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.
I know, Kendra! Once again, men are expected to do all the work.
Bostonian: that depends very much how you define men’s rights. For example, is Toysoldier’s blog count as men’s rights activism? The answer seems to be that just siding with male rape victims is sometimes enough. Certainly, I think at least Amanda Marcotte and most of the commenters at her site consider NSWATM as part of the evil anti-feminist MRA backlash, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see her using Manboobz as an attempt to discredit them.
Kyrie: I think the comment that finally caused me to get really pissed off has been deleted over the intervening years, by the looks of it. On the plus side I found this Feministing piece, and the comments in that should give you some idea of why I don’t think much of male feminists.
Ooooh, FactFinder is mad.
Keep it up, man. Your tears make a nice condiment for my Orzo.
Wait, Marcotte thinks NSWATM is evil and male femenists are evil, too? This is an interesting movie pitch so far. Carry on.
You’re the one who was sure it’d be released dude.
I am sorry if anyone is offended, but dressing up as Batman will never make me take you seriously.
No, I was certain it wouldn’t be released on Steam. Steam have standards, you don’t. The question however is why on earth did you invent an imaginary, offensive game at all?
I do find it hilarious that you are offended that I got the name of your ridiculous game slightly wrong.
From the pitch on Deviant Art:
“Two girls in luck
by ~periRick
Voice over: Two cum-hoes
Visual: Two semi-diagonal bars zip across a black background. Both bars have a perspective, 3/4 view of the women’s eyes like a typical fighting game. The one on top has mascara and eyeliner done up in a faux-asian style. The bottom one has a teardrop tattoo and has large fake lashes with ostentatious gold eyeliner.
Voice over: One feeder
Visual: Outline of the millionaire appears behind the tinted window, visible only by the orange glow of a cigarette or small cigar. In his left hand, an average square camera is visible, about the size of a normal disposable.
Voice over: Two preggos
Visual: The millionaire and window become more distant as the view quickly pans out. The panned-out areas are darker than the rest. The two eye-bars are arranged so that they are in the respective women’s bodies as they become visible. The shading lifts to reveal two heavily pregnant women. The room is about 10 meters wide, each woman on either side, and has white or greyish tile, except for the window, and a sealed metal door. Setting has a high-tech yet retro feel to it. Could be anywhere between the 80s and modern day. Both women are shackled to the floor with one clamp.
Voice over: One breeder! *Buzzes*
Visual: A small red bulb on the top of the room flashes, lighting the entire room briefly, and the shackles pop open. The two women begin waddling towards each other, gradually gaining momentum. One pulls her fist back, eying the others’ belly, as the other prepares to knee her opponent.
Voice over: Preggo Punchout!
Visual: Blood and gore splatter effect, first “Preggo” and then “Punchout!” Everything fades to black except title, as blood and gore smear down the screen. The sound of a lullaby or other childish music can be faintly heard.”
I cannot imagine why it was not picked up immediately.
The image of someone proposing the idea of Preggo Punchout to EA is mildly amusing.
@makomk Okay I read some of those comments on the article you linked to. Mostly it plays out like this:
Makomk: ‘some of these comments show that feminists don’t think women can abuse men’
Random Feminist: ‘Umm, no-one here said that’
Makomk: ‘Oh this comment section here isn’t so bad but an unspecified number of comments in previous unspecified threads totally said what I said they said!’
correct me if I’m wrong…
I looked at FF’s list of “successful rallies/organizations,” which was last updated in April 2011, and it lists:
-A letter from a fraternity to President Obama in 2009
-The Australian Men’s Rights Agency
-A New York Times opinion article from 2005
-8 links from India, that paragon of feminism, mostly reporting the same group. This seems to be a significantly sized organization that’s had a few actual rallies with turnouts.
-A march of about 40 men in Ireland in 2008
-An article about female-on-male domestic violence in Jamaica
-A dead link to Fox News
-Three articles about female-on-male domestic violence in Kenya
-An advertisement for International Men’s Day 2011 in Malta. I’m unable to find any information about how that turned out.
