‘Feminism for men’ is bad news for women

In my 40 years as a feminist activist campaigning to end male violence, I have never felt so engulfed in a culture of woman hating. I first met feminists in Leeds, West Yorkshire, in 1979, shortly before Peter Sutcliffe, the so-called Yorkshire Ripper, was finally arrested, weeks after he murdered and mutilated his 13^th victim, Jacqueline Hill.

During the five years that Sutcliffe was killing, the climate of fear and hostility towards women kept many of us indoors. We were terrified to walk the streets at night, but also galvanising others into protesting at the bungled police operation and the disgraceful misogynistic newspaper coverage of the murders.

According to police and the press, there were ‘good’ and ‘bad’ victims. Some appeared to think that women in street prostitution, those drinking in pubs at night, or merely walking the streets to buy cigarettes, pretty much deserved getting murdered. These were terrible times for women.