I’ve subscribed to The Spectator for some time, and am regularly troubled by the amount of feminist-friendly content (and the virtual absence of anti-feminist content, though the columnists Rod Liddle and James Delingpole are occasionally critical of feminists). Feminists including Julie Bindel and Julie Burchill write pieces for the publication.

I’ve just learned that Mary Wakefield is the commissioning editor, which may help explain things. In the current edition there’s a piece by her, titled, “When therapy does more harm than good” in the print edition, and, “For some girls, therapy does more harm than good” in the online version. It’s mainly about PTSD, and the male-specific content consists of the words, “We associate PTSD with soldiers back from grisly frontline…” before focusing on women and girls. My blood ran cold at the text I’ve emphasised in this extract:

Women can be shell-shocked by life. It’s surprising — and it’s not… All sorts of recent studies show that giving birth, even to a healthy baby, can be traumatising. Most new mothers wobble like light aircraft in turbulence, then stabilise and carry on. A number nosedive. More than 8 per cent of mothers in America and in Canada develop PTSD after childbirth. Then on top of the ordinary grind there’s life’s sucker punches: losing a child; losing a spouse; miscarriage; abortion (much though we celebrate it); serious accidents; sexual abuse.

Since the passing of the Abortion Act (1967), there have been around 10 million events to ‘celebrate’ in the UK. With every passing year there are about 200,000 more.