As “activists,” Men’s Rights Activists seem to be good at only two things: harassing people, and flooding comment sections of websites with their endlessly repeated half-dozen talking points. On Reddit, for example, the local MRAs have been quite the little imperialists, invading a number of gender-related subreddits (like r/equality and r/egalitarian) and turning them essentially into r/mensrights-lite, which has effectively meant killing them. (The recently started r/masculism – an attempt to do Men’s Rights on Reddit without all the misogyny – doesn’t have a chance.)
Well, now the MRA invaders on Reddit seem to have set their sights on a much bigger target: the TwoXChromosomes subreddit. Yep, they’re trying to turn Reddit’s central hangout for the ladies into a boys club.
2XC– an explicitly female-oriented forum on a site (Reddit) heavily dominated by dudes — has always been a strange place. Though I am myself, obviously, a dude, I used to read it fairly regularly, finding it a welcome respite from all the “sammich” jokes and other idiot misogyny so pervasive elsewhere on Reddit. At the time, 2XC had a (completely unwarranted) reputation amongst the Reddit crowd as an evil place full of feminazi man-haters.
Then something started happening to 2XC. That thing was dudes. And not just any dudes – MRA dudes. Regulars on r/mensrights started linking to threads in 2XC and invading en masse, downvoting anything vaguely feminist and spewing forth their standard litanies of complaint. Some of these invaders decided to stay. And so, these sporadic raiding parties turned into a sort of occupation.
No, 2XC – despite the growing number of MRA residents, including a few female MRAs – has not turned into another r/mensrights. But at times, especially when the discussion turns to some MRA pet issue, the place looks a lot like dude central.
Case in point: this 2XC thread, expertly dissected by NauticalLittleNet in ShitRedditSays. The story: a woman posts a picture of her Halloween costume on Reddit and is bugged by a rude, creepy comment referring to her breasts (something that happens approximately ten zillion times a day on Reddit). So she posts the pic again to 2XC, hoping for sympathy. Instead, she’s treated to a barrage of comments mocking her for her alleged “persecution complex.” As NauticalLittleNet shows, the overwhelming majority of the obnoxious comments (all of which garnered numerous upvotes) were from dudes, many of them MRAs.
Naturally, this sort of thing – which happens pretty regularly on 2XC – has totally changed the dynamic of the subreddit from something that was sort of a haven for Reddit women to just another subreddit overflowing with obnoxious dudery.
As a Redditor called emmster noted recently in r/feminist, some women in 2XC have basically stopped posting anything vaguely feminist for fear of being jumped on by argumentative dudes:
I’ll be getting downvoted to Hell in the comments, but get PMs that are supportive from women who feel too afraid of the judgment and vitriol to jump in. I don’t love knowing there are women afraid to voice their opinions in a space that’s for women.
Honestly, I think the sustained r/MensRights invasion is what’s taking the largest toll. It’s like they can’t stand the idea that women have a space that’s active and popular, and they have to come ruin it.
And it doesn’t help that, as Donna_Juanita noted in the same discussion, some of the 2XC mods have essentially bent over backwards to accommodate the MRA invaders and to clamp down on feminists allegedly causing “drama.”
In ShitRedditSays, emmster offers a broader take on what’s happened to 2XC
Since young men are a majority on the site as a whole, and a pretty hefty number of them haven’t had the “There Are Places I Am Not Necessarily Welcome to Pontificate on My Opinion” realization, the space becomes less of a place for women, and more of a place to talk about women. Which is a pretty big distinction. And a tricky thing to keep from happening without raising the ire of the entitled, ignorant young dude contingent.
As a reddit friend of mine put it, it all started with the “Hey Ladies, What Do You Think of My Dick?” posts. When a bunch of guys started posting questions, trying to “understand women,” which of course is a flawed goal, because women, being people, have a variety of opinions and preferences, and cannot actually be understood as a group. Some of them were actually questioning preferences on penis size, hence the name of the phenomenon.
My hypothesis is that eventually, it will be nothing but men talking to men about what they think about women.
Not that there is a shortage of such spaces on Reddit, or in the world in general.
By the way, that picture above is not actually a picture of 2XC regulars. It’s a picture of the Huutajat Men’s Shouting Choir. Which is a real thing in the world. Here they are in action:
I have never in over a decade seen feminists or women in general take over a mra blog, troll in mass numbers or anything to that affect. But if you disagree with anything your labeled as a trolling feminist.
Yet time and time again mra’s post constantly on feminist blogs (or those they deem to be) denouncing them outright, bragging about their trolling abilities, while also worrying about how feminism limits their freedom of speech.
How about our resident mra’s rise to the challenge of finding one blog entry or thread on a forum of theirs that was co-opted by feminists.
I can only think of a couple of reasons behind this: Either men that are mra’s have much more free time then feminists. Or… that’s my only theory. So much for men working more.
Maybe the reason men jump all over women is they’re sick and tired of the casual misandry.
Maybe, after decades of being treated like punching bags, walking ATMs, scapegoats for all the worlds ills, men are vocally rebelling against the lies.
Maybe men have decided to treat women as equals and hold them accountable for their actions.
