Women, Men and the Whole Damn Thing
'How to find the right words to frame this horror? How to understand why men do what they do to women? How to comprehend this malign force that seems to seep from the male psyche and infect us all? . . . That is the central hope, the appeal, embedded in this book: that other men might join me in this investigation and ruthless self-interrogation-and in doing so, become part of the change that is so urgently required.'
David Leser
In February 2018, the Good Weekend cover story by David Leser, 'Women, men and the whole damn thing', had an extraordinary response. David received hundreds of personal messages from readers around the world - both women and men - urging him to expand his story. Here is that book: a brilliant, impassioned, unflinching account of the firestorm of #MeToo, how we got there and where we must now go.
In this essential and incisive investigation, Leser unearths the roots of misogyny, its inextricable links to the patriarchy, and how history brought us to the #MeToo movement and the wave of incandescent female rage that is sweeping the world. Crucially, he also interrogates his own psyche, privilege and culpability as he bears witness to the 'collective wound of the world' and asks how we can move towards healing and profound and permanent change.
David Leser is an Australian journalist, author and public interviewer. A former Middle East and North American correspondent he has been a journalist for 40 years and become widely known in Australia for his in-depth profiles and stories on social and political issues.
He has interviewed everyone from Meryl Streep, Germaine Greer and Ayaan Hirsi Ali to Gina Rinehart, Alan Jones and the Dalai Lama. David is the recipient of numerous awards for his journalism and his memoir To Begin To Know: Walking in the Shadows of my Father, was shortlisted for the National Biography Award in 2015.