Contrary to the Custom of Men (ePub)

As a child I was bullied, abused, and battered by my father. One of the many things I didn’t understand at the time was that my father, in his loathsome splendor, was an emissary for Patriarchy. He was teaching me what a man is. His tactics were the tactics of Patriarchy. The tyrant teaches his traitor best. I spent the first 18 years of my life surviving my father’s relentless attempts, at the behest of Patriarchy, to crush the love, sensibility, and kindness out of me and the last 40 years studying this rapacious, cruel and pestilent parasite called Patriarchy. I have become an explorer of dangerous things. At this point in my journey, I thoughtfully proclaim my shame to be a man under Patriarchy. I have become a feminist. I have become a radical feminist. I am a hairy-legged radical feminist. I’m tired of talking around the problem. I’m tired of husbands raping and strangling their wives and lovers, cutting them into pieces, and throwing them into dumpsters along with the rest of their garbage. I’m sick to death of the problem, and the problem is Patriarchy, pure and simple. You hereby enter the secret world of Patriarchy—at your peril. It is the foul, corrupt, privileged, and cowardly world of men, so-called masculinity, and male privilege. It is a secret world, although not mysterious or even complex. No more so than a punch in the face. I am a traitor and this is what I have learned—I hope it disturbs you.