QOTD: Margaret Atwood
by digby
Who gets these dynamics better than any other writer, in my opinion:
‘”Why do men feel threatened by women?” I asked a male friend of mine. So this male friend of mine, who does by the way exist, conveniently entered into the following dialogue. “I mean,” I said, “men are bigger, most of the time, they can run faster, strangle better, and they have on the average a lot more money and power.” “They’re afraid women will laugh at them,” he said. “Undercut their world view.”
Then I asked some women students in a quickie poetry seminar I was giving, “Why do women feel threatened by men?” “They’re afraid of being killed,” they said.’
Margaret Atwood, Writing the Male Character (1982)
The irony, if that’s even an appropriate way to think about it, is that out of his deep hatred toward women, Elliot Rodger killed two women — and four men — on Friday night. No one is safe from violent misogynists.
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