'New men' absent from campus

MALE university students have declared themselves: fewer than one in five could be classed as 'new men' and nearly half responded negatively to ideas about feminism.

The men were quick to link feminism with vegetarians, lesbians and 'fat and ugly' women, the conference was told.

The hostility emerged in a survey of attitudes to feminism among students at three Scottish universities. In all, 155 women and 191 men studying social science and engineering were asked a series of questions about feminism and feminists.

Sixty-four per cent of men could not place Germaine Greer in a ranking order of prominent women as feminists, and 46 per cent had not heard of Benazir Bhutto. Their female counterparts did not do much better when asked to rank the women; 57 per cent 'didn't know' about Ms Greer, and 54 per cent 'didn't know' about Ms Bhutto.