An academic stoush has exposed the dark recesses of the gender wars. On one side are radical feminists who see men as "carnivorous and necrophiliac" and on the other side are men's rights extremists who see women as "lying bitches" who routinely make false rape accusations.

The Townsville Bulletin revealed last week that Dr Greg Canning quit his James Cook University post in protest because they refused to discipline his feminist colleague Dr Betty McLellan for writing an article which he thought stereotyped all men as sexual abusers.

Dr McLellan wrote on radical feminist website RadFem Hub that in light of male violence and rape we should be asking ourselves what it is about men that leads to these behaviours. Dr Canning said the article painted all men as evil, but the university declined to take any action.

Now it turns out Dr Canning is the Australian news director of a US hate site that claims men have almost no legal rights and should shift to a "war mentality" because women now have "supreme power".

Dr Canning works for A Voice for Men. AVFM’s claims include that there is an "epidemic" of false rape accusations, that rape and domestic violence awareness campaigns are examples of "male sex witch hunting", and that women, literally, get away with murder.

The site’s motto is "FTSU" which stands for 'F***king their s**t up' in reference to feminists, and it is closely connected to a site called "Register Her" to name and shame women who are "lying bitches" or bigots. For example, actor Katherine Heigl features on there under the heading "bigot" because she once made a joke about castration.

Dr Canning told News.com.au he disagreed with the tone of some sections of the website and that he did not agree with all the arguments on there, but that he believed it was a rare place where men could speak up.

He does, however, talk about false rape allegations on the site, a topic that is a core issue to AVFM. Men’s rights extremists claim women often invent rape, either because they regret sex or because they want to frame men.

When questioned about another claim that there was a "corrupt" domestic violence "industry", Dr Canning said he believed that the domestic violence sphere was controlled by feminists who ignore violence against men. He then went on to attack Dr McLellan afresh, pointing out that the website she wrote on describes men as having "carnivorous and necrophiliac" behaviours.

RadFem Hub also warns about the dangers of "penis in vagina" sex and argues that men "as a class" are trying to destroy women.

Gender and violence expert Dr Michael Flood, a senior sociology lecturer at the University of Wollongong who has had disagreements with Dr Canning and men’s rights activists in the past, said vitriol and extremism were rife online.

He said the false rape allegation claims were a standard way men’s rights activists tried to discredit rape victims.

"It ends up disempowering victims and protecting perpetrators," he said, adding that false rape allegations were rare and likely made as often by men as by women.

Dr Flood also said the internet could be a dangerous place for women, particularly feminist women.

"The internet has provided a forum for more extreme and vitriolic beliefs and it has provided a forum where angry anti-feminist men can voice the most hostile and toxic kinds of attacks, particularly against feminist women," he said.