Muck Ryking: Petition to remove Alexander Ryking as a Tumblr politics editor
Evidently Ryking wasn't in debate club in high school.
So Alexander Ryking is a Tumblr blogger and one of Tumblr’s community “editors” for politics. He thinks of himself as a liberal.
He is also a raging misogynist who regularly calls women “cunts” and tells feminists to “kill yourselves you feminazi twats.”
In recent days he’s turned his douchebag-o-meter up to 11. As a result, there’s now a petition up on Change.org to have him removed as a politics editor on Tumblr. It’s already gotten more than 3000 signatures, with several hundred new signatures added in the time it’s taken me to write this post.
Here’s unknowable woman, a frequent target of his cyber-wrath, with more details on his recent meltdown. (Read the post on her Tumblr blog for links to the evidence of his douchebaggery.)
Alexander Ryking, who has a history of attempting to silence women bloggers (he told Jess of STFUConservatives and the other “feminazis” to “go kill themselves” several months ago, and has also been rude to women of color but I haven’t been on Tumblr long enough to have personally witnessed that), defended The Amazing’s Atheist’s violent rape threats on Reddit by tagging his posts with “I support TAA.”
I and many, many other Tumblr users were disgusted by this, so we decided to tag our criticisms of Ryking that night with “Ryking’s banana republic”—a reference to his co-opting of [social justice] concepts, NOT a homophobic dig, and the person who coined it was a queer man anyway. Someone also wrote a few jokingly romantic lines about Ryking’s blind defense of TAA and new atheism, and Ryking interpreted this as homophobic and misandric…it wasn’t, but because I reblogged it, Ryking insists that I am now a homophobe, which is hilarious given my own sexual identity but whatever.
We also responded to some of his posts with pictures of extreme close-ups of our eyes.
Seriously. That is what this guy is calling “abuse.”
We did NOT threaten him, make personal attacks against his sexuality, tell him to go kill himself, send him rude messages, or commit any other acts that could reasonably be interpreted as the “cyberbullying” Ryking claims it is. I did temporarily change my URL to rykingsbananarepublic and I make no apologies for that. Why should I? Why shouldn’t a group of feminists and their allies be allowed to respond creatively to misogyny? The only actual cyberbullying that has taken place was TAA’s initial rape threats on Reddit; I wouldn’t even go so far as to claim Ryking’s tweets to me and other Twitter users are cyberbullying, though I leave it up to the other people who were insulted by him to label their experiences as bullying or not.
Anyway, a few nights later, I tweeted something in defense of Whitney Houston’s legacy, and suddenly there was Ryking going ballistic. He found me on Twitter, called me a cunt right off the bat, and insisted that I claimed Whitney Houston’s death was “more important than the death of 5,000 Syrians” (I didn’t! Here is what I actually said!). I had never exchanged tweets with this man before, and was confused about his sudden interest in my thoughts about Whitney Houston and Syria. Naturally, I responded, told him how wrong he was, and the next day I screencapped some of the things he said and posted them … I never expected that post to get the amount of notes it did, but I think that just goes to show how widespread the dislike for him is.
Ryking, for his part, has responded to the widespread criticism by striking the pose of a victim, and pretending that it is somehow all related to race. Apparently, the evil feminazis are impugning his white manhood, though he’s not white.
So-called feminists have subjected me to white-bashing comments (even though I’m Hispanic) and sexist attacks impugning my manhood (slash-fiction scenes featuring me and heterosexual men; being called faggot; being told to man-up; insults about my body;) by people who don’t realize I’m gay. After nearly two decades online, I learned early on that when you’re attacked, you defend yourself by attacking right back and just as viciously, if not more so. And that’s what exactly what I’ve done. …
What’s really at issue here is not my rude behavior but that you and others like you want to punish any man who refuses to conform to your rancid, misandrist orthodoxy by discounting everything he says and using his gender and race as the excuse for doing so. …
You don’t want me stripped of my editorial privilege based on my behavior but because I reject your sick, bigoted, misandrist (per)version of feminism.
Yep, apparently the dude who loves to call women “cunts” is the final arbiter of what is and what isn’t “true feminism.” Who knew?
I signed the petition. How about you?
Posted on February 16, 2012, in antifeminism, creepy, douchebaggery, drama, hypocrisy, misandry, misogyny, oppressed white men, rape, rapey, vaginas, victimhood. Bookmark the permalink. 601 Comments.
