A "red pill" meme tweeted by one conservative politician to another is yet further evidence the men's rights and pickup artist movements have become mainstreamed, relying on the naivety of decent Canadians, a University of Calgary professor says.

On Monday, Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidate Maxime Bernier tweeted at Wildrose MLA Derek Fildebrandt a meme stating: "Take the red pill, Vote Mad Max."

The term "red pill" was popularized in the 1999 film The Matrix, when the character Neo was given the choice of consuming a blue pill, which would let him stay in the comforting but imaginary world of the Matrix, or a red pill, which would let him escape from the Matrix into harsh reality.

However, the term has become associated with anti-women and anti-feminist groups, Rebecca Sullivan told CBC Calgary News at 6 this week.

"I think we have been turning a blind eye, making excuses, calling it underground or a minor extremist movement or pathetic," the women's studies professor said.

"It is pathetic but it is also dangerous and really, really scary."

Sullivan says red pill is coded language for something much deeper.

"The criticism is, the blue pill is women saying they want to be treated with respect and equality. The red pill is a metaphor for what women really want, the real world, is domination and subjugation. That is what women really want."

She says it's time to talk about how this way of thinking has reached a type of mainstream legitimacy.

"What this culture relies upon is the naivety of decent Canadians saying, 'There is no way people really believe this, there is no way people are really acting upon this and certainly there could be no way that they are infiltrating our respected political parties in Canada."

Controversy erupted earlier this week tied to a planned screening in Calgary of the 2016 documentary The Red Pill, which — according to the film's website —  chronicles "the mysterious and polarizing world of the men's rights movement." However, the film — like the men's rights movement itself — has been condemned by many as antifeminist and anti-women.

The film screening was initially to be jointly hosted by the Wildrose On Campus (WROC) and the U of C Conservatives student groups at the University of Calgary.

However, both groups pulled out after WROC sent out an email inviting people to the screening that included the words "feminism is cancer."

The group apologized and fired its communications director, while its vice-president and other members later quit the group.

Politicians from all parties quickly moved to condemn the email, including Wildrose Party Leader Brian Jean, who tweeted Monday: "We need to encourage women to be engaged in the political process, not make them feel alienated."

The Wildrose Party said there had been "informal ties" between it and WROC, but said it no longer had ties after a new bylaw relating to third-party associations was drafted on Feb. 22.

Bernier's tweet on Monday evening stirred up an immediate backlash from people who accused him of making a veiled reference to the controversy in Calgary over The Red Pill.

Bernier tweeted in response that his meme "obviously refers only to the Matrix movie and to nothing else."

Sullivan says the men's rights and pickup artist movements, while starting with legitimate, complex issues, arrive at conclusions that shift the blame.

"[They] point to a number of very real issues in our society. There are very few resources available to men who experience domestic or gender or sexual violence, to the fact that suicide rates are very high for men, incarceration culture, high drop-out rates, lower participation in post-secondary education. There are very real and pressing and urgent issues, but they go from there immediately to, it's women's fault because they are denying men their natural rights as men," she said.

"If only we could just have sex with whoever and whatever we want, whenever we want, then maybe we wouldn't have to rape you. They are banking on decent Canadians not understanding what they are saying and we need to understand what is being said."

With files from CBC Calgary News at 6