Most of the coverage of the Costa Concordia disaster at the moment seems to be focusing on the Italian cruise ship’s captain and his douchey behavior, which involved not only running the ship aground but also abandoning ship prestissimo while passengers remained trapped on board.
MRAs, by contrast, are using the tragedy as an excuse to rail against the notion of “women and children first” and, of course, to make jokes about women drowning.
Now, the Titanic aside, “women and children first” isn’t now, and hasn’t ever really been, the standard way to evacuate those on a sinking ship, though many in the public — including some of those who were on board the Costa Concordia – seem to believe that it is. (See here for more details on how evacuations are typically handled these days; generally only those with mobility problems are given special treatment.)
In the case of this particular evacuation, some on board apparently tried to enforce an informal “women and children” policy, but many men weren’t willing to wait.
What’s got some MRAs in a snit is that some people, in the media and online, are calling these dudes cowards. In The Daily Mail, a right-wing British tabloid, A N Wilson wrote:
[I]n our day, with the advent of feminism and the professional woman, chivalry and manners are considered stuffy and old-fashioned.
As the father of three daughters, I do not, with a single fibre of my being, wish to go back to a time when women could not have the vote or get a university degree. Nor do I, surrounded by extremely strong-charactered and intelligent women in my family and among my friends, feel tempted to regard women as the frail sex.
But the fact remains that there is a longing among most men to protect women and children, and chivalry is simply a manifestation of that longing.
And whatever transpires about the reason for the Costa Concordia disaster, the disappearance of a chivalric code is a sorry reflection on society today.
This is not what you’d call a feminist argument; it’s a traditionalist argument, published in a tabloid rag that’s generally quite hostile to feminism.
Nonetheless, some MRAs are using the Costa Concordia disaster as an opportunity to deliver a big “told you so!” to the … imaginary feminists who live in their head.
Over on The Spearhead, where one familiar commenter actually described Wilson’s Daily Mail article as “feminist,” guest poster Lyn87 wrote:
The MRM is getting more vocal, and a lot of guys are now saying, “You wanted equality. This is what it looks like.” And they are saying it aloud and in public. Even a few women chimed in, saying that men have no obligation to die for women if women want equality. (Somehow I suspect there wasn’t much, “I am woman, hear me roar, watch me drown” on the Costa Concordia itself, but hey, it’s a start.)
MRAs: Always up-to-the-minute with their pop culture references!
This post was helpfully illustrated with a stock photo of a woman drowning.
Commenters got in their digs as well.
Keyster riffed on Lyn87’s incredibly au courant Helen Reddy reference:
I am woman hear me…blurp….rah…gurgle…raha…ffftt…orr…roar…gurgle…help me…somebody…fffft…please…blurp…help…help me please!
Aharon told both ladies and fish what’s what:
I eat fish. Fish don’t eat me. My life is too precious to sacrifice it so some spoiled bitch can have a pussy pass into the life boats.
Anti Idiocy got all hypothetical-cruise-ship tough guy on us:
Anyone who attempts to keep me on a sinking ship because of the genitals with which I was born is attempting to murder me. I have the right to respond accordingly.
And Thomas Tell-truth kicked chivalry – not to mention basic human decency — to the ocean floor:
Equality means that when the ship is going down and you are a woman, you had better get out of my way or you are going to drown with my footprints on your back.
Apparently Thomas Tell-truth is actually George Costanza:
Jeb, meanwhile, offered a more scientific rationalization for being a complete douchenozzle:
As far as I’ve heard, the one and only sport in which women naturally out-do men is endurance swimming. Women are also more bouyant, and as survivalists will explain, women float easiest on their backs (making it easy to breathe while expending minimal energy) whereas men float easiest in “the dead man’s float” (ie. face down, head in the water) and must expend more energy to stay alive. Furthermore, women have more body-fat than men which insulates them better against aquatic dangers such as hypothermia.
Given all these factors it is quite rational for men to pick women up by the seat of their pants and toss them overboard to make way for men and children to safely be rowed ashore on the lifeboats.
It’s all about doing the right thing and saving lives, after all.
MRA humor is very sophisticated indeed.
EDITED TO ADD: The Spearhead has put up a followup post, once again taking aim at imaginary “lifeboat feminists,” though the only person the post cites lamenting the end of “women and children” is Rich Lowry from the National Review (not a feminist publication).
MRAL, the reason you see yourself as the victim here is because you see yourself as the victim in any circumstance ever.
@Ami: I can go back to my cat, if you like.
I MAKE HIM PROVIDE ALL THE FOOD FOR THE HOUSEHOLD, BECAUSE HE IS MALE
I think I’ll let MRAL respond to Pecunium, first… xD
AMi: That’s because AntZ is a delusional liar, and the piñata has run out of candy.
