What an Irish short story can teach us about misogyny
I come back to Claire Keegan’s work over and over. If her name doesn’t sound familiar, you may be more familiar with the 2024 movie, Small Things Like These, starring Cillian Murphy, which was based on her book by the same name. Most of her books are short, but they pack a punch as she masterfully explores the insidious nature of the harm done by patriarchy and misogyny.
It feels like such an apt moment to highlight So Late in the Day, which is the title of the first short story from Keegan’s 2023 book by the same name. Here, readers get a peek into the state of the story’s central character, Cathal, whose fiancée, tired of his growing misogyny and lack of giving, recently left him. The most poignant scene of the book comes as Cathal is lying in bed, after drinking a bottle of champagne and eating a phallus-shaped cake from his bachelor party, as he recalls a moment with his family years ago.
It’s a moment when Cathal was visiting home from college in his early 20s, and he, his brother, and father had just sat down for breakfast. His mother, after cooking and serving everyone, goes to sit down, and when she does, his brother pulls the chair out from underneath her, and she falls. Cathal, his brother, and father all broke out into laughter while she picked up the food and broken plate from the floor. For many people reading So Late in the Day up until this point, Cathal may not seem like a bad guy. He doesn’t come across as a good guy necessarily, but perhaps not that bad of a guy. However, a different side of Cathal emerges from this peek into his past.
It’s this thought, “it was just a bad joke,” that I want to zero in on. Because how often, and especially recently, have women heard something along the lines of, “it’s just a joke”? But it’s never just a joke.
And there’s research behind this. Multiple studies suggest that exposure to sexist jokes increases levels of rape proclivity in men. In other words, sexist or misogynistic jokes increase the inclination, or predisposition, to rape. A recent meta-analysis found that even exposure to misogynistic messages from the media elicits “demeaning attitudes and hostile behaviors toward women” (Felber et al., 2026). This just scratches the surface of the harms that can occur as a result of misogynistic messaging alone.
Why I think that Keegan’s work is so important is because there have been so many conversations—for good reason—about extreme masculine behavior—à la the manosphere. Yet so much of what’s insidious about patriarchy is the small cuts—the jokes, locker room talk, and messages we receive that prop up patriarchy. And frankly, allyship is empty, and progress is impossible if we don’t challenge these small cuts.
I highly recommend checking out Claire Keegan’s work. So Late in the Day is a very quick read, and you can listen to her read it here on The New Yorker’s website.
