Meet the Patriarchy Party, the latest bid for media attention from Men’s Rights Edmonton
From the Patriarchy Party’s actual pamphlet. Yes, the name of the party is almost impossible to read. I don’t think that’s on purpose.
I sometimes say that the only “activism” that the Men’s Rights Movement is any good at is harassing individual women. But perhaps I’m being a bit too stingy here: following on the heels of the Father’s Rights activists who dress up like superheroes and climb up buildings and bridges to show that, well, I’m not sure what they’re trying to show, Men’s Rightsers seem to be developing a knack for poorly conceived media stunts that make them look like idiots.
The latest incredibly poorly conceived Men’s Rights media stunt come from Men’s Rights Edmonton, the A Voice for Men sister brother group famous for, among other things, chasing women down the street in the middle of the night and claiming that the women they chased were the bullies.
Anyway, the loudest and most obnoxious dude in the group, Nick Reading (a.k.a. “Eric Duckman”) has decided to run for Edmonton City Council on — get this! — the Patriarchy Party ticket! Oh no he didn’t!
Oh, yes he did. I suppose that the Patriarchy Party’s supposed platform — including a pledge “to end antiquated laws regarding women’s sexual consent” and provisions to instruct teachers “to snatch things like toy trucks out of the hands of little girls and replace them with dolls or tea sets” — probably inspired a chuckle or two amongst the folks at A Voice for Men, but the trollery here is really too inane to offend.
Whetever, dudes. You can find their badly designed pamphlet, with traced-photo “artwork” presumably by the noted FeMRA artist TyphonBlue, here.
Posted on September 26, 2013, in a voice for men, antifeminism, are these guys 12 years old?, artistry, creepy, edmonton, grandiosity, gross incompetence, harassment, men who should not ever be with women ever, misogyny, MRA, patriarchy, rape culture, rape jokes, TyphonBlue. Bookmark the permalink. 592 Comments.
DoublePlusUnBadBetterGoodereresterer
Bestestest
Goodiarchy
(The society he wishes we lived in)
You ARE women-haters, because THAT’S ALL YOU DO.
No one is stopping you from advocating for increased support for male victims of rape and domestic violence. NONE OF YOU DO THAT. None of you start support groups, none of you contact your local politicians, none of you seek grants for research, none of you start charities or non-profit groups, none of you coordinate with local churches to start soup kitchens or food collection campaigns for homeless men. NO ONE IS STOPPING YOU FROM DOING THIS WORK.
What you want is for women to be forced to stop advocating for issues that they find important. You won’t lift a finger to do your own advocacy.
A Voice for Men takes in well over $100,000 a year in donations by its own admission. Not a penny of it goes to actually helping men, as far as I can tell.
David, but all that money goes to women shelters through taxes! ALL OF IT.
That’s what really ticks me off. Women have been working their asses off for decades to get these programs going. They exist through a lot of hard work, much of it unpaid.
It’s very very true that our mental health support system in this country is a joke. That is something that affects everyone, men and women.
I haven’t read through the comments yet, but I certainly hope that someone expressed the realization that this is satire.
Someone needs to tell Good that it’s not enough just to put it on the character sheet. You have to actually act out the alignment through play, or the GM is totally justified in sending a paladin after your ass.
Slow clap for Good.
Yup. Satire so good that it needs someone to remind us that it’s satire and contains no material to undercut the satirical “intent”. None at all.
Excellent effort. Top marks.
@Karalora
That was magnificent. I owe you cookies.
Hey moron, patriarchy means “rule of the father.” It means a few dudes at the top run everything, with the majority of everyone else (all women, all children, and most men) underneath them. It’s why feminists have very consistently said the phrase, “patriarchy hurts men, too.”
If half of those few at the top were women, feminists wouldn’t complain (or else they would look for something else to complain about). Half of the few elite being women would change absolutely nothing for the better.
Feminists are not interested in attacking plutocracy, otherwise, they would use that term as opposed to patriarchy. The interest is in attacking masculinity and not the rule of the very elite that feminists are in bed with:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/10/world/europe/10iht-letter10.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
I was not aware that I was fucking a plutocrat. Should probably let Mr C know about that, huh?
I hope Paul E’s at least giving the IRS it’s due for his scam.
Is LesserGood here? I hear this inane babbling.
Geez, read the comments. Look that the devious looking man on the image. It was meant to mock. Actually taking this seriously makes you appear to not be very bright.
Today’s unintentional irony award goes to Good! It’s probably the only prize he’s ever won, so he should treasure it.
Um, Good…aw, fuck it. You’re just too stupid.
Question – does Elam have a job, or is AVFM his only means of support? If the people who donate to the blog are actually paying his rent I wonder if they know that.
You first, bud. This has been covered.
helkrap
Um, Good…aw, fuck it. You’re just too stupid
Couldn’t come up with an intelligent response ignoramus?
Aw, Good. You’re so cute when you try to be cutting.
I’m going to keep telling you how dumb you are until you a.) grow a brain or b.) fuck off. I’m hoping for b but either will work.
