Men Who Hate Women author Laura Bates: ‘Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine how bad the backlash would be’

The feminist writer received death threats after she wrote the book ‘Everyday Sexism’ a decade ago. She tells Fiona Sturges about living with the fear of violence, not letting hatred silence her and how she’s learnt to use her small frame to her advantage when it comes to fighting men

Telling it like it is: Bates hails the ‘privilege and huge responsibility of being trusted with women’s stories’ (Siggi Holm)

Last year, Laura Bates got on a horse, picked up a sword and learnt to fight as if her life depended on it. The writer, activist and leading light of feminism’s fourth wave was in Warwickshire taking lessons in mounted combat – along with sword fighting, she also learned to joust – as part of her research for her latest book The Sisters of Sword and Shadow. A work of feminist fiction set in the time of King Arthur, the book features a young heroine who is tutored in the ways of medieval knighthood.

“For someone who had never been on a horse in her life, it was an incredible feeling,” Bates recalls. “There was the feeling of empowerment that came from taking on a new skill, but also from the lessons I learnt as a woman about how to use your smaller stature to your advantage when fighting a man.” Owing to her decade-long campaign to end misogyny and sexism through the Everyday Sexism Project and beyond, Bates is grimly accustomed to fielding threats of violence from men – so much so that, following the publication of her 2020 book, Men Who Hate Women, an eye-opening exposé of organised online misogyny, the police installed a panic alarm in her house. Small wonder that Bates relished the chance “to feel physically powerful and to get all my pent-up anger and frustration out. I’d really recommend it.”

Today, 37-year-old Bates has a chest infection and has risen from her sick bed to talk to me over Zoom. When I offer to reschedule, she waves a hand dismissively and insists she will be fine. It is this indefatigable spirit that has helped carry her through 10 years of campaigning, both through her books – along with Men Who Hate Women, she is the author of 2014’s Everyday Sexism, 2018’s Misogynation and 2022’s Fix The System, Not The Women – and her work visiting schools and advising major organisations including the United Nations, the Council of Europe and a British parliamentary committee on how best to tackle gender discrimination.