Letter: No male feminists

No male feminists

Sir: Robert G Brew objects to Germaine Greer's implication that men cannot be feminists (letter, 5 March). However, the desire to exclude men from the definition of feminist is perfectly understandable.

Women's lives have been and continue to be colonised and controlled by men. The notion of the male feminist can be seen as a continuation of this colonisation. How long before men insist that they can do feminism better than women can, just as the literature on transsexualism sometimes implies that surgically produced faux women can do womanliness better than women can?

Call yourself a critic of gendered power relations by all means, Mr Brew, but consider the message that is conveyed by men laying claim to feminist status.

Dr ADRIAN COYLE

Department of Psychology

University of Surrey

Guildford