part of the fandom – a little macho, a little silly.

What is more serious though is that the preoccupations of these guys are pretty regressive as far as feminism is concerned. Cutting-edge issues are the rights of trans people and sex workers. That’s fine, but where else do women’s concerns figure?

Labour’s women problem isn’t new. I saw it first hand | Sonia Sodha Read more

Sure, I was pleased when Momentum provided a creche at its conference, but much more needs to be done and addressed. Take surrogacy, IVF postcodes, midwife shortages, cuts to DV shelters, trafficking, tampon tax, the pay gap, and social media abuse just for a start. Reproductive rights only became an issue for the many men on the left when the DUP were brought into alliance with the government. This reminds me of pro-choice marches I used to go on, when men came along and demanded to walk at the front.

The phenomenon of grooming gangs should not be used to fuel racism. But for the left to deny the scale of child abuse and its relationship to patriarchy is a cop out. Male sexuality is surely not something that has passed leftwing men by on their way to the high moral ground. Surely there can be no discussion of neoliberalism, austerity and automation that leaves out gender. But that is what is happening. Of course, race and class interwine with this too.

The sexism of leftwing men is often simply down to an absence of self-reflection. It too often manifests in them telling us how to do feminism properly, for only they understand what the priorities are. As for us: we should just wait our turn.