You are a man. Therefore, you are the privileged gender.
If you are a man of less privileged race, class, economic status, disability status, and sexuality… you are still the privileged gender.
“Privileged” isn’t some insult that everyone either is or isn’t. Everyone has some privileges and not others. You have, at a minimum, the privilege of being the gender whose basic human rights aren’t controversial.
I just don’t believe that, BlackBloc.
Nathan in a nutshell.
Well, I don’t have access to a regular source of income, but that’s really none of your business.
And Shadow- the difference is, these guys aren’t *against women’s rights*. What is there to be against? Women aren’t enslaved; no one thinks women are a perversion. It’s not ABOUT women, it’s about this movement. They dislike what they see as basically a political tool to prioritize females above others.
Folks, watch out, Nathan used a YOUTUBE VIDEO to prove us wrong.
He is so educated.
Also, are we sure this isn’t MRAL? I notice he’s steering the conversation towards “But what about meeeeeee?”
Also, I note that you have not answered CassandraSays about what actual feminist literature you have read. Tigerbeatdown is a good blog, but you were asked about books specifically.
Nathan, feminism is a political tool to reduce violence and discrimination against women.
Deal with it, bubba!
Deal with it, bubba!
DEAL WITH IT BUBBA
@Holly Pervocracy- Are you telling me that, in a modern society, women’s “basic human rights” are not controversial? And please point to something other than the abortion debate. This is the kind of ridiculous overstatement that people point to when they talk about how feminism sucks.
“Gay opposition comes from a rapidly dwindling conservative sect, and it’s terrible- don’t get me wrong- but it’s not the same thing.”
Gay marriage; still not legal. Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, reversed but with a political candidate (Santorum) vowing to restore it if he were elected. Gay bullying and suicides in certain areas of the country, still a big fucking problem. This is what the concept of privilege is supposed to point out to you; if you are not living in an area where this stuff is going on (and it is going on), you don’t have a right to say it isn’t a big issue not only because it is untrue, but because you won’t be able to see it from your position.
Re The steak derail, yep, steak is still a luxury food to a lot of people. My Dad grew up working class in Scotland and still sees it as a treat food, as do most of his family. Including my stepmother, which led to an amusing incident in which we were eating in a fancy Peruvian place and she refused to let Dad order the pork chop on the grounds that pork chops aren’t fancy enough to justify those prices (but it was fine to order the steak, which was more expensive). My husband got the pork chop, which Dad tasted a bit of and then spent the rest of the meal staring at and coveting, because it was better than the steak. Which everyone else tried to convince my stepmother that it probably would be, but nope, in her mind steak is fancy food and pork chops are plain, cheap food that you don’t order in a restaurant.
Ooo, ooo, I know this one: Is it that you’re making shit up from your opposite world? :D :D :D
Reality is that which does not go away just because you stop believing in it.
You can reject it all you want, but until you actually provide some evidence, you’re still just a clown X3
It’s so cute when ickle nathan pretends he’s established ‘misandry’ to the level misogyny has, isn’t it?
Don’t worry, soon we can give you babby’s first research engine and maybe you can work out what a fact is :D
“the difference is, these guys aren’t *against women’s rights*. What is there to be against? Women aren’t enslaved; no one thinks women are a perversion. It’s not ABOUT women, it’s about this movement. They dislike what they see as basically a political tool to prioritize females above others.”
I’m butting in, and I’m probably be ignored, but…
How is denying the right to an abortion NOT about women?
How is slut-shaming NOT about women?
How is grading a woman’s ability/intelligence, based on their sex/gender, NOT about them being a woman?
Because that’s the type of shit that’s flying, and which you’re defending when talking about how ALL MEN (according to you) are resentful towards feminism.
*previous statement and quote directed @Nathan
Wait, because something is disliked, it should be prohibited or what exactly are you saying?
Feminism is disliked because it still is the radical notion that women are people. And too many people think that is unfair to have to treat women as people.
Also, there fucking is a lot of widespread animosity towards the LGBT activists. Rolling Stone magazine had an article on it this week.
Nathan, stop saying that everyone agrees with you. Unless you have national poll data, you are just making a meaningless, empty claim. Anyone could say that.
Here, I’ll make a counter-claim. Most people actually disagree with everything you say they agree with and I know this for a fact. What now? It’s your word against mine. It appears that we are at an impasse.
