Men’s Rights in the real world: “No one showed up to the event but organizers say the lack of attendance is not due to a lack of interest.”
Come early to get a good seat!
Sometimes it’s worth reminding ourselves that despite all the noise they make online, the Men’s Rights movement has basically no presence in the real world. The picture above is an actual photo of a men’s rights symposium at Montana State University. Here’s how the local NBC affiliate described what went down – or, more accurately, what didn’t go down:
The MSU chapter of the National Coalition for Men organized a symposium to raise awareness of problems in men’s lives.
The group geared the event towards fraternity students at the college and invited speakers to talk about things like men’s rights when it comes to sexual misconduct investigations on-campus.
No one showed up to the event but organizers say the lack of attendance is not due to a lack of interest.
You just keep telling yourself that.
Posted on February 19, 2012, in actual activism, MRA, MRA paradox. Bookmark the permalink. 438 Comments.
Remember when we had those Manboobz meetups? And they weren’t about anything really severely affecting our lives, and there wasn’t a “national coalition” backing them, nor a university hosting them?
And we got a better turnout than that?
Good times, man, good times.
HAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
But a lot of men are doing this, right, Brandon?
The lurkers support him in email!
Well, to be fair, it could have also been “total disagreement and horror.” It’s not JUST lack of interest, David!
Is it maybe perhaps because a lot of men don’t feel like the oppressed gender?
The poor menz were too afraid to go because of shaming tactics. Though I wonder how many actually wanted to attend but don’t wanted to be outed for the misogynists they are.
I wonder how many would have liked to attend, but didn’t want to go through the trouble and figured that there would be hundreds upon hundreds of folks that would show up anyway…
I wonder if there were some peopled who would have gone, then Googled “men’s rights” and quickly went “oh hooooly shit I don’t want any part of this.”
I think a lot of online MRAs are oblivious to how they sound not just to feminists, but to garden-variety misogynists. To guys who think female videogame characters should be boobie-display devices, but don’t think rape should be decriminalized. Guys who think women are silly and obnoxious, but don’t think women are evil monsters. Guys who think men and women can’t be friends, but don’t think women should be replaced with sexbots.
The online MRM is so far over the edge they’ve successfully alienated the vast majority of other misogynists.
HA! Big turnout, guys. Event planning and follow through is not your forte, perhaps you should stick to ranting on the internet.
When I read this I just wanted to give these guys a great big hug.
I got over it quickly.
Lol, the comments for this article are golden.
“Iozzi
I think it’s high time men take a stand. But, at the same time I attempted to join a MRO but was rebuffed because I’m a stay at home mother who watches soaps and eats Bon bons sittin on her ass all day…, it was EXACTLY like feminism only the complete opposite. Sometimes, I think people just want to hate. They hide behind a cause, but the real goal is simply hate. I’ve got a 9 year old boy,…I can only hope his life isn’t ruined by the gov’t, femenists, and his biggest enemy…other men!”
Who wants to bet that they’re there for free cookies? And who wants to bet that the woman sitting there will break records for the 100m dash when the speaker informs them of what’s on the agenda for the meeting?
This is hilarious. Thanks for the Sunday smile, David.
Shadow – I was figuring the woman sitting there was taking notes that will make for a hilarious entry on her feminist blog.
I’m no expert in the public relations of political or sociological conferences, but somehow I think that aiming Men’s rights issue conferences to fraternity jocks is NOT the best way to gain attendence or recognition.Wouldn’t the so-called “nerds” provide a far more fertile ground for recruiting?
At any rate, colleges and universities are so stuffed with feminists that sooner or later (sooner instead of later?) you women being hateful will do more recruiting for men’s rights than they could ever do for themselves!
Live and learn!
@Holly, I assumed she was reporting on it for the school paper, but your explanation works too!
@Holly
Also possible. I just figured (judging from the blurb in the OP) that the ad was vague enough to draw people that have no experience with the MRM, figuring that it was about ACTUAL issues that men may face. I reckon even a lot of feminists are only starting to hear about the MRM.
Our old friend Fidelbogen contributed a limerick in the comments. It’s the usual sadsack song and dance complete with reference to “shaming tactics.”
