There’s a war being waged against men. I’m making a subtle claim, I realise. Subtle in the same way that Dame Edna’s wardrobe and Cher’s hair are subtle, but then I’ve never been one for shilly-shallying around.

A war on men. Grubby, dishonest and destructive. A war without cause and without honour (as are many) and in this case, driven by a particularly strong thirst for blood. It is vengeance fuelled and focused. This war doesn’t care who it discredits and, in terms of reputation, disembowels. Why? Because, feelings.

Where’s my proof, I hear you say. Well, to start with there’s this one chap called Brett who was verbally and, in all ways other than physically, flayed en route to his now confirmed seat on the US Supreme Court. That’s one fairly solid example.

On that, let’s settle some things.

Just because Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the bench after claims of sexual assault against him were unproved, doesn’t mean he won. Nobody won. Especially not his accuser, a woman dragged reluctantly into the hateful public melee.

If any of you have just been triggered by my views on this, can I recommend you spend 10 minutes reading the compassionate, rational and highly detailed speech by Senator Susan Collins. It is a tour de force. A clinical analysis of the facts (remember those) including a scathing message to those who used Christine Blasey Ford, then threw her under a bus, after the plan to derail Kavanaugh’s nomination by destroying his reputation went south faster than a bunch of schoolies after exams.

What the world has watched play out over the past couple of months was a powerful and, granted, extreme example of this war, the primary weapon in which is demonising men about everything and for everything. It can’t be dismissed as falling into the bucket of “only in America” — the rot has taken root here, like larvae squirming their way through rotten fruit.

You can see it in every attempt to dismiss a male perspective. In the attempt to normalise the denial of natural justice over serious allegations such as rape and abuse — where a woman can make any claim she likes about a man and expect to be believed solely because she is a woman.

It’s in every move to sideline a man from career advancement just because he’s a man. It’s in the flawed view that gender parity on boards and in Parliament means the best people are in place.

Stacks of men I speak to feel afraid to have a view. Afraid of looking the wrong way. Saying the wrong thing. Of being accused of doing something they didn’t. You might argue that if they’re innocent, what’s to fear? Lots, when facts don’t matter. If I were a bloke, I’d be nervous too.

Perhaps most shameful is the dishonesty with which attempts are made to justify this terrible anti-man fest.

We’re doing it for our daughters. For the next generation of women. To show them what strength looks like.

Lies and more lies.

All it shows is that among these self-appointed, lady-soldiers of virtue, facts don’t matter. All you need is rage, offence, a screaming mob and a hat shaped like a vagina.

Oh yes. In this war on blokes, all you have to do sling the mud and watch it stick, because … #MeToo. Brothers. Husbands. Partners. Friends. Sons.

Total madness.

Just because there have been decades of inequality, just because some men have got away with the most horrendous kinds of sexual abuse in the workplace doesn’t mean the entire gender should be punished.

How sad that the same women who cry foul about having been deprived a voice are now only interested in silencing men, just as they were silenced.

Poor old irony. Lined up against the wall at dawn and shot through the heart.

This is not my war. It’s not a dynamic I want to be a part of. Not a culture I want to carry. Not a lie I’m interested in perpetuating.

Challenging this ugliness feels like screaming into a cyclone. I know many of you feel the same. Perhaps if more of us begin to scream …

Those of us (and I’m convinced there are more of us than the other mob) who see men as part of the solution aren’t popping into the freezer to whip out a pre-frozen plate of revenge. There is no glory in that. Very definitely no dignity.

Anyone who watched Dr Ford speak to the Senate committee should have been moved with compassion. Exactly what happened to her we’ll probably never know.

What is currently unchallenged, is that every single witness she mentioned as having been present the night she claimed to have been assaulted, including a lifelong friend, denied any memory of the party whatsoever.

Like I said, nobody won. I wonder how many victims of abuse yet to come forward and having watched on, never will. Casualties of war, I guess.

A friend of mine emailed me last week. “Growing up with a mother who started her own business, I saw my dad support her. Support the women they both employed. Champion her. Makes me wonder who is behind this war pitting women against men,” he mused.

Fair point. Who indeed? I suspect it’s the same people walking around with “resist” on their T-shirts, and scrawled on ugly, cardboard signs. Resist? Oh please. People, you’re not Nancy Wake. You’re like pimply faced under-grads from the university Trotsky club. My contempt for you is legion.

I tell you one thing, I’ll resist. Because every person — woman and man — deserves the presumption of innocence. Because I know that waging war on men will never address or redress wrongs of the past. We’re doomed unless we walk together.

It’s time for a ceasefire.

Gemma Tognini is managing director of gtmedia