Showing posts with label Birmingham Library. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Birmingham Library. Show all posts

Sunday, 3 May 2009

Public Misandry: ‘This Desk is for the Use of Women Only’


Abhorrence of apartheid is a moral attitude, not a policy – Edward Heath

Last week the present author visited Birmingham Central Library in England, UK. I was astonished to find signs all over the library reading: ‘This desk is for the use of women only’. I wondered subsequently about this manifestation of arrant misandry. It seemed to imply that all men are potential sex criminals or, worse, second-class citizens. Why had no one opposed it? What was the real story here?

I phoned the library asking for further information on the policy. In due course I was sent several pages explaining the decision-making process involved in this policy. The information was staggering, on several counts.

Firstly, there was no consultative process with the general public, despite the library being a publicly-funded body. The decision to implement this apartheid-like signage was made arbitrarily, like some coercive diktat in a banana republic.

Secondly, the media’s response to the ‘initiative’ was decidedly odd. We are told that, initially, The News of the World (the major Sunday tabloid newspaper in Britain) was interested in covering the story (presumably in a critical light). Then, after an almost-magical discussion between a female staff-member and a female journalist (the essence of which is not disclosed) the newspaper’s decision to investigate the policy was mysteriously dropped. What further proof is needed that the ‘mainstream’ Anglo-American media quashes all criticism of feminist agendas?

We are continually told that the Anglo-American media are in a continual struggle against the official forces of ‘political correctness’. What utter rubbish: when the political correctness is feminist or misandrist, the ‘mainstream’ Anglo-American media are entirely complicit. Indeed, the Anglo-American media harbour a sweeping animus against men while putting women on pedestals: signs excluding men while implying (entirely imaginary) female victimization are well within their ambit of approval. This relates to the puritanical value system governing Anglo-American culture, which elevates women to semi-divine status.

Excluding anyone, including men, is an Apartheid practice. Libraries do this by having women only library tables, or ‘women only’ library days. However, these services are paid for by public revenues that we all contribute (in fact, men contribute the bulk of them). Of course, natural justice is of little value when men are being excluded.