Adrian Gattenhof, Mullumbimby
I’ve sometimes wondered if claims of widespread misogyny are exaggerated. Not after a bizarre incident last Saturday. Four of us friends, two men and two women, were playing tennis doubles – boys v girls – at the lovely Riverside courts in Mullum. The women often win; they’re formidable players.
A couple walking past paused at the mens’ end to watch. As I was about to serve, the male piped up with: ‘Better watch them (meaning our female friends) make sure they don’t cheat.’
Off-guard, shocked, I only had the presence of mind to call back: ‘No, no they never cheat, none of us do.’
They wandered off. If challenged the bloke might have replied, ‘Just a joke mate’. Had it been mens’ doubles, no such demeaning ‘joke’ would have been made.
How much sly misogyny simmers away just below the surface of social and intimate relationships? Do men realise how they demean and dishonour themselves, insult their partners and poison their relationships with this baseless bile?
The #MeToo movement gives an opportunity for a long-overdue cleansing and renewal of our relationships – the only real wealth we have. I hope we men embrace the liberating growth the #MeToo movement brings us all.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
