Over on Reddit’s Men’s Rights subreddit, cheester warns all of us dudes about an especially insidious form of anti-male oppression: the racks of women’s magazines that lurk near the checkout counters of grocery stores everywhere!
can I get some feedback on womens magazines at the grocery checkout? Every issue states “new tricks he doesn’t know in bed” and shite like that. It’s obvious porn for the gals but why is it so accepted by everyone that it has carte blanche to be within a two foot reach as I pay for my food? If a magazine for men had on the cover: “20 Ways To Make Her Squirm Like A Fish”….there would be a national outrage.
Yeah, it’s not like Men’s magazines ever run anything like that.
Church groups and womens rights would say it demoralizes women and have the publication banned or put behind censored racks in seedy smoke shops.
Yeah. It’s not like this ever happens to women’s magazines.
But the womens mags are right there as a last shop item in the flourescent lit, sterilized, family atmosphere where every mother parades her toddlers and kids right past the 3 letter word in big black block letters;SEX on the cover of every flashy colored womens mag that comes out each month.
Not only is this oppression of men, it’s oppression of all toddlers who can read and know what the word “sex” means.
Also, feminists have never criticized women’s magazines in any way. “Ten Ways to Make Him Squirm” articles are the distilled essence of feminism! And most of them are written by the ghost of Andrea Dworkin.
NOTE: Does this even need a “sarcasm” tag?
As I said, if you don’t actually have anything in your past to feel ashamed of, it doesn’t sting at all.
Why does it sting you so much, Meller?
I unilaterally hold the writers and producers of the craptastic Eureka holiday episode, no matter how much the executives of the SF network pushed their buttons by cancelling an otherwise excellent and highly rated show.
I’ve never falsely accused anyone either, Meller.
You’re still despicable.
Ugh, I hold the writers and producers responsible for the craptastic, etc, etc. I haz a tired.
My criminal past!
I once got stopped and cautioned, but not actually arrested, for giving my boyfriend a hand job on a bus in London. I suspect this was because we were giggling and making a ruckus, and when he put his hand up my skirt too that was apparently a bridge too far for the older people who were also on the bus with us. So we were both thoroughly scolded, and then let go (by cops who seemed to find the whole thing hilarious).
I put my cards on the table. Now how about yours?
Everyone observe that DKM has still not denied being an abuser.
My criminal past: Driving without insurance and driving on expired plates. Got pulled over a few weeks ago for driving at night with the parking lights on instead of the headlights. Hmmm… Parking tickets, but that’s it. I was a witness to a couple of crimes, but never ended up having to testify.
Katz – Observed!
And it’s sort of fascinating, because gosh, we don’t know him. He could just lie. We couldn’t check these things. Or he could rapidly brush it off as “that’s a ridiculous and rude question, let’s get serious now.”
Instead, he’s super defensive. His first thought goes to victim-blaming and his second to false accusations. He plays the “I bet you’re not so clean yourself! I bet you’ve eaten a kitten in your day!” card so beloved of kitten-eaters. He’s insistent that every case of abuse has mitigating circumstances of some sort.
So… I just hope he lives alone now, is really all I can hope for.
Actually it occurred to me recently that, given all his blather about families sending their wayward daughters to the official state brothels and being delighted to be able to do so, I really hope he doesn’t have kids, or grandkids.
I guess DKM would be a firm believer in the doctrine of contributory negligence – even though the abuse is entirely an act of volition: the victim entirely provoked by wearing the wrong clothes, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, saying the wrong thing, being drunk, etc. etc. etc.
It isn’t entirely out of place here to mention that it is inaccurate and ignorant refer to the facilities which are employing the hostesses as “brothels”. They would indeed have facilities associated with what used to be called “houses of prostitution”, but they would have a great deal more, both for their clients, and for the ladies who serve them. There is no reason why they could not offer nightclub, music, or cinemas for their clientele, either alone, with other male clients, or with a hostess(es). There is no reason why they could not be centers of relaxation; massage, yoga and meditation, or simple relaxed conversation.
Often conversation with an attractive, perceptive and personable lady can offer a man satisfactions that can’t–and won’t–be available from other men, no matter how intelligent, or from his wife (too intimate or personal).
The more upscale ones would probably offer facilities like saunas or hot tubs, again with a lady’s company, if desired, with sex (if any) to be negotiated later. They may also have cinema or stage plays, either erotic or regular, avaliable nearby.
These Houses of entertainment may even, one would think, also offer tavern services with various mood-altering, mind enhancing, or (if desired) aphrodisacal food, drink, or “drugs”, some of which are, unfortunately illegal, or perhaps unknown, today. They too could be enjoyed in the company of a hostess, if desired.
I hope that I have shown that women who work there are in no way being “exiled” or :”punished”! They are being given extraordinary opportunities to work in Centers of pleasure, entertainment, and delight, where sex, as in “brothels”, is only one of many services offered, and never–except in the lowest and crudest ones–would be the most important!
Needless to say, the extensive and continuing training offered the ladies would be vastly greater than what is given to prostitutes or courtesans, even in the most upper-class Houses! Their upward mobility, either through connections formed with wealthy men, or through applications of their acquired skills as hostesses and lady entertainers, and applied to the outside world, would be enormous!
Calling one of my Mens Entertainment centers, “brothels” is woefully understating what i have in mind, for them, and for the women who serve in them. It would be like comparing Wal-mart with a mom-and-pop corner grocery. Nothing is wrong with the mom-and-pop corner grocery, of course, but a description or model of such a little shop is NOT a description of Wal-Mart! Calling what I have in mind for ex-floozies, ‘brothels” is similarly, utterly inadaquate for the immense opportunities it would open up for women who otherwise would probably die in the gutter!
