An academic who ceased teaching at the U. of Ottawa in 2019, Janice Fiamengo was born in Vancouver, Canada in 1964 to an era rife with Feminist complaints against the historical oppression of Women by Men. Ms. Fiamengo says her education throughout the 70s and 80s saw the repetition of that narrative by academics at every level. As she matured, however, she came to conclude this demonization of the so-called patriarchy to be a grossly simplistic perspective on both the Facts of History and the complexity of the Relationship between the Sexes. The title of an article published by her in Australia’s Spectator in 2024 succinctly summarizes her point of view: The making and un-making of a feminist radical: my story….[Nothing was ever said about the good that men had done and continued to do.]
As she applied for a teaching position at the U. of Ottawa, she realized that men were barely being considered as candidates for such positions. It was DEI in all its stupidity, the marginalization of a particular group based on Identity rather than Merit or Achievement! Ironically, she points out, this policy was referred to as “equity hiring.” While all the Men in her life had treated her fairly and kindly, Women were being taught that they were Innocent Victims whose failure to excel was always the result of Male Oppression! By the late 90s, she says, she had become an avid opponent of Feminist Radicalism, an advocate of the Fact that while Men are certainly capable of a condescending arrogance, many had in the past and continued to be courageous warriors for both the betterment of the world in general, and the welfare of their beloved Wives and Families. Her “conservative” attitude towards the neo-Marxist narrative that dominates so many aspects of the contemporary Left is that it is grossly simplistic. No one blessed with even a speck of common sense can possible refute this conclusion!