Ok I admit it; I AM angry with men.

I am angry with a lot of men. And I am angry with the patriarchy...which is propped up not only by men, but by a lot of women too.

But I am not angry with men as a group. I have a man for a husband who behaves as he should (I'm trying to train myself not to say he's wonderful, because really he's no better than all men ought to be, but that obviously puts him way ahead of most men ). I also have a step-father; uncles and brothers who also behave as they should.

I went through a stage of being extremely angry with men. When my ex visited a strip club with my brother on his stag do, I started asking around my peer group about their attitudes towards it. That was when I discovered feminism. The huge sense of entitlement that I came across in my male work colleagues, male relatives and male friends was unbelievable.

I started looking at some of their behaviour in a new light too. Many were having affairs and justifying their behaviour. Many thought that sleeping with prostitutes (only abroad though - in this country it's seedy, of course!) was absolutely fine, if they were in a relationship or not.

My ex was an abusive tool as well but I managed to let him convince him over a period of years that I was somehow defective. And it seemed that every mother I knew worshipped their son/s (including my own mother) and didn't pull them up on any of this bad behaviour.

I realise that some women watch male strippers and some women have affairs but it seemed by far and away the men in my peer group who did all of this stuff and, if you suggested that their wife/girlfriend might not like it, you'd get the whole "who the hell is she to tell me what to do?" argument.

I also felt angry that they could easily change their behaviour and they don't. If men stopped walking through the doors of lap dancing clubs, they'd all close down. It's not difficult to not do it.

I also felt angry at the way that men can separate women into 2 classes - those they can/should respect (family members, work colleagues) and those they needn't respect (prostitutes/strippers etc).

I am getting over my anger a little now but it did mean cutting a lot of these people out of my life (not family members though) and surrounding myself with nicer people.

I don't believe all men are like this but I don't think our pornified culture helps their sense of entitlement one little bit.

Agree with everything Dittany just said.

Having recently broken up with my partner, I have been astonished (really that's the right word) at the support I have found amongst female friends. If you think too much about your relationships with men, it's easy to neglect those with women. IMO those with women can be the strongest, and they are more likely to see the "real you" and understand you on a deeper level.

Women are great. The patriarchy would like us not to be able to talk to each other freely, but here we are, MNing like the subversives we are.

Best of luck.