-A men’s rights march in Mexico City. This appears to have had a respectable turnout of a couple hundred or so.
-An article about female-on-male domestic violence in Morocco
-A headline that isn’t even a link
-An article about abuse of power at Guantanamo Bay
-A men’s symposium going to be held in Oxford in 2010. I can’t find any information about how this turned out, either.
—-
Summary of Men’s Rights events worldwide over the past 7 years, then:
-Nine articles about actual events that happened and had large or largish turnouts, eight about the same organization
-One article about an event with an extremely small turnout
-Two press releases for events that hadn’t happened yet, and no information about whether they actually happened or how it went
-Five articles about female-on-male domestic violence (an issue feminists are concerned with)
-One article about Guantanamo bay, for some reason
-One online letter and one opinion piece
-One link to an organization’s website with no information about who they are or what they’re doing
-Two dead links
So FactFinder, come on, show us some screenshots.
Also, you were the one who said it was scheduled to come out on Steam.
I’m pretty sure that no one here believes that it will, or that you’ve actually made a video game at all.
katz, there you go again, finding facts!
Oops, I guess I just can’t help it. And Pecunium’s not on right now.
I just noticed Fidelbogen’s “limerick” in the comments there:
Fidelbogen: THAT IS NOT A LIMERICK.
I thought he was supposed to be the smartest guy in the MRM, a genius with words, blah blak blah.
Here’s a haiku about him:
There once was a fella named Fidel
His brain it was never that idle
He filled it with junk
That he himself thunk
Something something that rhymes with idle
Oh wait, that’s not a haiku. It’s a sonnet.
No, not a sonnet.
It’s some kind of poem, though, that’s for sure. A clerihew?
Hey, here’s an old dance hit that popped into my head for some reason:
makomk: I ask for proof of feminists dismissing F on M DV and you give me an article of a feminist saying F on M DV should be treated as a joke? And why are you talking about male feminists now? Anyway, if the problem is the comments, point me to the problematic part. (I read about 15 of them and so far I don’t see it)
Wait…someone who is not an MRA actually said that F on M DV is a joke, therefore, ALL femenists don’t care about males?
And madomok isn’t holding any of his fellows to a high standard, yet wants US to?
@kelly
nuuuuuuuuu
I meant that he implied that you just repeated his argument when you didn’t.
from this:
Actually, the article makomk linked to is of a feminist saying that F on M DV is NOT a joke. I think Kyrie made a typo there.
Makomk – One of the founders of NSWATM is a Manboobz regular so no, you can’t count them as MRAs when it’s convenient. Also, your link goes to a feminists saying they weren’t amused by female-on-male DV and it is serious.
FactFinder – I am like 99% sure you have no idea how to program a game or create art for it, or indeed any of the steps of game creation other than “come up with a childishly offensive idea for an intro sequence.”
…Are you planning to use the fact that the universe has not showered you with programmers and artists willing to work for free on your stupid game as evidence of terrible social misandry?
FF: Sorry about the name of your game. But please tell us about it, why did you ever think it would be a good idea, whether or not you think it is misogynistic (am I writting that correctly? My kingdom for an auto correct) – and racist too -, tell us what it is becoming. Tell us why you disappeared when David noticed your game and why you came back under an other name.
Now I’m picturing your average sexist frat boy’s response to hearing about this and then Googling the term “men’s rights movement”.
“Yeah, man, women suck! Except not often enough, amirite? So cool, I can totally make it to the meeting and…wait, you want to legalize rape? I dunno, man, isn’t that going a bit far? Hang on, what is this shit about cutting the voice boxes out of little girls? You stay away from my sister! Wait, some of these guys supported the dude who shot all those kids in Norway?!!
Fuck this, man, I’m not going to your stupid little meeting GTFO my campus.”
As I recall Amanda Marcotte’s only opinion on NSWATM is one time she linked to us positively on Twitter.
@jumbofish ok I just say my entire comment quoted and immediately thought what did I do? But yeah it feels like they are having a different agruement when you converse with them.
