A Visit To Feminist Fantasy Land

Charlotte Proudman is a barrister. She calls herself a feminist and always styles herself Dr Charlotte Proudman to make sure we all know how clever she is. Moira Donegan is a so-called journalist. Recently, they held a wide-ranging discussion on subjects as varied as rape, Andrea Dworkin, Amber Heard, and trans rights. Before discussing that however, let us visit Miss Proudperson’s Twitter stream: 

“I wonder if the British public respect the Royal Family for standing by Prince Andrew more than they respect Prince Harry & Meghan for speaking out” she commented on January 15.

Prince Harry is a sad case; his wife is a proven liar and manipulator.

Prince Andrew is a decorated war hero who was the victim of smears by a self-confessed child sex trafficker with a track record for falsely accusing men of sexual abuse. While it is true that he showed poor judgment for a royal by continuing to associate with Jeffrey Epstein after the latter’s conviction for soliciting prostitution, barristers rub shoulders with even more odious people. Indeed, some feminist barristers have been known to defend them. To take just one example, Clare Wade QC took the murder conviction of Emma-Jayne Magson to the Court Of Appeal not once but twice, failing both times, thankfully.

It would be tiresome to discuss the Proudman/Donegan conversation in great depth, suffice it to point out that almost everything they say is wrong or just plain barmy. For example, Donegan is a great admirer of Andrea Dworkin, a gratuitously repulsive woman who died in 2005. 

Dworkin was obsessive about pornography and along with the even more odious Catharine MacKinnon tried to have it banned in the United States claiming it amounted to the sexual exploitation of women. She was also opposed to prostitution, even though by her own admission she worked as a prostitute herself for a time.

Of course, pornography is an enormous field which covers everything from smutty jokes to films which are rightly illegal, but for the Dworkins of this world, there are no boundaries, no nuauces. In the 1980s when she and MacKinnon tried to censor the industry, pornography in the United States was controlled by big business and men like Larry Flynt. Today, there are numerous smaller outfits, mostly on-line, some run entirely by women. Then there is homosexual pornography, which although depraved, hardly contributes to the denigration of women. There goes another feminist victim narrative.

Regarding Amber Heard, Proudman and Donegan are in total agreement that this is a poor woman who was violated and is now vilified. Speaking of Johnny Depp’s female lawyer after his successful defamation action against ex-wife Heard, Proudman wrote on her Twitter stream:

 “Defending a wife-beater doesn’t make you an inspiration”.

She has also come out as a personal defender of Heard, and has been photographed with her. This begs the question did she actually follow this case? Many lawyers did, commenting on YouTube, and every single one of those lawyers, including female lawyers, agreed with the verdict. It was Heard who sliced off the tip of Depp’s finger rather than vice versa; it was Heard who admitted assaulting Depp, not vice versa. And it was Heard who lied repeatedly on the stand. Among other things it was proved that she had faked a bruised face with make-up then tipped off the media.

Donegan wrote that Depp v Heard was an orgy of misogyny, ignoring the fact that many of Depp’s supporters were women and many of Heard’s critics were also women. At one time, Heard was considered one of the most beautiful women in the world, and she is still a looker. Depp on the other hand is an almost washed up actor of nearly sixty with addiction issues. Why would anyone of either sex support Depp instead of Heard unless they saw through her?

While she may whine freely about misogyny, Donegan is perfectly willing to stir up animosity against the opposite sex herself. A few years ago she started a scurrilous on-line list that has an unspeakable name. Perhaps she should ask Charlotte Proudman about something called due process? 

The final word though must go to Miss Proudman who wrote: “… men live and work in a brutal society, which is maintained through stratified social order based on ritual humiliation, gentleman’s clubs, fights, rites of passage, sexism, and banter.”

Yeah, right. Men also work in the sewers, dig up the street at 3am so she can have hot water for her shower or gas for her stove. Men work on oil rigs and fishing boats. Men build houses and skyscrapers. Women do none of these things. The world for some men is indeed brutal, and sometimes short, even in the Twenty-First Century. That is something these two dedicated man-haters should remember the next time they cry sexism or harassment over some dude ogling their breasts in the street.