Raphaël Liogier, a philosophy professor, has followed the #MeToo movement closely. The testimonies published on social media have forced him to engage in self-criticism – but also in a critique of our modern society, starting at its roots.

With candor, he uses his own distress, self-questioning and academic training in order to analyze the contradictions in the perception that today’s men have of women. According to Liogier, this perception, along with inappropriate touching in the subway, catcalling in the streets, sexual harassment at work and rape, as well as the glass ceiling, the gender pay gap and all other inequalities between men and women, are rooted in our society’s male- dominated culture.

In Descent into the Male Heart, he demonstrates how this culture is one of the deepest and oldest injustices in human history. He shows that the origin myths of the big civilizations, the romantic tales, the archetypes of Don Juan and Casanova, and even the exotic retellings of “matriarchal societies” all hide a masculinity that negates the female will. Ultimately, the systematic belittlement of women and the negation of their consent, still present in today’s society, are based on a fear of their freedom.

In this short but powerful essay that leaves no one unscathed, Liogier hopes to make us all aware of this injustice, and make us fight for equality.

Raphaël Liogier is a university lecturer at Institutd’Etudes Politiques in Aix-en-Provence and at Collège international de philosophie in Paris. He has published a number of books, including Le Mythe de l’islamisation (Seuil), La guerre des civilisations n’aura pas lieu (CNRS), and Sans emploi (Les Liens qui Libèrent).