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:
Ugh…I can’t believe I forgot that one! talk about not considering other people’s opinions. You disagree with anything an MRA says and you’re either a mangina or feminazi man-hater. Note how mangina includes vagina..because lady parts are soooo gross and bad! Its exactly as you said. The comment says much more about the person saying it than anything else.
Feminists debate MRAs here on manboobz all the time.
From the little I’ve seen of this blog, I wouldn’t call ganging up on someone with abuse and insults “debate”. I suspect it’s a case of seeing the mote in someone else’s eye.
You disagree with anything an MRA says and you’re either a mangina or feminazi man-hater. Note how mangina includes vagina..because lady parts are soooo gross and bad!
Actually, it’s more when you mindlessly defend women and bash men at all costs, but if you don’t like the term, “Manboob” works just as well.
(Yeah, lady parts are gross and bad. That’s why we have a multi-billion dollar porn industry that’s 90% hetero and female-oriented. )
Back on topic, there’s no way to fix what you’re talking about unless you start moderating comments and/or censoring public opinion. Otherwise, people are gonna say what they want to say. You can already downvote them and reply to them. What else do you want?
“All taxes in Scandinavian countries go toward women’s causes. Scandinavian grade schools have a holiday where girls are given cookies and ice cream, while boys are given stale matzo. Men in Scandinavian countries are imprisoned for farting.”
@shaenon You’re killing me.
Actually, I don’t think that that’s the sentiment that’s being depicted there, I think it’s premised upon the inferiority of vagina-bearers…. a mangina isn’t a “REAL” man, he’s been metaphorically castrated and is no longer a proudly superior penis-bearer.
Did you read through this thread? Our resident troll NWOSlave…or “dissenter” if you’d prefer, implied women should be slaves to men. And that women should wear what men tell them to wear. Here are his quotes:
Do you really expect that those types of comments are going to be met with a positive reaction or even friendly debate? really? there’s having a differing opinion, then there’s just being an ass.
I want them to stop being douchebags and harassing the space on reddit that is woman friendly and not overrun by sexist comments. But since that’s not going to happen, I hope that the women who are being harassed stand up to them and not let themselves be intimidated and scared to say their opinion. No one censors MRAs, so what right do they have to try and censor what online feminists or just plain women say?
That’s true. The gross part doesn’t apply, but the inferiority implies that its a bad thing.
Uh, did MD520N just say that the porn industry is “female-oriented” ??
oriented: past participle, past tense of o·ri·ent
2. Tailor (something) to specified circumstances or needs: “magazines oriented to the business community”; “market-oriented reforms”.
It’s true, there’s almost no porn tailored for men at all!
CURSE YOU FEMINISM!
But you’re not being ganged up on, abused and insulted, are you? And there’s a reason for that.
It’s easy to see why you might have got that impression from a casual skim, but there’s a very good reason why regulars like NWOSlave and David K. Meller are invariably greeted with raucous mockery – it’s because that’s frankly the sanest response to the drivel that they post, which invariably betrays the fact that they clearly regard women in general (not just feminists) as rather lower than plague-bearing vermin – unless they’re prepared to unironically impersonate a perfect 1950s housewife for their amusement.
It’s pretty much impossible to reason with people like that – God knows what traumatic event in their past led to such extensive psychological damage, but I’m afraid it’s their problem.
Oh, I see Hengist is back.
Uh, did MD520N just say that the porn industry is “female-oriented” ??It’s true, there’s almost no porn tailored for men at all!
CURSE YOU FEMINISM!
Intentionally misinterpreting my comment and arguing semantics is apparently the best I can expect from someone named “Trollin’ MRAs”. Troll harder!
I hope that the women who are being harassed stand up to them and not let themselves be intimidated and scared to say their opinion.