Yo DKM that’s a real nice sexual fantasy and I’m real glad for you but I want to be a flight nurse serving rural communities.
I’m not sure that “it’s not just sex! You can give backrubs too!” really covers my career aspirations here.
What you have in mind for those places, or what you call them, is entirely beside the point. The issue is that you’re treating women as objects to be placed wherever you see fit. Which is completely unacceptable.
omg dkm i had totally forgotten what a huge fucking creep you are
DKM: I did it precisely to show how nasty it is to accuse somebody of a criminal past in a public forum and to show her how it should feel!
You should feel shitty. You’ve been shitting on people here for the past several days: telling them that the abused bears responsibility for being abused: That, my dear boy, is a whole lot fucking worse than a false accusation of rape in a place where the only repercussion is… you have some hurt feelings.
So cry me a river about how bad it is that you were insulted when you have gotten much better treatment than you deserve. You’ve been insulting people here for months. Direct, and personal, and intentionally nasty.
Also, are Holly and Molly Ren “floozies”, Meller? Because they seem to meet your (hilarious) definition, and yet neither of them seem to be in any danger of dying in a gutter to me.
immense opportunities it would open up for women who otherwise would probably die in the gutter!”
– Again, if this is libertarian land, why the gutter? What about all the other opportunities. You said that the non-libertarians were the ones making you do this, but again, how is it that the only option in a supposedly libertarian society is poverty or entertainment house? That’s not much in the way of opportunity, and “In laissez-faire land, it’s poverty, marriage, or entertainment house!” hardly seems like you want libertarianism to be seen in a positive light.
Meller – “immense opportunities it would open up for women who otherwise would probably die in the gutter!”
– Again, if this is libertarian land, why the gutter? What about all the other opportunities? You said that the non-libertarians were the ones making you do this, but again, how is it that the only option in a supposedly libertarian society is poverty or entertainment house? That’s not much in the way of opportunity, and “In laissez-faire land, it’s poverty, marriage, or entertainment house!” hardly seems like you want libertarianism to be seen in a positive light. Nobody will be prevented from offering all sorts of employment to women, or for that matter, life in a commune or co-operative, and not to mention all the opportunity for entrepeneurship…
So, are we going to admit that somehow women will be constrained or forced here? Cause this is the only way it’s gonna be marriage, the gutter, or the “house” – And you do know that, or you wouldn’t keep dodging the point.
Meller proves he has no idea what a whorehouse was like in the heyday of brothels.
It isn’t entirely out of place here to mention that it is inaccurate and ignorant refer to the facilities which are employing the hostesses as “brothels”. They would indeed have facilities associated with what used to be called “houses of prostitution”, but they would have a great deal more, both for their clients, and for the ladies who serve them. There is no reason why they could not offer nightclub, music, or cinemas for their clientele, either alone, with other male clients, or with a hostess(es). There is no reason why they could not be centers of relaxation; massage, yoga and meditation, or simple relaxed conversation.
The Birdcage Saloon in Tombstone was a world famous place, it was cultured, and shows, from around the world, went out of their way to play there.
And you could rent a woman by the bottle, the hour, or the evening.
We can add historically ill-informed to clueless about economics, racist, sexist, misogynist, and abuse apologist, abusive (here; in his treatment of people known to be abuse victims) and generally a shitheel.
I am reasonably certain, from seeing his screeds about the web, those are his better points (because none can be called good).
What if I don’t like any of the options you’re offering, Meller? Why can’t I choose a different option? Why in your libertarian paradise do women not get to choose for themselves? You can have either freedom or authoritarianism, but not freedom for some and authoritarianism for others.
No, I’m NOT an abuser!
Whatever crimes I have committed are probably in the misdemeanor category–at most–, from “turnstile hopping” in metros, to petty shoplifting in candy stores (twice), and a neighborhood supermarket (twice).
Only to show that I could do it. Once I did, I stopped. NO violence, no abusiveness, no rape! Sorry to disappoint youall!
Oh, I would often play “hooky” from the schools I was forced to attend, but I don’t suppose that counts, since they were unbearable anyhow! Made my parents hate me, but nobody ever said I was an angel!
Even in my teen years, I was, drug free. I was, and remain paranoid about pharmatoxins of all sorts, whether legal or illegal, and my only experiment in that direction was stealing (and smoking) a cigarette when nobody was looking. I got sick from doing it, as usual, and never did it again! Again, no abuse or violence!
I hope that I didn’t put everyone to sleep telling everyone about my “life of crime”.
DKM still has not said he isn’t an abuser.
Oops, ninja’d.
He also refuses to admit that there are sex workers out there fighting for better conditions, and very many of them do not prefer the brothel model. However, while I appreciate what you are trying to say, and I agree about the horrific conditions of many a brothel of then and now…
Many a sex worker still accepts pay for the bottle, the hour, or the evening, and this is not “Renting a woman” – Not all the women of the Birdcage were coerced, and besides many sex workers consider it very important not to speak of sex work as “selling yourself” or “buying a woman” – They sell a service, and they feel that their voices are not being heard, and they are being further objectified by their defenders. Respect that sex workers work, is my position as an ally.
You don’t believe there should be a government, DKM. Why are you offended when we accuse you of committing crimes? That’s like me being offended when someone calls me a sinner.
Count me as another one whose interests are beyond “sex AND BACKRUBS”, although if like a classical hetaira I might end up providing sex, backrubs and philosophical conversation that might be a bit more tempting as a career option. Mostly because I want to be paid to argue with people about ethics.