Attention all you man-hating feminists: Watch out for Roy Den Hollander. This self-proclaimed "anti-feminist" lawyer (Web site tag line: "Now is the time for all good men to fight for their rights before they have none left") is battling "the infringement of men's rights by feminists and their allies" step by humorless, ball-busting step.
According to the New York Times, Hollander, who has also sued Manhattan nightclubs for favoring women by offering ladies night discounts and the federal government (for a section of the Violence Against Women Act), has moved on to that old favorite of "men's rights" groups: women's studies departments.
On Monday, Hollander filed a lawsuit against Columbia University for offering women's studies courses, claiming that they are discriminatory toward men and accusing Columbia of using government funding to push a "religionist belief system called feminism." He's demanding that Columbia either halt its women's studies program or offer alternative "men's studies" classes as well.
Hollander describes women's studies as a "bastion of bigotry against men" that "demonizes men and exalts women in order to justify discrimination against men based on collective guilt." To which I say, if Hollander thinks this argument is new, he hasn't been spending enough time in the Broadsheet letters thread. (In fact, anyone with suggestions for further "anti-feminist" lawsuits inspired by "anti-guy" Broadsheet topics should visit his Web site and see if he can litigate on your behalf.)
But taking a step back, I think there's something ironic about Hollander's "anti-feminism," since what he's arguing, superficially at least, is that men and women should be treated exactly equally. If his true goal is equality between the sexes, doesn't that make him ... a feminist?
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