Me too. It’s no fun otherwise. Also, feminists are always welcome to “invade” men’s rights subreddits anytime. 😉
“Also, feminists are always welcome to “invade” men’s rights subreddits anytime. ;)”
Why? Two wrongs won’t make a right; more trolling won’t give back the former users of 2XC a place to have a discussion.
If the MRM didn’t exist, someone would have to invent it. It’s a comedic masterpiece. These guys claim to believe that they’re ‘soldiers’ fighting an evil ideology. They know as well as everybody else does that this is utter nonsense but to acknowledge that would remove at a stroke their reason for being.
MRAs take pride in how ‘angry’ they make themselves. It’s their be all and end all.
Just remember; they’re little boys playing soldiers. They’ve created a fantasy war where they are important and they need their little victories to make it all worthwhile.
Laugh at them – but don’t be scared. They aren’t frightening. The more ridiculous they are, the better. It makes sure they will remain where they belong; the outer reaches of the lunatic fringe.
And to all the MRAs reading this, consider this. Neo-Nazi skinheads have far more support and are far better organised than you are or will ever be. And like Neo-Nazi skinheads, all MRAs will ever do is create a little bit of trouble on the sidelines, ruin a few lives (especially their own) and wait for a revolution that isn’t coming. You aren’t heroes. You aren’t ‘soldiers’. You are amusing scumbags.
“From the little I’ve seen of this blog, I wouldn’t call ganging up on someone with abuse and insults “debate”. I suspect it’s a case of seeing the mote in someone else’s eye.”
Not to sound like a 6 year old but … they started it =P
Let the freak flag fly, NWO!
Anyway, moderation policies differ from site to site, but successful ones facilitate conversation, not stifle it. That doesn’t mean “anyone can say whatever they want”, it means “community standards of civility/contribution/on-topicness are being met”.
It sounds like what r/2XC needs is some very aggressive moderation – someone to say to the guys making boob jokes Off topic!”
Let the freak flag fly, NWO!
Anyway, moderation policies differ from site to site, but successful ones facilitate conversation, not stifle it. That doesn’t mean “anyone can say whatever they want”, it means “community standards of civility/contribution/on-topicness are being met”.
It sounds like what r/2XC needs is some very aggressive moderation – someone to say to the guys making boob jokes “Off topic!”, then “Still off topic!” Then “Still off topic and abusive! You’re banned for 24 hours!”
That takes time and money, though, because unpaid mods don’t usually have enough time to monitor every thread. So it’ll probably stay an MRA wasteland 🙁
Have I told you lately how I love you, Manboobz?
I simply must reproduce this comment from MRAL in its entirely to gaze upon in wonder and awe:
Why the fuck is NWOslave always allowed to completely derail every thread on here? I liked this post and was looking forward to reading an interesting discussion, and then within 5 comments everyone’s responding to a NWOdumbass’ comment containing his standard crap that has been hashed over ad infinitum on here. Since the regulars2 are apparently incapable of ignoring him, can’t we just ban this repetitive douchebag?
AHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
*wipes tears*
OH, MRALWT, thank you for the best laugh I’ve had in a long time.
But I agree — you’ve been around a lot less to derail threads and demand everybody pay attention to you you you you you, so Brandon and NWO are filling those trolly shoes.
So, what do YOU think about this post?
*cups chin on hands and gazes at you waiting to hear your totally srs splaining.*
It’s amazing how Ami’s “16 year old texting their best friend between class” style is so enraging to these Galtian uber-mans. Swear to god, it’s the ultimate counter-troll.
“Ami Angelwings used xD!
It’s SUPER EFFECTIVE!”
You should hire yourself out to blogs that have troll problems, Ami.
Why do those jerks even want to take over TwoXChromosomes? Can’t they be happy with all of the MRA friendly spaces they have, and allow women to have their own space for once? It’s sad that the banhammer is the only way to have a somewhat reasonable online discussion about anything.
