BY FRANK HAVILAND

With International Women’s Day (last weekend) still in the headlines, the left-wing media has been frantically publishing the same old victimhood lines to ensure we all see the day for what it is – a chance to bash men, rather than celebrate women:

• Women work free for 2 months a year (They really don’t).
• Adverts objectify women (They do, though naturally it’s fine to objectify men or unattractive women – which means feminists are killjoys, not principled).
• 9/10 people are biased towards women (People are biased, including women obviously).
• All-women trains launched for IWD (Despite an ongoing recruitment campaign since 2007, which suggests women simply don’t fancy the job).
• Pink paint gets gender-neutral makeover (I don’t care what you say, my livingroom’s still ‘Girly Girl’).

If you’re determined to play the victim, you’ll find a way. Which reminds me of that  old Hillary Clinton joke:

Women have always been the primary victims of war. Women lose their husbands, their fathers, their sons in combat.

Yep. Toxic masculinity, shanting it up in the grave.

Feminists are quick to point out they merely seek equality for women, which is of course a more than legitimate undertaking. What they fail to acknowledge is that this does not extend to any field where they already possess the whip hand. The Independent wants a female coronavirus vaccine, because you know, sexism. They omit the fact that the majority of those infected are male.

The Women Cyber Security Cell is a ‘non-profit community, focused on empowering women to succeed in the cybersecurity industry with ensuring her security in cyberspace’. What they’re not telling you is that conservative males face by far the most online abuse – good luck getting that crowdfunded!

Ask feminists about gender imbalances for conviction rates, alimony payments, longevity, suicide rates, homelessness, or getting the sack. No good? Try the gender tax gap, investment in prostate vs breast cancer, or who is favoured 2:1 in STEM fields. You’ll be waiting a while.

The curious issue here is not so much the hypocrisy – we’re all guilty of that. No, the real question is why feminists no longer care about women? There are plenty of genuine causes they could get behind to dramatically improve female lives.

Gender-neutral bathrooms are not empowering, they facilitate the sexual assault of women. Ignoring FGM has seen it increasingly performed on UK babies. Young girls are facing increasing pressure to gender transition, a decision many will go on to regret. Female sports, to all intents and purposes are now the men’s B league. And the refusal to admit the stark reality of grooming gangs, which is tantamount to collusion as far as I’m concerned.

The sad truth is that for all its worthy origins, feminism has been hijacked by the woke left; obsessed with hunting out any inequality, provided it can be laid at the feet of dull white men. In refusing to challenge any non-pc targets, that wokeness has brought women’s liberation full-circle, to the extent that they now eat their own.

The Victim Olympics have been won it seems, and not by the two frontrunners: LGBTQwerty and Islamism. No, the trans lobby is apparently the highest form of victimhood. The breathtaking irony of all this, is that feminists are now attacking feminists for defending women from transwomen – the patriarchy in a dress! Germaine Greer, Julie Bindel and Meghan Murphy are out, hairy chests and Adam’s apples are in.

In its refusal to portray women as anything other than victims, it is now feminism which treats women like second class citizens, and why it is increasingly only old-fashioned men who stand up for women; perhaps that is not such a bad thing.

Instead of all the manufactured doom and gloom, why can’t International Women’s Day openly celebrate women? Women like Fallon Sherrock, the first woman in history to compete in the darts Premier League. Or China’s chess phenom, Hou Yifan – the only woman inside the world’s top 100, and one who regularly competes with the men.

Forgive me invoking the Iron Lady, but she did tend to summarise hypocrisy rather well. Here she is being interviewed by Terry Wogan back in 1990:

Wogan: ‘Do they (male MPs) make any concessions to the fact that you are a woman?’

Thatcher: ‘No. Why should they? I don’t make any concessions to the fact that they are men.’

Perhaps with Thatcher at the helm, IWD might just be worth celebrating.