Men are oppressed and kept from going to MR meetings because of “shaming tactics,” yet trigger warnings on feminist blogs mean that feminists are scaredy-cats and “hair-brained mental defectives” because some of them don’t want to read things that can trigger PTSD.
http://www.avoiceformen.com/feminism/trigger-warning-feminism/
Also, the word is “harebrained.”
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/harebrained
Also, this:
combined with this:
is just hysterical. It’s like the MRAs agree with Holly. They know that garden-variety misogynists aren’t going to want anything to do with them, so they go after a community that is well known to have many a rapist in their midst.
Male Rapists’ Advocates
Elam’s argument there seems to be something along the lines of:
“I wasn’t raped, and I’m not triggered by talk about rape. So it’s hilariously wrong that anyone would be bothered by it, and they just need to grow up and not be a rape survivor anymore.”
And the worst part is that he thinks his line of reasoning is original.
Of course these doofuses (doofi?) don’t believe in trigger warnings. The Amazing Asshole tried to trigger someone on purpose.
WRONG. The real reason nobody showed up is because MRAs are exactly like Christians in Pagan Rome, or the French Resistance in Nazi-occupied France, or or or… Or Morpheus’s team in The Matrix!!! They can’t show themselves in public because they’d be persecuted to death immediately by the feminazis.
Never forget Sharon Osborne!!!
@David:
You just wouldn’t understand from your privileged position. You don’t know what its like to constantly be harassed by women every day of your life, to be shamed and belittled day in and day out… You can’t imagine the sheer torture of even imagining having to go through more of it. No wonder men everywhere are avoiding being reminded once again how everyone despises them.
…
Oh palpable hypocrisy…
Trigger warnings are just basic courtesy, something Elam knows nothing about.
This… is not terribly surprising. One of the odder aspects of many feminist’s attitudes towards the Men’s Rights movement is how on Earth everyone manages to keep up the pretense that it’s part of some kind of widespread, evil anti-feminist backlash when in fact it’s utterly tiny. There are feminists that have far more influence than MRAs are ever likely to in my lifetime, and they have very little accountability for it even to the grassroots of their own movement – let alone if they start doing things that affect men!
Also, Holly, you’re missing a couple of obvious possible reasons why men might not attend. For example, perhaps they believe that women are so weak that they could never possibly harm their male partners, even if they’re armed, and that even if they do men should just shut up about it for the sake of protecting the women? Or that male rape victims should just put up with it because (if their rapist was male) a real man wouldn’t have let himself get raped or (if their rapist was female) a real man always wants sex. Possibly because they don’t fit your framing quite as well?
Oh, no, we know it’s tiny. It’s just tiny and evil.
Anti-feminist backlash and plain old misogyny, unfortunately, extend far beyond the MRM.
These aren’t reasons someone wouldn’t attend a meeting. These are randomly regurgitated MRM talking points.
Also, if you want to stand up for male rape survivors, maybe you should have a talk with Paul Elam, who thinks the rape of men is hilarious and that PTSD triggers are a sign of weakness.
The next time NWO reappears to tell us about how men are through with us and our days are numbered, let us remind him of the attendance of this symposium vs. a recent Slutwalk. Or turnout for a performance of the Vagina Monologues. Or anything, really.
They really sound like conspiracy theorists. The reason that the MRM can’t get widespread support clearly illustrates the feminazi plot to silence them. It isn’t possible that people don’t care because the cause or organization itself is silly. Of course not.
Not all misogynists are MRAs in fact they belong to other clubs like patriachal religions, government, the sex industry etc. Pretty sure they have loads of power. The mra is a part of the backlash against feminism only they’ve think of themselves as a legitimate social
justice movement…they are not, they are seeking to preserve their privileges which they confuse with rights. They should call themselves male privilege advocates it’d be honest.
As for your second paragraph, almost always whenever a man faces injustice it is by other men or by male created reasons, you know it I know it.
PS no one makes you shut up about it they just stop listening to you
Crumbelievable – Well, they also love to have it both ways. If their meeting had even mediocre turnout, this would prove that the MRM was reaching a tipping point and about to take the world by storm. Since it had no turnout, this proves just how persecuted and underground they are.
They’re careful that nothing could prove that they’re just silly and offensive.
