In response to Mark Ellse: Nottingham police could criminalise all men, Jolly Roger wrote:
Long gone, it seems, is the police force (aren’t they a service now?) that is solely concerned with the prevention of crime (real crime, that is) and the bringing of alleged perpetrators to justice.
The idea that even pro-feminist men could harbour hatred of women, even without knowing it, takes us back, more or less, to the accusations of witchcraft of the 17th century, or the demon possession of biblical times. Like ghosts, apparently, the misogynists invisibly cohabit the same environment, only making their presence felt in threatening gestures such as holding doors open.
We already know that holding a door open for a woman is an act of male condescension and thus a claim to superiority. But do you let the door slam in their face and be accused of working out your subcortextual hatred of your mother, or your bossy maiden aunt who died fifty years ago?
The only solution for the males of Nottinghamshire is to avert their eyes from the feminine, rather as Byzantine courtiers did from the divine Emperor, lest their gaze pollute the pure form upon which it rests.
Does no one hate men? One might suspect they do.
