“If no one’s ever despised you for your sex, it is difficult to care about sexism because it is necessarily foreign to you.

Remembering this helps me have mercy on men who don’t think feminism is needed or that women have enough rights already. Most likely, these men have never had anyone oppress them because they were male; the very notion is unfathomable to them. No one has ever told them that, merely because they were born male, they are less intelligent, incapable of leadership, intended to be subservient, or a sex object open to public derision and comment. It is therefore difficult for many men to be empathetic with women on this front.”

Sounds very familiar, and I’ve heard a version of this kind of statement countless times, but as regards to race, not gender ( so I know what being maligned for some senseless or stupid reason or other is like).
But I’m republishing this post here primarily because Malawi is a deeply religious society, and not because I’m a minority living in Britain.