A group of men in Switzerland are afraid of women— like really, really afraid.  So much so that they organized the first ever anti-feminism convention that took place the last weekend of October. They kept the location under wraps, hilariously, because the organizers were frightened of the wrath they would receive from all those man-hating feminists out there (that’s me rolling my eyes).  Only those who signed up in advance and paid the $55 to attend, along with a group of journalists assigned to cover the event, were told where it would be held.  Me, I’m smelling  a little bit of paranoia in the air.  Perhaps the men who forked over the 55 bones to pay for this event could’ve stayed home and rented the first season of Mad Men or listened to Mel Gibson’s drunken rant to Oksana Grigorieva?  I mean, heck.  The environment probably would have been much safer, no?

But above all, my question is: who are these people and why are they directing all this anger towards women?  My assumption?  Somewhere along the line, they were hurt by a woman and have yet to recover – this entire movement is rooted in personal angst.

IGAF, the organization in charge of all this anti-feminist angst, says the meeting was ”an exceptional opportunity to make our concerns known to the public” and a chance to network:

Addressing the day-long conference was IGAF founder René Kuhn, and speakers from a German gender policy initiative, the Swiss men’s political party, an interest group for divorced men and European and Swiss men’s and father’s rights groups.

Ulf Anderson, a member of the Swiss-based antifeminist interest group IGAF (Interessengemeinschaft Antifeminismus) organizing the event, described it as a “very special” and “historic moment.”

I’d say he may have a screw loose.  When I think of historical moments, an anti-feminist convention would not make that list, but that’s just me. Mr.Andreson was also quoted as saying, “feminists have hijacked the word ‘equality’,” and today, “feminist stands for pure evil.” How would you like to have that dude over for dinner?  Talk about awkward.  Accoring to IGAF:

“The major goal is not to come to conclusions about anything but mostly to meet like-minded people.”

And when the organizers of this event mention likeminded, they mean of the mind to agree with the following:

“Opposing the feminist hatred of men, valuing the nuclear family, believing in the child’s rights to both its parents after a divorce or a separation, looking at the individual and not judging people by their gender, and accepting that men and women are different and counting that as assets.”

Coincidentally, or not so much, Switzerland was the last European country to allow women the opportunity to vote in federal elections.  The first time a Swiss woman was allowed to vote was in 1971.  In case you’re wondering, the first country to allow women to vote was New Zealand back in 1893.

It appears that the IGAF has grown in number from a mere 600 members to over 2,000 since the convention.  Scary!  And they say that movements involving women – no matter how indirectly – haven’t moved forward.  Huh.

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