Also, “MRM talking points”? Really?
This is the other reason I can’t stand dealing with men’s rights stuff. There’s only so much I can take of people using tactics straight out of Derailing for Dummies because of course it’s completely different when they’re doing it rather than on the receiving end before I lose what little faith in humanity I had left.
Where in Derailing for Dummies is: “I do not agree to talk about some completely random unrelated topic because you brought it up with only the most tenuous connection to the post subject, and furthermore it’s something we’ve discussed a million times, and furthermore it’s something we don’t actually disagree about”?
Maybe you should submit that one.
Or maybe you should continue thinking:
A) That feminists don’t believe men are abused or raped, or don’t care
and
B) That MRAs do care, which is the really hilarious part now.
MRAs only care about abuse of men when feminists discuss abuse of women; when it comes to actually helping male survivors, ignoring the issue is the best they can do. More often they’re joking about raping men, deliberately trying to trigger male survivors, and/or trying to deny that trauma from a rape could exist at all.
@Kelly: yaknow, that’s my entire freaking point. MRAs aren’t just part of some homogenous anti-feminist backlash towards traditional gender roles, in some cases the traditional gender roles and the feminist mainstream are on the same side, and then you run headlong into the spectacular trainwreck that is feminists insisting that no-one should be able to kick up a big fuss about them supporting problematic gender roles because everyone else does – but of course feminism is still synonymous with gender equality and anyone that argues against this must be opposed to both. Which is really, incredibly, wall-bangingly frustrating. At least when dealing with the inevitable male mysogynists there’s a reasonably large and influential movement out there that’s actually got my back.
The MRM is the extreme end of misogyny, not the only misogynists there are. It makes them a good example to hold up, because there’s no ambiguity in what they are saying.
Well, you mentioned mentioned those talking points but they don’t stop men from attending these things (nobody can stop them but themselves) they should be reasons fir them to attend. Seeing as men already know about issues that face them this suggests several things:
1. Men don’t care enough about issues men face to attend
2.Men do care about actual issues they face and expend energy on actual causes and organisations
3.Men think that this is bullshit and probably think they are better men than them (which they probably are)
Well why not cite which derail people are doing here? Most of us know it pretty well. (or is it where “mras try to imitate feminists to make their movement sound more official” kind of thing)
Frat boys? Aren’t they alphas? (I am imagining MRAL shaking his fist in the air and crying out in horror) XD
“At least when dealing with the inevitable male mysogynists there’s a reasonably large and influential movement out there that’s actually got my back.”
Until you call them on their misogyny. Then you’re just another mangina.
I dunno. Something about going to a frat to talk about sexual misconduct stuff sounds… appropriate… until you realize that it’s from the point of view of men being the victims.
Maybe nobody showed up because it was too freakily backwards. LIke, to the point where all joking ceases and finally one guy in the front of the room mutters “dude…” under his breath, shaking his head.
When did you say anything remotely like this?
??????????
@Kelly: men are not a homogenous group, and even if they were that doesn’t mean they’d necessarily know about the issues that they face. I believe the early feminists actually ran into a similar issue actually – every woman not willing to talk about her issues because she believed that no-one else must feel the same way because no-one talked about them, and under all kinds of social pressure to pretend everything was OK.
@Holly: your hypothetical reasons are just as unrelated to the topic, it’s just that they’re more convenient hypothetical reasons. Also, I think you’re overestimating just how much feminism is helping male victims and how underestimating (for example) the problems with it driving them away through casual triggering content. The better bits of the MRA community at least seem to give them a chance to discuss their experiences, which is something.
“The better bits of the MRA community at least seem to give them a chance to discuss their experiences, which is something.”
What exact bits are those? So far, all I have seen is shaming and cruelty towards male rape victims in the MRM.
Wait, I’m lost, since when did feminism started to enforce traditionnal gender roles? 0o
“I first have to read one of their warnings about what they are going to say in the article, apparently to keep me from freaking out when I read it. It rarely works. Probably because they don’t have trigger warnings for stupidity and lies. “
Trigger warning: Stupidity and lies!!!
Priceless.