I’m surprised and impressed that Good has finally recognized hellkell’s divine nature. The next step is traditionally to make some kind of offering (I believe she might accept either booze or mascara).
http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/norse-mythology.php?deity=HEL
Cassandra: I think leeching off his band of fools is the only income Elam has.
Her brother is a giant wolf, you know. You probably shouldn’t piss him off.
http://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/giants/hel/
Cassandra: high time he acknowledged it, and on my b-day to boot. I’ll take booze and makeup as tribute, but the tears of trolls will also do.
I feel like we need a troll test. You must be at least this funny/intelligent/entertaining in some way in order to post a comment.
Did Mr. “I Can’t Bother to Scroll Through Cats to Read Comments Directed at Me” just get all “read the comments”? The irony, it burns.
Happy birthday!!
Thank you!
Actually, plenty of feminists (often marxist, socialist, and intersectionalist feminists) are quick to argue that the social stratification of power occurs along multiple axis. In fact, one of the “powerful” executive feminists, Sheryl Sandberg, has been significantly criticized for her privileged ignorance and backwards thinking on gender issues.
http://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/feminisms-tipping-point-who-wins-from-leaning-in
http://jacobinmag.com/2013/03/like-feminism/
http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2013/03/31/175862363/should-all-women-heed-authors-advice-to-lean-in
So yeah…
Happy birthday, hellkell.
UnGood, you are a coward who runs away every time he’s bested in argument. You even chose the most boring ‘nym possible. Go away forever.
Good.
Dear Good.
Dear poor sad put upon Good
You need a new schtick Good
Or at least to step up your game a bit
Because as it is you’re just tedious
Howard has UnGood’s number.
Plutocracy implies that the issue is wealth. It’s not. The issue is class. The issue is private ownership of the means of production, which results in one class being forced to sell its labor force to another to survive. Ludicrously misdistributed wealth is not a cause of social inequity, it’s a result of it.
The issue is not plutocracy. It’s capitalism. And patriarchy exists on top of (in addition to) capitalism.
Workers of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains.
@ cloudiah
It’s kind of like calling yourself “Bland”, except that would be too honest.
Feminist Bees
Thanks for the civil response. I just simply don’t see the general social stratification of power being mainstream feminisms target. Feminism is at its root, woman vs man and attacks on any institution must include attacks on masculinity. That is why “patriarchy” is in common use by feminists because it has a masculine connotation that “plutocracy” doesn’t. Why do gender roles fall under “patriarchy” when women promote them as much as men?
Good: if that’s what you think feminism really is, well. You are beyond help.
@UnGood, Respond to Howard. Link is in my comment above. Why do you keep running away from discussions as soon as you’re losing?
“Feminism is at its root, woman vs man and attacks on any institution must include attacks on masculinity.”
What?
“Why do gender roles fall under “patriarchy” when women promote them as much as men?”
What?
How do coherent!?
Someone needs to teach him how to sentence before he can even attempt how to coherent.
Thanks for the response BlackBloc
The issue is not plutocracy. It’s capitalism. And patriarchy exists on top of (in addition to) capitalism.
Ok, then why not attack capitalism? I almost never hear or read feminists lambasting capitalism. That attack patriarchy because of the need for a masculine target. Let me ask this. If all of those male CEOs were replaced with women, would feminists attack the “matriarchy”? I doubt it. I actually believe that most would celebrate it and claim that women are owed a matriarchal society.
It’s funny that feminists try hard to prove the existence of a matriarchal pre-history when in theory, the matriarchy should be just as bad as a patriarchy. Why argue so hard to prove something bad? It’s because feminists generally don’t view matriarchy as bad.
See what I mean? First we need to start with how to sentence, then how to grammar, and if we’re very lucky and he experiences a lot of personal growth he may eventually reach how to think. Though I’m not feeling terribly optimistic about that last part.
Good’s never read feminists lambasting capitalism, therefore it doesn’t exist. Good is wrong and stupid.
CassandraSays
“That” was supposed to be “they”. Beyond that, I tend to ignore grammar trolls like yourself.
@Good: actually, a lot of feminists are very left-wing in general. Feminism is (for the vast majority) simply part of a broader ethos of equality, which is also anti-classist and anti-racist.
After all, it would make no fucking sense to say ‘women and men are equal – by which we mean that black women are equal to black men, white women are equal to white men, working-class women are equal to working-class men…’.
The fact that you don’t pay attention to it doesn’t mean it’s not happening.
There’s never been an anti-capitalist feminist. Not even one!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Kollontai
>>
<<
This is a world that all humans should desire.
Wow, Good, you NEVER see feminists talking about capitalism and systems of inequity and … and … and …
It’s almost like you don’t READ what feminists say, because GODDAMITALL…
BTW, I’m starting to feel sad that we chased Meller and Slavey away. At least they were hor entertaining (though horrible) rather than dull.
Son, I am disappoint.
You’ll never learn from your mistakes if you won’t acknowledge them.
Quackers: Oh, believe me, you’re not alone in occasionally just wishing you could walk away from the gender wars. I recommend taking a time-out, with some cookies:
Cookies, you say? Mr C’s coworker brought us some of these back from Argentina, even the store-bought ones are awesome.