So there is no fight for abortion rights, or OTC birth control? Women are no longer seen as inferior when it comes to leadership? All rape victims are treated fairly, none are blamed for bringing their rape upon themselves. There is gender parity in rape stats and DV stats. Right?
“Women as people”, come on dude. No one thinks women aren’t people, at least nowhere that any of you guys live.
@katz:
Actually you have more evidence for your side at the moment, given that pretty much everyone here who has been speaking disagrees with Nathan. :P
Wahahahahahaha
Ahahahahahahahaha
Oh man, this twit is gold.
““Women as people”, come on dude. No one thinks women aren’t people, at least nowhere that any of you guys live.”
Have you been watching/reading/listening to the news at any time this week?
Or even at all?
” No one thinks women aren’t people, at least nowhere that any of you guys live.”
More assumptions! I used to live in Saudi Arabia. Not everyone who comments here is in the US. Deal with it, bubba.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/apr/12/maternal-mortality-rates-millennium-development-goals
http://www.arhp.org/publications-and-resources/contraception-journal/march-2011
Tell us again how silly the right to abortion is? I mean, what the fuck would women be hesitant to go through childbirth for, aside from laziness and satanism?!!!
And since you’re so interested in me (so you can use my alleged “privilege” as a beatstick and silencing tool, as feminists often do), I’ll tell you that I’m also, in the financial sense, a member of the middle-lower class, and I work 9-hour days, five days a week at a factory in CA, and I’m not going to get more specific. I’m not special- I have 250 coworkers- but no, I wouldn’t call myself “privileged”. This computer, yeah, I am lucky to have it. It was a gift.
“And since you’re so interested in me (so you can use my alleged “privilege” as a beatstick and silencing tool, as feminists often do), I’ll tell you that I’m also, in the financial sense, a member of the middle-lower class, and I work 9-hour days, five days a week at a factory in CA, and I’m not going to get more specific. I’m not special- I have 250 coworkers- but no, I wouldn’t call myself “privileged”. This computer, yeah, I am lucky to have it. It was a gift.”
Nope, sorry, doesn’t excuse the stupid shit you said.
This no-talent assclown Nathan still here? Are we sure he’s not MRAL, because the “deal with it, bubba” is very similar to his “think on it.”
Of course, there’s no shortage of clueless, privileged dipshits in the world, so it could be another one.
…Which part of this makes you a woman?
Privilege is a multi-part thing. It isn’t “you’re privileged and you live on a yacht and spit on the plebes” or “you aren’t privileged.” You can be the poorest most miserable man in the world and you will still have the privilege of gender, just as the richest happiest woman in the world still lacks the privilege of gender.
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/sep/13/business/la-fi-poverty-california-20110914
Tell me again how your lower-middle class ass is not privileged?
Don’t worry, ignorant comments about the status of queer people and non-whites made the rest abundantly clear, hon. You’re just another clueless little white boy who pays as much attention to everyone else as he does feminism (Good lord I love watching Ithiliana call out the folks who claim to have read feminist thought).
Nathan, we’re using your own jackassery as a beatstick, we really don’t need to use your privilege.
Also, Nathan, you’re not off the hook for the whole “well I bet you’re super privileged and have a great social life, unlike many men!” comment. What people say when they’re getting emotional is often what they really mean, and that little outburst was very telling indeed in terms of where you’re coming from.
Oh I am sorry, is abortion off the table for some reason? Are we to ignore the fact that Virginia wants to force women to have to have a wand suck up her vagina to get an abortion because she is obviously too stupid to know what she is doing according to these men (and some women)? That apparently having sex, even once, gives the state license to do whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatever it wants to a woman-up to and including what would be considered rape by any other reasonable person?
That women are being told “not only do you not get to have access to birth control because that means you are a Slutty McSluterton, you also have no say in the laws being created that affect you.”
But hey, that is not a basic human right-the right to have self determination of one’s own body unless of course, one is a man. And then naturally, one gets to have all the self determination one wants.
@Nathan:
*ahem* PRIVILEGE IS NOT A JUDGEMENT ON YOUR STATION IN LIFE
You spoke recently about how backlash against gay rights isn’t really a thing. Tell that to all the gay kids the have been bullied, all the gay couples wanting to get married but being unable to because of religious nuts… You are privileged by not having to deal with that shit; and you can’t use personal experience to have any say on the matter.
@CassandraSays
I didn’t realise you got married! Congratulations!!
