I’ve been following the Men’s Rights Movement for some time, and I’ve never been quite sure exactly what the major injustices faced by men are. I haven’t really noticed much to speak of in my own life, but evidently there are some and they are really, really bad.
Luckily, in recent days A Voice for Men has begun to clarify the issue for me. For example, AVfM Radio’s new theme song points out two of the worst injustices of all:
- Men having to hold doors open for ladies.
- Ladies wanting to marry us.
But these are not the only important men’s issues out there. In a recent post titled “A hard rains gonna fall: how hard is up to you” (clearly a reference to the famous song by Carly Simon), AVfM head dude Paul Elam spells out the most important issues of all in a set of bullet points. To save the beleaguered men of the world some important man-time I will summarize them for you here. Bullet-time!
- Thomas Ball’s suicide isn’t mentioned on Wikipedia because feminism.
- The Obama administration urged colleges to use the same standard of proof used in most non-criminal cases in their non-criminal disciplinary proceedings dealing with rape cases. Because feminism.
- Australia. Something about Australia. Ok, here’s the deal: Australia is very, very far away from me, like literally on the other side of the planet, and my eyes sometimes glaze over when reading about it. I’m sure whatever Elam is mad about is really bad. It might involve Koalas. Feminist Koalas. But that’s just speculation on my part.
- In India, where women are routinely harassed in public and groped on train cars, there are a tiny number of women-only train cars set up to cut down on the groping.
- In Sweden, a small group of feminists did a theatrical production based on/dealing with the writings of Valarie Solanas. It was performed in some schools.
- “Men constitute the lion’s share of combat deaths[11], workplace deaths[12], suicide deaths[13], and are afflicted with almost every known human malady and disease more frequently and more severely than women.” Obviously, the feminists are to blame, for their staunch opposition to women serving in the armed forces, and for their secret program of giving men girl germs.
- There are agencies dealing with women’s health issues. Clearly, men need to have just as many of their own agencies to deal with such male health issues as not being pregnant.
I hope my summary of these issues has been fair. As Elam has pointed out on a number of occasions, I am fat, so really nothing I do or say has any value. Plus, of course, I am a mangina. Just, you know, FYI.
In any case, these injustices have Elam plenty mad:
I am truly curious as to what festering, morally atrophied deviation of humanity could look at anything approaching this level of discrimination and suffering without becoming angry.
So mad that his metaphors all get up in each other’s business:
Whether it becomes a wave of social change, or a violent tempest of indignation and fury, the pendulum will continue to swing.
So there you have it. Naturally, Elam’s readers are grateful for his efforts to bring justice to the world by yelling about it online and trying to get people really, really mad at certain specific ladies without explicitly advocating violence against them. That’s pretty much how Martin Luther King did it, only with fewer references to “bitches” and “cunts” and not so many threaty remarks.
As Alfred E puts it:
Well said Mr Elam. May the harpies finally get a clue about their complete lack of compassion for men and boys all the while living in a gold box carted around by the prince.
Justice and compassion for all, except you harpies in your gold boxes! And also the rest of the bitches, cunts and manginas.
NOTE: That bit about Carly Simon above was a joke. Obviously the song in question was written by The Bangles.
…
“What, exactly, havy any of YOU accomplished on this blog?”
Mocked misogyny, which is our only “purpose?”
Most of us do our activism elsewhere. :p
Vacuumslayer, I don’t know what to say except I disagree. Women dying in movies or whatever is usually treated as a big deal. All expendable goons (except in like Tarantino movies) are always male. Pretty young women missing, that’s fucking news, goddamit.
You can say it has some shit to do with “coddling”, and all I hear is rationalization.
Did you just say “I concede your point but it doesn’t actually matter”? This is not the way to debate.
Why are these young men socialized to take risks? So they will seem more masculine.
Which group of people is most likely to attack them? Other young men, who are also caught in the masculinity trap.
On whose behalf do they fight if there is a war? Those who hold power in their country: rich men.
That’s what patriarchy looks like to the men at the bottom of the status heap. Patriarchy is anti-male too, insofar as the men at the bottom are consumed for the sake of the social order. If the word “patriarchy” bugs you call it “kyriarchy” if you want, it’s Greek for “rule of the lords.”
You can’t tell me which message chivalry sends to me. Only I can determine what goes on inside my own perceptions. Your attempt to tell me what messages I am receiving bespeaks your position of relative privilege. In itself, that doesn’t make you a bad person, but you need to think more closely about what you will do with it.
@Shadow
Absolutely true, and I’m totally not complaining about them engaging the trolls. I think I may actually be jealous, because the commenters here are always so damn on-the-ball…and have loads more patience than I have.
Season two?
Dibs not participating in that scientific investigation!
Oh my god, all the time. It’s so frustrating!
Really? Because I think it sends the message that I can’t do anything for myself, and that I have to be nice and passive and wait around for a Big Strong Man (TM) to take care of my poor ladyness.
