UK: Concerns about harassment have ‘morphed into institutional misandry’, MP says

Article here. Excerpt:

'Concerns about sexual harassment have “morphed into an institutional misandry”, a Conservative former minister said.

Senior Tory MP Sir Christopher Chope warned that the public debate about harassment was having a damaging impact on the mental health of men and boys, as a Bill aimed at creating a specific offence of sexual harassment cleared the Commons.

The Protection from Sex-based Harassment in Public Bill received an unopposed third reading from MPs, and will now face scrutiny in the House of Lords.

Warning about the impact of the public discussion around sexual harassment, Christchurch MP Sir Christopher said: “There seems to be an inability to hold two notions in our heads, that sexual assault is bad and that treating men as inherent sex pests is also bad.

“A reasonable worry about assault appears to have morphed into an institutional misandry.”

He added: “There is a lack of recognition that, as with all crimes, the proportion of perpetrators is vanishingly small, the awful behaviour of few is leading to the mistreatment of all.

“The consequences of all this, and let’s be extremely careful with language that we use, is that the situation which is already bad in relation to the mental health issues of boys and young men is going to get even worse.”'