OT, I’m so happy Jackassery is getting picked up. AFAIK, The Venture Bros. coined it, but it’s such a perfect word for what it describes that I’ve been happy to use it.
Cassandra, where was I allegedly “coming from”? All I was saying was that you probably had a good life. Again, it was a dumb statement, because I don’t know that, but I don’t see what it’s “indicative” of.
Also, to Holly Pervocracy, the problem is that men are not universally privileged as a gender. The white girls who like David Foster Wallace but are not good enough to write like him and so write in annoying chatspeak that is occasionally amusing but mostly just obnoxious would like to think it is, but, sorry.
Even here in Gay Central, the gayest place on earth (aka the Bay Area) we have occasional queerbashing incidents. Gavin Newsom’s decision on the gay marriage issue may well create long term problems for him in terms of seeking higher political office (totally uncontroversial here, but on a national level, some other Democrats were not amused). There was an attempt to ban gay marriage right here in California via ballot. No backlash against gay rights?
Damn, Nathan, you are one self-centered little jackass. I guess if it doesn’t directly affect you who cares, right?
@Nathan:
Alright, this is getting annoying. Please define privilege before we go any further.
It’s indicative of the lulzy assumptions that you make about feminism and individual feminists based on your own prejudices, Nathan. Your little outbust, and the fact that you chose those particular words when you wanted to strike out at me, provides a fascinating little window into your mental world.
@Shadow
Actually I was married for almost 15 years! Now separated, but it kind of looks like we may be getting back together. He wants to, I’m still thinking about it.
Nathan – Okay, here’s the thing “privilege” means. It means that if you take the exact same person, with the same family and money and everything, they are better off being male than female.
It does not mean that every man is better off than every woman. It means that every man is better off gender-wise.
Jesus, talk about a mass attack… I can’t even keep up with all the people yelling. But you’re all basically saying the same thing. The antifeminist resentment is different because it is widespread. It is not a hatred of a group of people but an ideology.
Kukukukuku, you’re really bad at this, MRAL. That said…
This is a hell of a non sequitor. Like, for real, I kind of want to paste it into a little hand dictionary that has the term.
No one has yelled at you here at all. If you think this is attacking, go make a profeminist comment at A Voice for Men and get back to me.
Actually I live in Arizona. So yes, there are people out here who do not believe women are people. I work with them. I go to conferences with them. I have to deal with them on a near daily basis.
So yes, I know that there are men (and some women) who do not view women as people.
@Rutee:
David already checked, its probably not MRAL.
@Nathan:
You’ve got a whole bunch of commentors on a website dedicated to mocking misogyny… Yeah, they’re gonna want to put in their two cents. If its that terrible for you to keep up, just say who you’re going to talk to and then follow through. It’s pretty simple. o_o
Rutee – I know, right?
Apparently his proof that men aren’t privileged as a gender is that he respects a man’s writing but thinks women’s writing is silly prattle…
@Bostonian:
To be fair, AVFM would probably just ban you.
@Holly Pervocracy, but that’s not universally true. In some situations, or some circumstances, it would be better to be female than male. I don’t think you can make this case with other forms of oppression This is what I mean when I say gender is more give-and-take.
Again- deny all you want. Outside the little radical feminist bubble people know I’m correct. Even if many women do identify as feminist, most are not going to hold the ridiculous male-victim-erasing, misandry-erasing views that you hardcore dudez do here. Deal with it, dickhead.
Cassandra, again, I was just saying how I thought you had a good life. I don’t see the deeper meaning here.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaand you still are basically not listening to a god damn thing.
Honestly? Learning to use a proxy or spoof an IP is easy peasy. Forget the cassandra fetish, he’s repeating his David Foster Wallace rant nearly verbatim. I’m willing to let folks slide on “Male disposability”, which is where everyone else’s cockles raise (Because for real, it’s an idiotic argument by someone marginally more famous than MRAL) but now we’re at his favorite hunting grounds.
In what exact situations is it better to be female than male?
Shorther Nathan – If I backpedal hard enough about my little tantrum everyone will totally forget it and not notice what it indicates about my butthurt assumptions about feminists!
Also, there is no anti-gay backlash, and abortion isn’t worth discussing in the context of cultural misogyny. Because I have said so many times, so it must be true.
Why is everyone being so meaaannn to me?
Name one.
“Trying to get a job in a well-paid field” ain’t it. Nor is “trying to get taken seriously at your job.” And “trying to start a family while still advancing in your career” is right the hell out.