I’m also sick and tired of how MRA’s show up at any discussion about women’s problems to try to change the subject and complain about a totally different issue for men. It’s not that the men’s problem isn’t important. It’s just that the topic was something about women, and it’s not misandric to discuss women’s problems. For example, AntZ showed up at a CNN article on pregnancy complications of women in Niger to comment about misandry in the US K-12 educational system.
Here is a link to the CNN article, and his comment if it hasn’t already been deleted by moderators. He had the first comment.
It reminds me of how women will start up exercise classes for women at gyms, and then a few jerks will get mad and want to join. The women aren’t excluding men to be mean. They just want a space where they can exercise and not worry about being judged for their bodies. I like the gym Curves because it is strict about allowing women to have their own exercise space. If men want a men’s only gym or class, then they can start their own. There are also plenty of gender neutral spaces for people that don’t want gender segregated exercise classes.
wait…MRAL said that? I thought he’d get along with NWO.
I think I prefer MRAL to NWO. Because at least sometimes you get a teeny tiny glimpse of hope in him….but then he turns around and says something completely hateful like calling vaginas “gashes”.
And you can get paid to moderate? whut? must be on really large popular websites.
I also think it’s nice when websites have a report abuse button, and give people the option to block other users. It helps to cut down on online bullying.
thebionicmommy: one word. Entitlement. It has to be about them all the goddamn time. And a conversation/situation/issue that isn’t about them is interpreted as it NEVER being about them, when it’s just that that particular one isn’t so they should just piss off until it is.
I swear this shit would never fly if it was about race, and even when it does it’s still not as tolerated as it is when its about sex.
>>MRAL: Why the fuck is NWOslave always allowed to completely derail every thread on here?
That’s like the Colonel Sanders complaining that McDonald’s is serving unhealthy food.
I don’t think a “report abuse” button would work for this site. Every post would get flagged…
Can I just say I LOVES me some book o’ Larnin’? Oh, and 52D whoeverthehellyouare: I DO run with the “Big Boys”–they’re the ones who AREN’T misogynist and cruel and want to learn to EVOLVE and make good lives WITH women, as opposed to blaming, bullying, and constantly trying to knock them down every chance they get. Look, I know the stats on male DV perpetrators and rehabilitation–the chances for rehabbing are like ONE percent. When the guys DO finally get the evilness they’ve inflicted on their victim(s) one of two things tends to happen: either their rate for suicide increases or homicides increase. So I don’t expect to ever change the thinking of you or any other troll here, but I still have to wonder: WHY are you here? Why won’t the MGTOW just freakin’ GO already????
MD520N Nice passive-aggressive non rebuttal, bro.
How so? Nice meaningless retort.
Feminists are all “RARR, look me I’m a tough strong woman” one second, and delicate flowers crying about having their feelings hurt on the internet the next.
Which is a non-responsive reply on your part.
You made some blanket statements.
1: You said women were free to leave the public sphere if they didn’t want to be abused.
2: You said that majority-female spaces were echo-chambers.
3: You said the males who spend time in them are, “emasculated”.
Then you ignore all that to say, ‘Nice meaningless retort” in another display of passive-aggressive defensiveness.
The core of your statements is, “women are entitled to what men give them, and if they don’t like it, they can leave”.
You aren’t “running” with the big boys, you are yelling at anyone who bothers do disagree. You’re opinion is that collecting a gang, and going to the place where the women are and attacking them is, “fair” and if they don’t like it, well they can shut the fuck up and leave.
But then again, you are defending the treatement of 2Xc, and spouting this nonsense, From the little I’ve seen of this blog, I wouldn’t call ganging up on someone with abuse and insults “debate”. I suspect it’s a case of seeing the mote in someone else’s eye.
So perhaps a large drink of self-awareness is in order, but this Actually, it’s more when you mindlessly defend women and bash men at all costs, * makes me fairly certain it would take barrels, just to get you to a reasonable baseline, as opposed to real internal perspicacity.
*[citation needed]