Myoo: oops, yes, that’s a typo, and a big one. Thanks for noticing and not assuming the worst of me. ^_^
That should be “I ask for proof of feminists dismissing F on M DV and you give me an article of a feminist saying F on M DV should NOT be treated as a joke?”
Preggo punchout?…why? Why did you even think of this, let alone wanting to actualise this.
Actually, to be fair to makomk, there were two or three dismissive comments on that thread. However, why he decides to lay this at the feet of feminism as a whole, or male feminists as a whole, is a complete mystery.
First right mens rights on sticking up for themselves from sexual harrasment claims*FUMES* more like wahhhhhh I want to sexually harrass women and get away with it.
Whats interesting is that at Cal State Fullerton they have a Womens Center that was actually more of a gender center…they would talk about mens issues as in actual mens issues such as relationship expectations, gender roles, abusive relationships, ect ect ect along with discussions on women’s issues and they had special monthes were it was ONLY mens issues. Well, the discussion groups and meetings were always full of guys.
Thank you, Cassandra. Your post was quite revealing, and I look forward to learning more about you.
FactFinder, how old are you that you haven’t yet learned the difference between “people don’t understand me because I’m smart” and “people don’t understand me because I don’t make sense?”
Because really, otter papercut woodchip vaguely sinister comment… smug look of superiority.
Also, do you seriously plan to make that videogame? Do you even know how videogames are made?
…Do you even know what WWI was?
Gonna find some facts for once, IdeologueReview? Start small and try making sense first.
Didn’t David ban FactFinder one time for threatening cyberstalking? Or was that a different incoherent mess?
Holly, I have $10 on he has no idea how videogames are made.
Aw, he posted about Cassandra’s comment. Too bad it factually wrong in almost every respect.
Hey dipshit, I mean factfinder, you do realize that bit about cutting out the voice boxes of girls didn’t come from some feminist’s fevered imagination, right? One of your MRA buddies came up with that gem.
Bostonian, that was another hot mess. I think it was Samuel.
“Threatening cyberstalking?” What the fuck is that?
Never mind, Factfinder, apparently it was someone else.
Two questions, though:
1. Do you have the foggiest idea how a videogame is made, or how what you would even need to make one?
2. Do you intend this videogame only as a pretense to claim misandric oppression when it doesn’t get made or distributed?
“how what”… this guy’s rubbing off on me.
read “or what you would even”
Holly, I know you aren’t better than me and it’s killing you. That’s why you are so miserable and angry when I’m around – people who reject feminism aren’t supposed to be happy and successful. So you stomp your little feet and make a huff, but no matter how hard you try you’re still an ideologue who hides behind her dogma.
Try talking like a human for once. Every single man you see is not scoping you out for some stupid power struggle. Most of us ignore you unless you make interaction absolutely necessary.
Naww, wasn’t Samuel the one that was fixated on Kristin?
LOLLLL. Testy testy
How are you more successful Holly?
Sorry that was for the guy who cannot find a fact to save his life. Than Holly, was what I meant. The question still stands. You have yet to demonstrate success in any endeavor.
I’m not really “miserable and angry.” I’m more “eating dinner while reading this in one browser tab and various amusing articles and comics in the others.” If you’re picturing me red-faced and sputtering at my screen, you’re omitting a bowl of noodles and a browser tab full of owls saying silly things.
I am, however, increasingly amused by how you suddenly don’t want to talk about your videogame, now that people are questioning if you have any idea how to make a videogame.
Also, wow, buddy, you are in no position to say “try talking like a human for once” to anybody.
“Cutting the voicebox out of little girls” isn’t something Cassandra made up; it’s something one Spearhead commenter advocates. See the screenshot of Zebert’s comment here:
http://www.somethingawful.com/d/weekend-web/spearhead-forum-misandry.php?page=7
I really see no point in proving anything to you, Bostonian. Your mission is to hurt the thought criminal as much as you can, in this case using your typical shaming and schoolyard insults. No matter what I do, your mission will remain the same: to discourage and attack me, using whatever tools are at your disposal.
So yeah, I’ll do whatever I want to.
I’m sure his lack of success in the gaming world is not due to a lack of interest. So there!