I’ve been craving shortbread cookies so that’s my project for the weekend. And some slow cooker chili, although it’s not quite cold enough for it yet. Eh, I still want chili.
Eh, I’ve eaten chili on a hot day in Texas. There are no climatic conditions that rule it out.
Good: I haven’t read through the comments yet, but I certainly hope that someone expressed the realization that this is satire.
Says the dude too lazy to remember his own comments*. No surprise you are trying for the modern incarnation of, “it’s just a joke”.
Since all the things in that platform are things the MRM has actually advocated for, the “satire” is non-existent.
But please, oh pithy one, tell us what is being satirised? What powerful group is being skewered for their hubris?
If half of those few at the top were women, feminists wouldn’t complain (or else they would look for something else to complain about). Half of the few elite being women would change absolutely nothing for the better.
Showing that you fail utterly at understanding the thing you think you are against. Patriarchy doesn’t mean, “men are in charge, women are slaves”. It means men are preferenced, women are disadvantaged (as a class, individuals will still suffer). It means that at any given level of society men do better than women.
Nothing, but nothing, says women can’t perpetuate it. (Look at Elizabeth I. What pissed her off most among her courtiers misbehaviors? Women who got married without getting her permission: she was supporting the patriarchal role of the monarch).
Feminists are not interested in attacking plutocracy, otherwise, they would use that term as opposed to patriarchy. The interest is in attacking masculinity and not the rule of the very elite that feminists are in bed with:
This is incoherent. If the subject were “plutocracy” it wouldn’t be feminism, it would be socialism/communism/anarchism/etc. Pretending the moneied powers somehow are independent of gender related cultural constructs is stupid.
But go ahead, try to substitute your goalposts, and good luck with redefining the terms of debate. Is there a plutocratic/oligarchic aspect to society? Yep. Is is independent of patriarchy? Not yet. If it were, you would have something closer to an argument, but it ain’t, so you don’t.
Attacking patriarchy is more relevant to most people’s lives, because the intra-class aspects are 1: more tractable, and 2: more pervasive, and 3: actually relate to male/female interactions, in ways that plutocratic/oligarchic aspects don’t.**
You’re really not very good at this, are you?
*We are still waiting for your replies to these comments You could keep going, to the discussion of art which picks up sometime after this dissection of your style of argumentation
** and lots of feminism is marxist/socialist/communist/progressive/liberal/leftist. That you are so narrow minded as to think one can only be activist on one axis, well it’s either the result of inadequate attention in school; thus depriving you of good tools for analytical thinking, or an actual deficiency in mental acuity, or more disingenuous crap meant to derail the conversation in such a way as to create a convenient straw feminist for the ritual burning.
That, or your just a dishonest douchenozzle who likes to think this makes him clever.
Roasted Poblano pepper chili
I may try this one!
http://www.patriciaspatticakes.com/2013/09/slow-cooker-roasted-poblano-pepper-chili.html
It is never too hot for chili.
Sigh, I need to go buy a ladder. The stairwell smoke detector is giving the “low battery” chirp, and it’s a 14′ rise from the landing to the detector. The ladder we have only gives me five feet of riser to instability.
Le sigh.
What are your favorite chili recipes? I love trying different recipes every time I make it. I like heat, and I like any kind of beans. I eat meat but am not averse to trying a vegetarian one.
Last time I had to change bulbs in my ceiling fixture it involved a chair balanced on the kitchen table with me standing on it and Mr C holding onto me so I wouldn’t fall. I think I need a ladder too.
Good, what the cabbage are you talking about? Since I started reading up on feminism, I haven’t heard so much criticism of capitalism and discussion of power structures in my entire life.
@Howard Bannister
Yeah, I’m convinced that Good has never actually read anything written by an actual feminist, ever. I’m a big believer in learning about the thing you want to criticize before you criticize it, so you can make informed and logical arguments, but everyone has their own approach, I guess.
@Chie Satonaka
For me, sweet chili. Heavy on tomatoes. Bell peppers. Then you put the hot stuff in; sweet and spicy. The two best things mixed together.
augochlorella, your kitty icon looks like my kitty Mose!
SredniVashtar, thanks for the comment:
@Good: actually, a lot of feminists are very left-wing in general. Feminism is (for the vast majority) simply part of a broader ethos of equality, which is also anti-classist and anti-racist
I’m sure a lot are, but I don’t see it as being the dominant view. Most feminists seem content with the current system beyond their views on gender. They don’t appear to be against CEOs and elite as long as women are equally represented among them.
As far as socialism/Marxism goes, it is notable that gender inequality is quite prevalent in Cuba. Gender equality in the USSR was mostly talk and below is a good summary of the lives of women un the USSR:
http://ukrainianweek.com/History/46704
The link reminds of the situation in black America with so much burden placed on women while men are commonly free from responsibility. Left wing ideology has had a big impact on the black community.
Son, I am disappoint.
You’ll never learn from your mistakes if you won’t acknowledge them
Hey kid. Stop reaching. Grammar trolling is lame and weak like you.