Horsefaces Unite

Every woman whose face is longer than it's wide has been likened to a horse at some point, either to her horseface or behind her back. Every man too, for all I know. Children see the joke and so do other women. Though a horseface myself I was always distracted by the face length of Anna Gunn (Skyler White) in "Breaking Bad", however good an actress she is. As a horseface myself I find President Trump's use of the term in a tweet about Stormy Daniels hilarious. Almost predictably by now, Trump's use of the nickname has caused yet more complaints about lack of chivalry. How can a man publicly say such a thing about a woman? He's hardly the first, which everybody seems to forget, but granted he is the most prominent. How can he? Simple: he's giving as good as he gets, if not better. That's what he does when attacked, whether by a man or woman. He's an equal opportunity offender. So what's the problem with that, when feminism says women should be treated the same as men? Ah but there's the rub, so to speak. Because the aggrieved woman in question, Ms Daniels, gets naked in public, has sex onscreen for money, had consensual sex with a married man for potential career advancement, accepts a lot of money to keep quiet about her tryst years later when he emerges as a politician, dishonours her contract by talking about him very publicly indeed, and accusing him of intimidation by proxy, then publishes a book about him in which his genitalia, the genitalia of the President of the United States of America mind you, is described with such imaginative detail that it is discussed at length, so to speak, in all the major news outlets - and this woman gets touted up and down as a heroine of feminism, an empowered woman, a working woman, a single mom doing the best for herself and her daughter. Again, ladies and your male feminist allies, you can't have it both ways. If every woman is a heroine no matter what she does with her life, then why can't she weather an uncomplimentary nickname in retaliation to her own lack of good manners? Chivalry is all to do with horses, etymologically speaking. I like horses, and embrace my likeness to them. Hurray for horsefaces, I say.

The worst thing was the laughter

More proof that feminism is backtracking to the most chivalrous notions of how women should be treated. Did anyone notice the role of laughter in statements from Kavanaugh accusers? The woman who alleged that someone exposed himself (or was it a fake?) to her at a drinking party mentioned that the worst thing about the evening was the hilarity among the boys. In the recent 'Sixty Minutes' interview with Donald Trump, Lesley Stahl chided Trump for making fun of Christine Blasey Ford's many memory lapses because, she appealed to him, Christine had claimed to be most distressed by the laughter of the boys as they left the room of her alleged assault. So how could he, big bad Trump, make use of humour in criticising her 'I don't knows'? Laughter, especially if it feels derisive, can be mortifying yes, but to anyone, not just to women. The idea that it is worse when directed at women is one that used to be common currency, however - until it got laughed out of town - derisively - by feminism. On what grounds does feminism resort to it now?

Kavanaugh feminists

Women using emotional manipulation in the Brett Kavanaugh situation - a bit rich, isn't it? Christine Blasey Ford herself kicked this off in grand style during her statement to the senate judiciary committee. Her little-girl tone, cutesy gestures and facial expressions and, especially, the expertly delivered tremor in her voice at key moments were quite astonishing, all the more so that she turns out to have been a pussy-hat marching, Trump-hating feminist before emerging on the national scene so recently. Then there were the women who ambushed Jeff Flake, one of whom displayed the same tremulous voice as Blasey Ford as she tried to shame Flake for being rational, claiming that she, as a 'survivor', was invalidated by his masculine judiciousness. This woman was later interviewed on a news programme and her forthright tone against men was distinctly lacking its earlier pathos. Another woman tried to shame Orrin Hatch and, upon being urged by him to 'grow up', wailed: 'You can't talk to women like that!' Now, I'm all for appealing to the better nature of men. I think it's a wonderful thing for men to be caring and protective towards women. The chivalric code is one of the most amazing inventions of Western society, not only in itself but in giving us gentlemanliness, its direct descendent. But then I'm not a feminist. I have watched in utter dismay for the last few decades as feminism has derided paternalism, chivalry, basic good manners, and oh dear, anything patriarchal. From childhood and youth in the 1960s and 1970s (I'm the same generation as Kavanaugh and Blasey Ford) I have lived through the ever-coarsening interactions between men and women, driven by the sexual revolution and women's insistence that there is no difference between the sexes. Yet now feminists are marching in the streets, clad in black to emphasise victimhood, clamouring for women to be 'protected'. Ladies, you can't do this. You don't get to be hell-bent on 'equality', and then, when things don't go your way, turn around and demand that men - the men you previously said should treat you like men - lay themselves in the mud for you to walk over. The archetypal courteous gesture of a man laying his cloak down for his lady's feet to be kept clean and dry doesn't begin to satisfy you now. Though you would have spat on the cloak five minutes ago, men must now lay down their very selves, their careers, their lives and families, everything they have tried to build. How can this be?

Blasey Ford's after party

How did Christine Blasey Ford get home? She refers to a sexual "attack", allegedly at the hands of a teenage Brett Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge. She says she was pushed into a room, pinned down, groped and, most traumatically, prevented from screaming and almost of breathing by a hand over her mouth. This "attack" is now routinely described in commentaries as an 'attempted rape', even though the boys were, by her own admission, drunk and laughing, and it seems they gave up on her very easily after they all toppled off the bed and she made her escape. Victims of genuine attempted rapes, as opposed to drunken gropings, might not be convinced by this description of the alleged crime. But more importantly, if this 'attack' had been as traumatic as she claims, with lifelong repercussions, there would have been something to show for it afterwards. Fifteen year-old Christine Blasey would have been visibly shaken. She would have been dishevelled. Her clothes would have been a mess. Her face would bear the marks of the strong pressure from the assailant's hand. The person who drove her home would have noticed something very wrong, both in her physical appearance and in her demeanour. Her obvious distress would have prompted at least some discussion of what had just happened. And yet this mystery driver has not been named. No one has come forward claiming to be that driver. So far, all is silence. I don't doubt that something happened to Blasey Ford when she was younger, but her claim that, whatever it was, happened how and when she described it at the hearing is highly suspicious.