Give me a word that means detestation
Bitter, green and gagging
Of the patriarchy
That venerable institution
Which keeps women subjugated, excruciated, obfuscated
Only sometimes celebrated
Usually when there are points to score
Or money whored

Give me a word that means abhorration
Firey, red, with passion
Of privilege
That invisibility cloak and ‘social theory‘
Which treats women as inferior, exterior, ulterior
Only ever superior
When it comes to ‘womens stuff’
Like getting up the duff

Some of my favourite people are men
My dad is a man, or he was, until I started earning more than him
No wait, he’s still a man
My brothers are men, or were, until I had the right to determine myself what happened to my body
No wait, they’re still men too
I’ve had lovers who were men, until I proclaimed that I was not to blame for the disrespectful way they treated me
They’re still men too, though lovers no more

Misandrist: a hater of men
Surely that’s not you!
Why aren’t you a humanist?
An equalitist?
Isn’t feminist just another way of saying women’s rights before men?

Love the sinner, hate the sin
That’s how the proverb goes

Which is fine except when the sin is perpetrated against you every minute of every day by so many men you can’t keep track and every day you put on armour to steel yourself against the male gaze and him possessing you with his eyes and his mind and being touched without your permission and having decisions made on your behalf by people who have no clue and being blamed for all of the woes of the world from poorly raised children to the domestic violence or rape perpetrated against you and being used for your body and being told by society that that’s okay and that poor behaviour is fine because ‘boys will be boys’ and that if you believe that your body is your own to make decisions about you are ‘pro death’ and the fact that despite doing the same job you’re getting paid less and all the bullshit politics that will be played against you so that a man can get his own way because you’re only a woman and how could you possibly be an expert in your field of study/expertise/profession or the best witness to your own experience and the man knows best and let me explain to you how you’re wrong even though I have no formal training or education in this thing that we’re talking about and as a cissexual white man I have very little concept of what it means to be a member of an oppressed minority trying to make their way in the world and over and over and over and over until you’ve been sinned against so many times that all you want to do is march them all into the sea so that you don’t have to try so fucking hard to exist in this world as a human being worthy of equal respect and dignity.

Turn the other cheek on that
TURN THE OTHER CHEEK ON THAT

So, until I have a word for hatred
Pure, white and hot
For what makes men think they have the right to
possess me

speak for me

belittle me

politicise me
blame me
control me
earn more than me
speak over me
touch me

explain to me

I am a misandrist.