I finally managed to interview Janice Fiamengo this week after various attempts in the past which floundered over internet problems. I’m sure she will need no introduction for many of you who are familiar with her YouTube channel, The Fiamengo Files.
But for those of you who haven’t come across this fabulous woman, I’ll just tell you a few of the reasons I was so keen on talking to her.
Janice is a professor of English at the University of Ottawa and for years now she has been speaking out about the appallingly anti-male culture developing on university campuses. This really hit home to her when she found herself on academic committees making decisions about jobs and promotions and noticed very able men were constantly being overlooked, with positions being offered to far less impressive women who had nothing like the same experience or qualifications. You will hear in our interview about the hostile reactions she encountered when she started to speak out about this.
This simply made her more determined to voice her concern about what was happening, and she’s spent the last few years making YouTube videos exposing what is going on in Canadian Universities. Like the dreadful cases of eminent academics being targeted by #MeToo accusations and other males being hung out to dry in all sorts of ways. Then there’s the promotion of the campus rape scare campaign. Like me, Janice has been subjected to protests from feminist activists and has had some of her talks shut down. It’s pretty funny seeing the feminists chanting the same slogans at us both, two women on opposite sides of the world, taking on the same crazy nonsense.
Janice also hears constantly from men in trouble and some years ago decided to put together a book of personal stories from men about how they cope in this feminised world. Sons of Feminism is an amazing collection, including tales from young men about school years where they were constantly in strife for normal boyish behaviour, nerdy men who have never dared risk going near women, frightening stories from professionals in all sorts of work environments where men are being demonised and tales of men given unfair treatment in the courts. It really gives an overview of where we are now and why we must all get active to try to find ways to change the culture.