Yes, I think talking about your cat is way better than giving MRAL another “THIS IS ALL ABOUT ME” party xD
Of course I’m emotionally hurt by my interactions here (waiting for people to twist that into me “manipulating” the commentariat). I disagree with the majority, and everyone makes it a point to sit around calling me the worst names they can possibly think of. Then after being called a shitstain, a twisted vile woman hater, and a disposable whiny piece of shit, I get even a LITTLE bit angry and people start psychoanalyzing my so-called “abusive” personality.
MRAL SAID,”So Xtra, you think that men and women should be boarded without regard to gender? Great. If that was the case on the Titanic, about 40% of men and 40% of women would have survived. That means about 450 men and 150 women would have perished. That’s not how it was.”
Actually if it went my way possibly there would still be a higher percentage of women would have boarded because of children and their caretakers first or families first so father/mother/child would have gotten on first and most likely a majority of the children on board had a mother with them.I would not separate families with a child.
But I seriously wonder if MRAL would be all for the equal percentage if there were less men on the ship.
someone already said this but I also think if the actual percentage of men was lower they would then use actual number.
If I had to choose between preferential treatment in everyday life or in an not very likely to happen scenario like a ship sinking or having to go to war, I would choose the everyday and take my chances.
@Rutee there’s also the post where he told people who shared their experiences with harassment, assault and rape that people were lying and/or exaggerating and that most of the stories were “bullshit”
Of course he’s the victim here xD
My cat is lounging on the back of the sofa, soaking up the last available bits of sunlight before she wakes to demand her dinner. Spoiled alpha bitch princess grumble grumble….
MRAL, why are you still here?
You disagree with the majority, and you don’t enjoy it. (Or at least don’t admit enjoying it.)
What do you think is going to happen? Do you think you’re going to turn Manboobz into an MRA-majority site? Do you think we’re going to start liking you?
There is no good way this can end. So end it now. This is an unpleasant place for you, so leave it! Goodbye!
I’m unsure what the MRAs want w/ the Titanic thing… access to the Feminist time travel machine? xD
I MAKE MY CAT USE A LITTER BOX TO OPPRESS HIS MANLY URGE TO SPRAY ALL OVER EVERYTHING
Geese
Yo mama so slow her De Broglie wavelength is observable on macroscopic scales!
OK MRAL, I’ll apologize a little since everyone else has pointed out why you probably need to stop posting here.
AnTz , NWO and Meller (Geeze is trying hard to be included) are way grosser than you, their abuser red flags have cum crust and pubes all over them, at least yours is relatively clean.
I tried making it about fun, but nobody else here plays my MMOs 🙁
The options are Antsy and MRAL, really. The other troll is boring. Then again, I frankly consider Puppet Man, Milkboy, and Antsy to more or less be the same parallel universe idiot too, with slight variations on claims. The only reason MRAL is marginally more interesting is that he’s not so far entrenched yet that messages still get back to him. Soon he’ll be Diaperboy or something (You know, because they’re usually disposable…. Hey, I’m funny dammit :t) and be equally boring, with the added displeasure that he hurt most of you a bit more because you actually held out hope for him.
@Amused
“As for the Soviet Union: You are actually citing World War -fucking- Two as an example of women being pampered? Fuck you. Fuck you very much.”
Right back at you, bigot. YOU brought up WWII. I just held up your dirty, vile lies for all to see. Here you are, crowing your feminist victory song on the bodies of 20 million dead Soviet MEN:
“But of course, when the shit really hits the fan, none of this matters, and women will be drafted regardless of what the law says. My family was from the Soviet Union. Of my four grandparents, three were drafted in World War II. The only one who wasn’t drafted was a grandfather. And the reason he escaped the draft was because he was a cop. And incidentally, it was virtually impossible for a woman to become a cop in those days. So that’s just one example of how men are favored.”
Maybe MRAL thinks we’re the closest things he has to friends o_O
Oh, you want me to google to the fabrication, where your friends stole a dead soldier’s identity for your own filthy purposes? Right, let me run and do that. Fucking Mralliwood.
Bostonian:
Sorry, all my harem slots are presently full. Send me your contact details and I’ll alert you to any future vacancies which you’re more than welcome to apply for.
Right back at you, bigot.
Why do you keep calling ppl bigots? o_O
Sorry, all my harem slots are presently full. Send me your contact details and I’ll alert you to any future vacancies which you’re more than welcome to apply for.
If it was a good harem it should never be full though o:
I CLIP MY CAT’S NAILS NOT TO KEEP HIM FROM SCRATCHING THE FURNITURE, BUT TO MAKE HIM FEEL EVEN MORE EMASCULATED
What does the application form look like? 😀
And that is absolute true. Both of my grandmothers, but only one grandfather was drafted.
Lauralot, we need to make one of those internet meme pictures xD FEMINAZI CAT OWNER