Sir, - Harry Ferguson's response (October 5th) to my letter of September 28th states that my letter "smacks of the paranoia and dangerous simplicity of argument that we have come to expect from Ms Cleary and others who argue that men are now the oppressed gender in Irish society". The personal insinuations implicit in his remarks about "paranoia and simplicity of argument" from one who holds such an august position do not merit comment.
I do not argue that men are now the oppressed gender in Irish society, but I do highlight areas in which men are discriminated against, particularly in the family law system. Claims of a monopoly on victimisation I leave to Prof Ferguson and his fellow feminists.
Although I have been denied a copy of the Exploring Masculinities programme by the Department of Education I have studied a borrowed copy. Prof Ferguson claims that the programme "is designed to support parents' efforts to give boys all the help they need to reflect on their identity and to feel good about themselves". Having seen the contents, I can assure your readers that it will not make boys feel good about themselves, given the way that it falsely portrays men as violent and abusive and women as victims of an oppressive male patriarchy. Its dominant theme is that men are powerful, violent and irresponsible while women are passive and powerless.
Prof Ferguson argues that "changing how men and masculinity are constructed is what stopping violence and reaching victims has to be all about". This is a clear admission that the Exploring Masculinities programme is an attempt to deconstruct and reconstruct men and masculinity. Obviously Prof Ferguson and those who designed this programme believe that members of the male sex carry sole responsibility for violence. His criticism that Amen's "analysis begins and ends with blaming everything on women" is another unjustified attack on our volunteers who provide support for abused men and their children.
Our volunteers comprise both men and women, motivated by a sense of justice and social responsibility, who see the damage being done to men's lives by the sexist, feminist portrayal of the issue of domestic violence. We do not blame "everything on women", but accept that men and women are equally capable of violence.
Prof Ferguson refers to the fact that the words "domestic violence industry" appear on our website. They do - in the title of an article by an American journalist, one of many articles on the site amen.ie. I have never used these words.
The delusions of superiority under which Prof Ferguson and his colleagues dwell is clear from his arrogant assertion that those who disagree with their analysis "have no real understanding of gender relationships". Neither Prof Ferguson nor his clique of feminist friends have a monopoly on wisdom in relation to "gender relationships" or any other issue. Those who support the dignity of men and masculinity also have a valid perspective.
Prof Ferguson finishes with the glib suggestion that the best thing I could do is "actually complete the Exploring Masculinities programme". No, thank you, Harry! I am already feminine. I can neither be effeminised nor emasculated. - Yours, etc.,
Mary T. Cleary, Co-ordinator, Amen, Brew's Hill, Navan, Co Meath.