I’m interested in war movies, military history, and violent video games. I would love to be one of the goons instead of a prize to be won. The goons get to do things.
Wow, VoIP, because feminists, even some in this very thread, have no problem TELLING ME that I am WRONG in the way I perceive chivalry. Lot of privilege up in this thread!
MRAL – Why are you still here, sweetums?
No, we’re telling you that you’re wrong in the way you perceive chivalry’s message TO WOMEN.
I’d say it’s the dead woman who’s treated as more expendable. Think about it.
And that’s all I see when I read your arguments. Funny how that works.
MRAL, this right here? What you just wrote? This is a fine example of thinking before you post and defending your position -even if it’s one with which I disagree- without a bunch of foolishness and fuckery. Good job.
Now, I’ll agree that we’re all in this together and that society cannot be bisected along lines of gender essentialism. It’s, of course, interesting that you can see this when it comes to issues like masculine violence but not when it comes to advances in technology, socialization and communication. But I digress.
My point when I say, “take women out of it” is that introducing concepts like “chivalry” or whether or not women are physically weaker has little, if anything to do with the real issue of men facing violence from other men. You don’t want to walk on the right side of the street? Fine? I don’t like the insinuation that most men are fighting and killing one another over women because you know good in the hell well that it isn’t true.
Women and feminist activists in particular, work to directly address the issue of violence against women as perpetrated by men. As we see increases in violent crime committed by women both against men and other women we’re clearly going to have to figure out ways to address that issue as well.
What do you think should be done about men being so violent against other men? Do you believe that there are ways to address this very serious issue without talking about chivalry, which side of the street you want to walk on, or your personal feelings about women?
The goons get to not matter, and (obviously) increasingly there are women in active roles, yet interestingly, you never see women in roles as expendable extras.
I really didn’t think this was that controversial. Male disposability is real, it is a problem, even some feminists recognize it. You can talk about how it denies women agency without saying that it doesn’t carry negative connotations for men too.
Personally, I’d rather be the “one saved” than a goon. I’d rather matter. But that’s just me.
Only if they’re white.
“forweg: So what have you done in the last week to help homeless or suicidal men?”
Well, I like start out by not censoring their response to slanderous and malicious accusations made against them on my blog.
“Some of us actually do things about male suicide and homelessness. What do you do about? I mean, besides posting online and projecting phrases like “small dick” and “momma’s boy” into the discussion?”
Huh, really? And here I thought the gist of Futrelle’s post was that men don’t face any real problems in life. Strange.
If a guy comes into a bar for 6 days in a row, calling people fucking cunts, and is told he’s a fucking asshole, and then on the seventh day says, “oh sorry guys, didn’t mean the things I said, but you know, I see you are discussing subject X, I have an opinion on it, and I would like to share it” and is told FUCK OFF, JERK. –
-A. His point was ignored by people that fear debate, and it was a terrible ad hominem attack.
-B. If the “guy who comes into our bar and calls us fucking cunts guy” says SORRY, the slate (and possibly the bar tab) should be wiped clean?
-C. The guy kept coming into the bar calling the patrons fucking cunts. What right does he have to decide how they treat him from now on, much less to decide whether or not they need to address any point he makes as if they were blood bound to debate him?
-D. I’m sure you’ll tell me, MRAL, and I can’t wait for the true answer….
Re: The dead, sainted wife plot device used in movies…it’s overused, and definitely indicative that women are more expendable in the big picture. Ya know, I’d love to see a movie where the woman is the tortured survivor who has to go kick ass to, you know, get revenge or whatever.
Actually, I believe “The Brave One” did a riff on this, but I’m guessing that particularly device is pretty rarely used.
I am pretty sure this is one of those both/and situations, people. If we look at the origins of the modern ideal of chivalry, it’s rooted in the nineteenth-century idea of the domestic angel. Women were viewed as pure and innocent and too weak for the outside world, so they had to be protected by men; because of their weakness they were “elevated” above the outside world, which was cruel and evil, and had a finer moral sensitivity.
Of course, none of this applied to WOC, poor women, etc.
why do i get the feeling that’s also where you finish…
Well, then you didn’t get the gist.
Gists are so slippery…
All right, well then Voip, I’m telling you how I perceive it. We seem to have reached a stalemate.
“The goons get to not matter, and (obviously) increasingly there are women in active roles, yet interestingly, you never see women in roles as expendable extras.”
http://www.unheardtaunts.com/wir/index.html
It’s not about movies sure, but it’s still about pop culture
I’ve been looking up Mary Kellett in actual news sources and it appears that what the MRM has accomplished against her is… nothing.
If I know that I was once as depressed as he seems to be right now, I’m going to discuss things with him. Maybe he’ll be less likely to be a fucking jerk in the future. When he starts insulting me again, no more conversation.