What’s the difference between a lad mag and a rapist? Aside from one being a magazine and the other a person, albeit an reprehensible one, apparently not very much.
In a study soon to be published in the British Journal of Psychology, researchers at Middlesex University and the University of Surrey showed people quotes about women from British lad mags (FHM, Loaded, Nuts and Zoo) and from convicted rapists. Most survey respondents – men and women both – could not tell the difference between the quotes from the magazines and the quotes from the rapists. And most of the male respondents identified more with the quotes from the rapists than from the lad mags.
Here are some of the quotes the survey respondents were asked to react to. (You can find more at Jezebel.) Can you tell which of these are from rapists or lad mags?
Mascara running down the cheeks means they’ve just been crying, and it was probably your fault . . . but you can cheer up the miserable beauty with a bit of the old in and out.
You’ll find most girls will be reluctant about going to bed with somebody or crawling in the back seat of a car . . . But you can usually seduce them, and they’ll do it willingly.
Some girls walk around in short-shorts . . . showing their body off . . . It just starts a man thinking that if he gets something like that, what can he do with it?
I think girls are like plasticine, if you warm them up you can do anything you want with them.
In case you’re wondering, the correct answers are: Lad mag, Rapist, Rapist, Lad Mag.
Creepy, eh?
Lead researcher Miranda Horvath of Middlesex University explains why she feels this is so troubling:
Rapists try to justify their actions, suggesting that women lead men on, or want sex even when they say no, and there is clearly something wrong when people feel the sort of language used in a lads’ mag could have come from a convicted rapist.
I would say so.
And so, you might wonder, how did the regulars on the Men’s Rights subreddit react this this research? Take a look.
The comment with the most upvotes offered some nice juicy denial:
The comment with the second-highest number of upvotes completely missed the point:
And then there was this hot mess:
In case anyone is wondering, that quote from French is actually a quote from a character in one of her novels. And it’s pretty easy to distinguish it from things posted on Jezebel, because none of the writers on Jezebel ever say anything even remotely like that.
The Men’s Rights subreddit, responding to evidence of rape culture by going “la la la I can’t hear you” since March 2008.
I totally have the worst black thumb EVER. My parents grew trees for a living for most of my life, my dad made the most amazingly beautiful bonsai, but the only thing I can coax to grow it mint. And that’s threatening to take over the back yard. I’m trying to figure out if we get enough sunlight to do the corn/beans/squash combo in the front, I understand that’s not exactly foolproof, but it can’t hurt to try.
Does anyone know how to make a good mint chutney? I don’t like the sweet kind that you get in jars, but I love the thin, sour kind.
These “Lad Mags” do a great deal to insinuate coercion and PUA-style manipulation as being part of normal, day to day behaviour of men, especially appealing to the more clueless of the species, who actually believe those things and seek to use the info as a life guide. At least most women know Cosmo is a bit of a joke. Maxim readers? Not so sure.
Also, the key that the MRA’s are missing in the meaning of the supposed and so-called “rape fantasies” is that it isn’t actually about rape. Male therapists traditionally labelled these fantasies as such, very inaccurately. It is the desire to be desired powerfully, but by someone you already have approved and in turn desire and trust to not harm you. I suspect many men harbor similar daydreams of desirable and likeable (to their specs) women becoming “unstoppably” aroused.
I highly doubt the narcissistic “unstoppable desire” fantasy of man or women or others, is in any way a social carte blanche to begin raping at will. The fact that one of these douchebags sites this fantasy as some sort of “proof”, of the rapability of others/ the rapiness of some, is just sick, disturbing and saddening.
“Whuut? Wimmins want to be raypedd. They fantasyzze abouts itt! lemme fix datt”
Fleshlights are not women. Fantasies are not unfulfilled life plans.
Speaking as someone who’s been to Fanfiction.net a lot lately, I’m going to guess “a couple of anime dudes doing it”.
Steph: Yeah, most MRAs don’t quite get the whole slash thing. They seem to find it to gross to contemplate.
Also funny – we have here a whole thread of women expressing their desire for men who’re mostly adorably nerdy, and not at all Pittlike, and yet apparently that doesn’t even make a dent in the usual assumptions.
I mean don’t get me wrong, Tennent is adorable, but I can’t see anyone hiring him to be an underwear model.
I’d guess it’s anime versions of the 10th and 11th doctors doing it in a basket of kittens. Or something like that.
Or maybe the anime dudes just have kitty ears.
(Yes, a friend made me watch Gravitation.)
Thomas:
Nope, I’m going to have to go with it’s meaningless word salad. Probably because you’re drunk.
