The ‘war on men’

Thank you for a thought-provoking piece by Ani O’Brien highlighting the potential minefield of sexual politics (“In defence of men,” May 28). I have participated in what have been described as the second and third waves of feminism from the 1970s-1990s, and since then the fourth wave, focused on sexual harassment and sexual violence.

To illustrate the complexity of the matters raised is to refer to the 2012 multiple-perpetrator rape and murder of Jyoti Singh Pandey in India. Academic analysis of this horrific crime has noted that lower-caste women in India have faced sexual violence and deaths without expressions of public concern for decades, which highlights the role of social status in relation to sexual violence.

In a past life as a social worker at Christchurch Women’s Prison, I worked with women who recounted years of sexual abuse and sexual violence that continued to affect their lives. Now, as an adjunct professor of gendered violence with Central Queensland University (there is no equivalent position in Aotearoa), I am part of a research programme that extends from the impact of domestic and sexual violence on