Maybe men no longer feel like giving unconditional love while recieving conditional love in return.
Maybe men are sick to death of women telling men how to act while women scream about autonomy, and independence, and being seen as an individual if a man dares to tell them how to act.
Maybe men are sick of women believing everything the MSM tells them.
Maybe men are sick of the haughtiness, pettiness, vanity and arrogance women proudly display.
Maybe men are are going to treat women exactly how women treat men; like an enemy.
NWO, that was actually a pretty good summary of the MRA’s “women are abusive and that’s wrong, so the only solution is for men to abuse them” philosophy.
THE MRM: SINKING TO THE LEVEL OF OUR WORST ENEMIES SINCE 2005.
*hallucinated level, anyway
Maybe some men are sick of sicko wannabe rapists…
Just a thought.
Maybe they have plenty of their own spaces in which to bitch about casual misandry, NWO.
And the solution to these grave injustices is to…WHINE ON THE INTERNETS. In comments sections, no less.
I’m really loving how NWO thinks MRAs are all about unconditional love. I’d say they have ALL SORTS of conditions women have to meet in order to be worthy of their “love.”
Hey NWO, did you ever answer the question of what women should wear?
WHAT SHOULD WOMEN WEAR NWO?
Maybe, NWO, the black hole inside your head is getting bigger. Have you had your gravitational field checked recently?
I feel like this dynamic eventually ruins many commenting sites. I used to read the comments on Salon, years ago, but the same very bitter and irrational men would apparently sit by their computers day and night to post insults toward any poster perceived of as female. A back and forth between serious commenters and a few unbalanced trolls eventually becomes tiresome, but Salon never did ban or otherwise deal with the creeps. I also experience some anxiety constantly reading irrational nastiness about women, which is why I can only read the comments and original links on this site sporadically. I just don’t know how to deal with individuals who seem to be founts of vitriol and irrational hatred. It’s not as if one can reason with them.
1. MRAs have too much time on their hands
2. They are bullies.
3. I much prefer Bulgarian State Radio to the Huutajat Shouting Choir.
Malcontent, I know what you mean. On the one hand, at least on the internet they’re physically harmless. On the other hand, it sucks when they ruin someplace where people were making connections and having good conversations.
NWO
Show me anything that feminists have taken over from mra’s…. anything.
Also answer what women should wear.
Maybe you have a mental illness? You are aware that my brother has schizophrenia which was well controlled, started reading and becoming a regular within sites in 2001 and ended up trying to kill his children right? So where do you stand with your mental health? I’m not asking you I’m asking your family.
Kave: Yikes.
@Holly Pervocracy
“NWO, that was actually a pretty good summary of the MRA’s “women are abusive and that’s wrong, so the only solution is for men to abuse them” philosophy.”
It’s a zero sum game princess. For generations women have waged war, calling it the battle of the sexes. Women fired the first shot and fought socially, politically and economically, decade after decade while men refused to fight back. Not anymore, the battle has just begun. Women wanted a battle as long as men didn’t fight back. Make no mistake, men are a fearsome enemy.
———————
@ozymandias42
” WHAT SHOULD WOMEN WEAR NWO?”
Whatever any man tells you to wear. Don’t like it? Tough shit. The times they are a changin. When a man say jump, you say how high. When a man says squat, you say how low. Go to any newspaper, any MSM outlet that allows commenting, school newspapers, anywhere. Notice how the comments from men everywhere are calling out women for their constant shit. Whaddya gonna do? Run to Big Daddy for more money. There isn’t any money left. Women have given all mens wealth and power to Big Daddy. When ya got nothing, there’s nothing to lose.
Thank you for that, Clairedammit. It was beautiful, and I love to hear people sing in a language I don’t understand. Let’s you focus on the completely on the music of the voices.
NWO, are you ever going to answer the question about what women can wear that isn’t slutty? Until you do so I see no reason to respond to anything else you have to say.
…
ohmigod
NWO answered.
NWO answered.
EVERYONE EVERYONE NWO ANSWERED.
Oh frabjous day, callooh, callay!
So what should we wear NWO? Tell us, oh great and powerful one.
He answered, but it doesn’t really help. The whole problem is that one man’s slutted-up and rapeworthy is another man’s prudish.
Oh, he answered it by being even more delusional than usual. It figures.
Actually, it’s not even much of an answer. He still doesn’t say what he thinks women should wear.
Look, look, guys. He said a woman should wear anything a man tells her to wear.
This presents several problems.
Do we wear anything any man tells us to wear? That seems like it would involve a lot of outfit changes, which is rather inefficient. Do we choose a specific man? Can it be any man we know, or should it be a man in a specific relationship with us (father, romantic partner, best friend, etc.)? Perhaps it is randomly assigned?
I asked my fuckbuddy Justin what I should wear and he said “I don’t care” and went back to playing Bioshock 2. What should I wear? Should I randomly select items from my wardrobe? Can I choose my own outfit and just have him approve it? Should I actively seek his approval or can I assume he will say something?
What if the man wants us to wear microminiskirts?
Okay, I asked a man. (Actually two. I checked with my roommate and my boyfriend.) Both of them said “wear whatever you want.”
Hooray!