@KathleenB
I envy you for your mint. Three years ago I bought four mint plants including a so-called Hemingway mint which was apparently imported from Cuba and is the best mint for Mojitos. Every single plant died expect of the boring, standard mint.
@Voip
A lot of green tomatoes, a bit of celery and onions, vinegar, sugar, pepper corns and fennel seeds. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you have to get rid of green tomatoes.
If this is true, I have to say to Thomas: Up your game, clownshoe! Oh, maybe I’m an advanced drunken blog commenter, but it seems like one should be able to expect more from drunken young internet rapscallions these days.
All these projections and stupid assumptions by VoiP. Believe it or not, for example I’m single and don’t want a relationship but I’m not desperate or angry and I emphatically do not hate women.
Thomas
Hmm, that actually sounds like something I would not enjoy. Thank you anyway. Can you make salsa with green tomatoes like you can with tomatillos?
Lian Li
I’m sorry, was I talking to you?
@Cassandra, those are dog ears, it’s a running theme, Loveless is the one with the cat ears (though it is creepy and borderline pedo-y, so I am not a fan)
I actually found Gravitation a bit creepy. I know that technically the one with the ears is supposed to be of age, more or less, but he just looks so young that it trips the “ew, pedo-y” alarms in my brain. Partially that’s just because I have a very low tolerence for that level of cutesy.
Cassandra, I wasn’t going to add this to the conversation, because I didn’t think it worth remarking up until you pointed out the conversation’s contradiction to a manosphere maxim.
I found that girl, asking to run her fingers through David Tennent’s hair, to be quite creepy. In the context shown in the video, I don’t believe asking to touch someone would be appropriate.
He agreed, but I’ve agreed to hugging strangers when under social pressure. I am projecting my personality unto him in that situation (he seems to be better accepting physical contact from strangers), it just feels like it would of been very uncomfortable.
Therefore, I found her creepy.
…
David Tennent can still reduce me to dolphin noises though. Squeeee!
Yeah, I found her behavior a bit weird too to be honest. It’s charming how graciously he deals with it, but part of what I like about his response is that he gently, gracefully makes it clear how creepy she’s being.
@Voip
I’ve never cooked with tomatillos. It’s not something you can buy here, maybe for a ridiculous price in a deli. So I don’t really know, I guess it’s worth a try.
That’s too bad, they’re delicious: they’re firm and have a light, pure sourness, like a mild tomato taste with a hint of lemon.
Regarding womens “rape fantasies” and their alleged pervasiveness, lemme just say this:
I have no doubt that many women fantasize about being physically overpowered, but pretty much no women fantasize about being violated. And yes, those are 2 different things.
BTW, Maxim(mag) is the rectum of guy magazines. It really makes men look incredibly stupid, and though I try not to take it srsly I don’t have a high tolerance for such literary retardation.
Shuichi is 18 and Yuki is in his early twenties at beginning of the of the manga. Shuichi is shown drinking in public in the anime, making him at least 20. He’s of age and the age gap between him and Yuki isn’t too big (Yuki’s teenager brother is at times mistaken for him in both the manga and anime, Yuki is younger and more immature than some of the anime viewers peg him to be), so his hyperness at times is a character issue and not a pedo issue. Loveless has what, a twelve year old and a college student? Though they don’t actually do anything explicit in Loveless to my knowledge, that’s way over the line into creeper territory.
I usually lurk here, but would just like to point out that quite apart from the usual MRA rhetoric, substitution in Latin requires a heck of a lot more than a vague memory from Gladiator, like, you know, DECLINING YOUR NOUNS.
@Arks: The study is due to be published in the British Journal of Psychology (a peer-reviewed academic journal). And the University won’t be publishing it, silly thing; the two researchers (one woman, one man) will be. Both have published a good half dozen or more studies already (in peer reviewed journals).
It. Will. Be. Published.
So what is this study supposed to lead to? I can try to guess.
a)British people can’t see the difference between a rapist quote and a lad mag quote (I guessed them all correctly, cool 🙂 )
b)All men are potential rapists.
c)Rapists are motivated by sex, just like the lad mag readers.
“The Men’s Rights subreddit, responding to evidence of rape culture by going “la la la I can’t hear you” since March 2008.”
Good thing I wasn’t drinking while reading that.
It doesn’t matter if women are fantasizing about rape or about being overpowered. Even when people (consensually) act on rape fantasies and the like, it’s still nothing like rape. Because in real rape you can’t: choose your rapist, choose the modality, decide to stop if it is scary, uncomfortable, if it hurts in a way you don’t like, or even if you’re bored and would prefer to do crosswords instead.
Girl ruffling Tennant’s hair: yeah, a bit weird and creepy.