I actually fully back this warning for MRA posts since they do seem to trigger stupidity and lies from their followers
@makomk:
“I believe the early feminists actually ran into a similar issue actually – every woman not willing to talk about her issues because she believed that no-one else must feel the same way because no-one talked about them, and under all kinds of social pressure to pretend everything was OK.”
And yet this happened. Still a bigger turnout in age of slower communication, where a small disparate community couldn’t just log into a website to talk to other people who shared their views.
@Moewicus: I think you’re getting a tad confused between mysogyny and misandry. When dealing with male mysogynists the movement that has my back is called feminism, and feminists don’t tend to call people manginas. (Now calling people MRAs because they don’t think a husband cheating on his wife should ever be a good justification for her to beat him bloody and unconscious, that’s a different story.)
makomk: citation for feminists saying that it’s ok to beat cheating husbands, please?
Seriously, no one I would want to hang out with would think there is any justification for beating someone bloody and unconscious.
As a feminist who has worked to raise awareness of the abuse and rape of men, I’m not particularly pleased to find myself erased here.
I know men aren’t a homogenous group but they still belong to the sociopolitical group: male. (feminism 101) Feminists have been talking about gender roles (both sexes) for decades men have had every oportunity to engage with feminist theory and question it (especially in the age of the Internet) why can’t they start there? Why do they absolutely need their own movement when everything else is intended for them in the first place. This allows them to do some serious soul searching if they are willing to put in the effort and drop the attitude.
If they truly disliked the harms of toxic masculinity and wanted justice for male sexual assualt survivors then feminism is the way to go.
Or why not try other social justice causes racism, classism, disability activism, injustice in the prison systems,(just dention-though you’d be helping a lot of men of colour not men ‘falsely accused of rape’) global poverty (oxfam), the environment (we all live on planet earth), anyone else have any ideas?
@jumbofish huh what did I say, I’m confused?
Laura de Force Gordon had arranged a number of lectures for Miss Anthony on the route eastward. At Nevada City she was the guest of A. A. Sargent, the newly elected United States senator, and his wife, both earnest friends of woman suffrage.[62] The rainy season had set in and the diary says: “These storms which bring new life and hope to farmers and miners, mean empty benches for me.”
– Source
I think you may be overlooking the obvious here.
No beer and no food = no show
Thank you Kirbywarp suffragette me smile.
Um IR they have a roof…so what are you saying here?
Fact Finder, I missed you! Care to give us news of Preggo punch?
What’s a Preggo punch?
lo-FUCKING-l.
They actually did it, and almost no one showed up? This…this is beautiful. Mel Brooks wishes he could come up with shit like this.
I know the first feminist rallies were full houses… Oh, wait, they weren’t.
So, David, are you deceiving your feminist sisters or are you just stupid? Take your pick.
you run headlong into the spectacular trainwreck that is feminists insisting that no-one should be able to kick up a big fuss about them supporting problematic gender roles because everyone else does
I must have missed that one. When did that happen?
mysogyny and misandry
Oh, for the love of… you’re putting them right next to each other! How can you misspell one of them but not the other?
IR, we know you are FactFinder, the incredibly dense. We also remember Preggo Punch, the video game concept you were shopping around at one time. No one is fooled by you.
On the topic of deception, here are a few successful rallies/organizations which David neglected to mention. Once again, is he grooming his naive audience or is he just stupid?
Also, what agrarian tasks are the MRAs busy doing that keep them away from their own rally?
Are you really implying feminists had 2 people at their meetings because someone used artistic license in speaking? FF, you are incompetent.
FF, so how about that Preggo Punchout? We’re waiting.
“The turning point came when Fathers4Justice decided that real change could occur only if the political agenda was grabbed and shaken. When one of their campaigners dressed up as Batman and clambered along Buckingham Palace’s walls, he thrust the cause of men’s rights into the face of the public.”
David covered this bit of silliness in England, as I recall.
Of course there was a poor turnout to an MRA meeting. Attending a meeting is hard work. Why won’t feminists attend the meetings for them?
/sarcasm
I think the link was Preggo Punchout, not Preggo Punch.
I’m not trying to fool anyone. If you are stupid enough to think that a game involving miscarriage would be released on Steam, then I guess you’re just overemotional and don’t understand how the gaming industry works.