I wouldn’t try “trying to report a crime against yourself” either. “Trying to get basic health care?” Nope.
Definitely wouldn’t try “trying to be taken seriously as a writer, artist, or public figure.”
Okay, I’ve been ignoring this bullshit until now because it wasn’t relevant, but I’m not MRAL. Maybe you should stop publicly speculating and engage as a thinker.
@ Rutee
This one has a lot of MRAL’s verbal tics, actually. I think it’s him and he’s just gotten better at sockpuppeting. Apart from anyone else, I doubt that anyone who lives in CA would have come up with the idea that there’s no organized backlash against gay rights, given the whole ballot measure issue.
Wait… now we’re all dudez? Would it kill you to use the word “people” or “feminists,” Nathan?
“n some situations, or some circumstances, it would be better to be female than male. I don’t think you can make this case with other forms of oppression This is what I mean when I say gender is more give-and-take.”
Actually, you can certainly make this case with any other form of oppression. The world is so vast that you could take anybody of any makeup and find somebody who’s worse off than them.
Privilege… You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
I’m thinking this is MRAL.
Aw, snookums, do you mean in DATING, pehaps? Dream the fuck on.
He’s going to use the draft of course, despite having heard the lecture on the impossibility of being drafted in the modern era a dozen times, and never offering a good argument against it.*
*WEll, you can be if you’re African or North Korean, but I know for a fact the africans press-gang women into their armies as well, so…
HAHAHA, I’ll speculate all I want about you, Nathan.
DEAL WITH IT, DICKHEAD.
Ah, yes, Rutee, the draft. Is that horse dead yet? It sure is beaten.
@Holly Pervocracy- Anything to do with child custody or being a parent.
It is in fact easier to be published as a woman, because the industry has a perception that women do most of the reading, and prefer the writing of other women (JK Rowling is a kid’s author; that’s a different beast, indeed, men are privileged there because the stereotype is that boys won’t read girls’ books).
These are just off the top of my head.
We’re not yelling dude, we’re laughing. And you have yet to show systematic bias that disadvantages a majority of men. The whole childcare thing a) doesn’t affect everyone, I have had to deal with it but others have not dealt with the same prejudices (I think Pecunium mentioned being an au pere and not having to deal with any paranoia) b) only affects those fathers that are looking to do a majority of the child care or those men that are looking to go into professional childcare which is by no means a majority of men. The flipside of that argument (that women are the ones that are competent enough to do childcare) has heavily disadvantaged a majority of women by putting them in a box as far as what they can and should do is concerned, and causing social pressure to do the majority of childcare.
Nathan: EVERYTHING IS RIGHT BECAUSE I SAY SO AND BECAUSE I IMAGINE THAT PEOPLE AGREE WITH ME
Well…ok, people agree with him on Feminism being this EEEEEEEEEEVIL thing, but that’s not an indication of that opinion being right. Truth isn’t a matter of a simple mathematics, dude.
>Stop speculating
>Engage as a thinker
My kingdom for a video of Jon Stewart saying “Go onnnnn” in his best patronizing voice XD
“It is in fact easier to be published as a woman, because the industry has a perception that women do most of the reading, and prefer the writing of other women (JK Rowling is a kid’s author; that’s a different beast, indeed, men are privileged there because the stereotype is that boys won’t read girls’ books).”
…
I’m sorry, where the fuck is this even from?
I am loling my ass off right now. I mean, seriously, what?
I’m smelling MRAL now.
And I have a high IQ.
@CassandraSays
I remember you mentioning talking to your ex again so when I saw you mention your husbands I thought you two crazy kids had gotten hitched and started doing a “WHEEE” dance for you, which I can’t seem to stop because I’m baked to shit. I anticipate a fun hour!
OK. I’ve ben getting a bit heated again. I still maintain that gender privilege is not a one-way street. Hellkell- dating, maybe in a sense harder for men, but then again women need to wait for an approach, so that has to be difficult. Let’s call that one even.
Nathan says he’s not MRAL, but at this point…yeah, there isn’t exactly a shortage of cluelessness in the world, but still.
Wasnt there a recent free thinking troll? Also Holly, just cause you have a high IQ doesn’t mean you can always tell who is and isn’t an MRAL!
And yes, that is misandrist
You all forget- I AGREE that misogyny is more prevalent. I just disagree that misandry is nonexistent. That’s ridiculous. Come on. Go outside.