I have posted here before about the sexism of the right-wing, public school British thriller writer Jeremy Duns.
In particular I drew attention to Dun's support of the Ian Fleming book Casino Royale. In my view, this is one of the most nastily sexist books published - it includes, for example, the line 'the sweet tang of rape'.
On Twitter, Duns has made an attempt to defend himself.
You can read the comments here.
But he is completely wrong - and here is why that is true.
"Dozens of famous books and films in the 20th century were sexist and/or racist. We can enjoy them despite this," he states.
Duns defense is that Casino Royale is typical of its time.
But if he had bothered to read my post he would see that I already dealt with that point.
I argued that in fact Casino Royale was not typical of its time, in the way that Agatha Christie's racism was of hers.
How many writers in the 1950s used a phrase like 'the sweet tang of rape'?
The 1950s was a time when in some ways women were more repressed. But there was not the violent exploitation of their sexuality that we see today.
I asked Duns to produced 5 mainstream books from the 1950s that celebrate rape in the same way. He has not done so. Instead, he just sneers, and makes personal attacks.
In my view Casino Royale is a disgusting book that changed the world for the worse.
So when Duns claims it is one of the greatest books ever written, he is celebrating a work of extreme violence against women - and one that created the pornographic culture of today.
Around the world, women are raped and beaten every day because of a culture that sees violence against women as acceptable. We have to fight that on every front - and this is as important as any.