Cutting the voice boxes of little girls is as much a part of the MRM as the SCUM manifesto is a part of feminism. She’s the one who projected her fantasy onto the majority of the Men’s Rights Movement.
Seriously, go eat a Snickers or something, man.
@Hippodameia
I’ll have you know, EA, Bioware, Ubisoft AND Rockstar have sent him very supportive e-mails assuring him that, were it not for the current gynocracy, they would have developed the game AND committed to four sequels on the spot!!
So, no success to crow about then.
Aw, FactFinder is too stupid to understand sarcasm. Do we need a special font for him?
Making pregnant women beat the shit out of each other in weirdly sexualized ways for men’s amusement… is that also a vile slander upon your movement?
Because oh man, no true MRA would suggest such a thing, I’m sure.
Wait, did the MRM stop pretending that the SCUM manifesto is the feminist Bible now, or did he not mean to admit that in public?
FactFinder, if you’re so fucking successful why aren’t you busy ignoring us?
Oh right, you need to grab quotes you don’t understand for your no-traffic, no-talent assclown blog. Got it.
Cassandra, I think he let that slip, he’s not the sharpest knife.
@ Shadow – Of course! Everybody knows that feminism has a stranglehold on the gaming world.
Did anyone bother to read his post about my comment? I can’t be bothered, his writing is just too terrible. So basically he thinks that the fact that I regard MRAs with amused contempt and mock them accordingly is a feminist conspiracy?
I’m pretty sure the traffic he gets from trolling here is the only traffic he ever gets. It is pretty sad when even other MRAs don’t visit.
FactFinder’s whole blog schtick seems to be “say inflammatory things, make people angry, then post quotes of them being angry, as proof of…”
“as proof of…”
“um…”
“3. Profit!”
Except instead of “profit” I guess it’s “prove the MRM is right about everything, because if we weren’t right, then people would never get angry at annoying trolls. Obviously.”
Yeah, dude, the fact that you don’t feel shame over an idiotic idea like “Preggo Punchout”, or over your wildly unrealistic expectations for same, is part of why you’re a shitty person, but we don’t really care that you are one. You’re showing it to the rest of the world sufficiently well.
Also, don’t pretend you have a problem with ‘shaming language’. You’ve made attempts to shame people for their beliefs, and it’s the whole point behind your “Quote feminists when I think they post horrible things” schtick. Shame is a normal human thing, and so is invoking where it’s felt appropriate. When we object to slut-shaming, we’re objecting to shaming women for their sexuality, not to the concept of shame. Your parody of social justice movements is amusing, but it only reveals your ignorance, rather than wounding us XD
Since he’s another one that’s got an unholy wedgie about that silly SCUM video, I’m gonna second hellkell’s interpretation
I think factfinder thinks he’s like manboobz for MRAs, except he has no readership, and the things he posts aren’t really ridiculous.
Cassandra, he basically said you have problems, and it must be a missed alimony or child support payment that drove you to imagine someone in the MRM could say that about cutting girl’s voice boxes.
That’s the nutshell version, go read it for a laugh.
That, and David doesn’t have to post troll comments on MRA blogs to get the MRAs to say something objectionable, nor does he have to take “shut up troll” comments out of context to “catch” MRAs sounding angry.
But the only reason he has no readership is that all the would-be lurkers are huddled in corners fearing for their lives, worrying that our feminist overlords will lobotomizing for their thought crimes. He’s the V of Feminazi USA
*lobotomize them
Shadow, I thought the lurkers supported him in e-mail.
@Shadow
LOL!!! :D
LOL @ the OP too……..yeah that’s all I got for now
Peoples, peoples, factfinder is “happy”. “Creating” “games” like preggo punchout give him bliss…
“Preggo Punchout”? Hmph. “Super Smash Brothers” or “King of Fighters” it ain’t.
Seriously, though, that is fucked up. Though I one can rest knowing that it either won’t be made or will be a shitty game.
Hell, anyone remember “Duke Nukem Forever”? That’s pretty much the best case scenario for FF’s monstrousity.