In 1968, Tammy Wynette released one of the biggest-selling female country singles of all time: Stand by your Man. It became her signature tune but did little to endear her to the Carmel come lately contingent of feminists at the time who, after decades of silence, became pro-active and vocal, in an attempt to alter the gender landscape for their sisters. How such a movement can, or does, attempt to make change now is unclear with woke warriors now claiming that there are 112 genders, from non-binary to astral gender, whilst Joe Averages like yours truly sit back and munch some popcorn, watch a bit of motor sport, and wonder when this new-fangled life finally passed them by.

Wynette’s ditty was controversial at the time and remains so to this day. The premise is that women should settle, and live their lives, through ‘their’ man with lines such as "if you love him, you’ll forgive him" giving carte blanche for away games which, following defeat or victory, will be met with home-baked apple pie and two arms to cling to on arriving back at the homestead.

But times change and I would argue that sometimes, most of the time, it’s equally hard to be a man. The cultural landscape has shifted so dramatically that chaps like me are glad we are in stable relationships as we just would not know how to behave appropriately in this confusing new world. We discussed this the other night over a crate of Bud (cliched I know) as increasingly grumpy men all outlined their fears of being single with the end result being confusion over ‘what’s acceptable’. "If I took a lady on a date, to the cinema perhaps, and I like her, am I supposed to ask permission to kiss her?" was one such quandary, and we all agreed that the current rules state that permission should be sought first. But then we realised that spontaneity and romance would die in that very moment. If she said ‘no’ then the rest of the date might be very awkward, yet if she said ‘yes’, she may think you’re a bit of a ‘melt’, and as romantic as a bag full of rotting potato peelings. It’s a no-win either way.

The landscape is uneven: it still seems perfectly acceptable for female celebrities for example to objectify men without reproach. Pamela Stephenson infamously tried to undress, nay, sexually assault, Nick Owen live on Breakfast television way back in 1986. Only five years ago Ellen DeGeneres, at the People’s Choice award, shared a picture on the big screen of a semi-naked Chris Hemsworth that met with amusement and laughter at the time but would be seen as creepy if it had been a man sharing a topless picture on screen of a woman to the audience in which sat the ‘victim’.

Now, quite rightly, bad behaviour, and criminality are being challenged when it comes to male abuse of power. It was refreshing to see the likes of Weinstein and Epstein be brought to book as the ladies belatedly rallied against the misogyny, cruelty and downright wickedness of those two in particular in an industry that is as hypocritical as it is vocal.

But these ‘men’ do not represent me, or mankind, and I speak as the world's number 1 ‘middle aged man’ (Google it and look at images). The vast majority of us are bog standard, simple beings you see, with family and righteousness at the core of our existences. Yes, we are a collective of overgrown children who can misjudge situations or say inappropriate, non-woke things, yet we are not rabid sex pests with a mission to destroy womankind and all she stands for. The pressure is immense and the figures for men are stark: 70 per cent of murder victims are male as are 76 per cent of suicides. 85 per cent of the homeless are males and we are 3.5 times more likely to be imprisoned than women for the same crime.

Tammy was not wrong when she said it’s hard to be a woman, but that difficulty is not unique to the female gender. But no one wants to listen to the male facts or statistics as outlined above as we are not deemed a minority group or one that has historically been abused systematically and culturally, but that doesn’t change the fact that sometimes, quite simply, it’s hard to be a man.

Brett Ellis is a teacher