I recall in my old pub the 80s that if I spoke about feminism or women’s rights, many of the men got angry. Basically, many of them saw any woman speaking out as “scary and angry” many women agreed with the men because they were scared of men’s anger and rejection.

It was openly accepted that any woman who got raped were probably stupid, drunk or a whore who was ruining men’s lives. Men openly spoke about how women “look” and their clothes and make up - these men were wee fat baldy men with a belly’s hanging over their portly fitting jeans

I used to stand there and wonder how they would feel if I pointed out that they were badly dressed, over weight and unattractive to me. So I did, they asked my husband to stop me saying it. He said “why is it ok for you but not her?”

I still see these men & their ilk on twitter, they want to tell you that your ugly but you’re not allowed to speak back or they cry

The stories I have ...

They would put their wives down in front of me, ignore her phone calls when she asked him to come home and they saw more of my wee girl, than they did of their own kids. They got old and those women who got laughed at ended up wiping their old asses as they crumpled into old age

These are personal real stories, not generalised views. I knew these men and these women. I know what happened 30 years later. Finally he’s too old and too sick to fuck her about and shout about her waistline as he pee’s himself.

It seems all these years later women are still arguing for safety in the work place ( re : comedy).

The good news is there were great men, strong men who never out women down who encouraged me and other women to keep speaking out.