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).
@ Pecunium
“ami: the stopwatch? Ah, it’s not that what ever the attempt at the clever linky put down was is some way supposed to actually inflame me, but rather a reminder about how slow his responses are.
I also note that he’s stopped responding to all the substantive comments; despite his protest that his lack of speed is because he has to keep up with one and all, and there are so many comments.
Perhaps he ought to use his manly-brain to better strategise his responses, i.e. pick his battles; that he might have a better chance of non-phyrric victory.”
Well I would except this is too much fun. And why should I?
Talk about slow, this thread started on the 18th of January, and it’s February already!* Get with the calendar, dude.
Rly? xD
13 days o_O
And I only showed up now xD I think I’ve artificially lengthened this thread
Did we have any NWOs on here? Cuz otherwise this might be a record…
So far I think what he’s trying to say is:
“Equal access to lifeboats means everyone will fight for the lifeboats. This means men will win, because men are stronger than women. This will lead to women drowning which is awesome.
Additionally, men aren’t allowed to have emotions.”
Well I would except this is too much fun. And why should I?
If it’s so much fun then you should be responding xD
Additionally, men aren’t allowed to have emotions.”
Except him xD
No, no, Ami, he’s having fun! We’re all super mad and he’s having super fun!
Because making himself look like an idiot in public is apparently better than Skee-Ball.
NO NO NO he’s making himself look like the smart intelligent man!
Also the greatest athlete that ever lived… or something xD
CHrist this one is rock-stupid.
@ Ami Angelwings
“So now that he’s stopped meaningfully responding to anything…
what do we know about the Efasworld? o:
1) Men > Women (in all ways)
2) Men “suck it up” and they should suck it up because sucking it up is what makes men STRONGZ
3) Elderly and children can go suck a lemon
4) Lifeboats should be given to those that do best at weight lifting, 100m dash and trivial pursuit
5) People who are oppressed are mentally deficient
6) Torture is a purely physical act
7) Men beat each other up all the time and the world is the final scene of The Killer
8) Men cannot work together
9) Women CAN work together because of feminist brainwashing
10) Ami is awesome ”
And you:
1) Men and women are equal but god how can bad men still continue on oppressing us.
2) Women work together except evidence shows that there are still some stupid women that don’t get on board with Feminism.
3) Torture is when you whine and moan to someone else (clearly I must give way here)
4) Since I was messing around it is now taken that men don’t work together and women do.
5) you like strawmen
6) I post comic porn
7) Feminist can make smart arguments.
8) Winnie the pooh is a misogynist.
9) Lifeboat should be given to women because they are “slightly” weaker.
10) You are awesome.
Oh, I guess also feminists are trying to prove that men and women (by which he means cismales and cisfemales) are 100% physically identical, so showing any differences whatsoever will send us crying into the streets and prove that we never deserved the vote after all.
…In light of that, it’s surprising that he latched on to the relatively minor muscle stuff instead of some, you know, obvious things.
@ Holly Pervocracy
“Equal access to lifeboats means everyone will fight for the lifeboats. This means men will win, because men are stronger than women. This will lead to women drowning which is awesome.
Additionally, men aren’t allowed to have emotions.”
Ha ha. Your such a loser you have to put words that I didn’t even write. You are really screwed up.
efasfas: Excepts the overlap isn’t as great as that. And if they are, then it becomes a weak argument to believe that gender based sports are justified (as the odds are 50%).
Oh well sorry to disappoint you.
Ah… but you’ve not disappointed me. I expected you do refuse to face the facts, ergo I was not disappointed.
That you used an elision to incorporate a fallacy was no surprise.
The important aspect of, “at any given point” is that, in those circumstances (i.e. random selection), any given woman is as likely as not to be stronger than any given man.
We have already admitted the total distribution in the two sets has one group (B) falling outside the range of the other group (A). If sports teams were selected by lottery, with any member of the total population being at equal odds of being chosen there is no reason to have segregated sports.
But they aren’t. There is a great scene in Richard Ben Sapir’s “The Far Arena” where one of the protagonists, is recalling his college days. He’d been a good football player, and was hoping to make the pros… he wasn’t good enough. With as much money as is on the line, the selection will be for those who are best at the skills required for the sport.
When one of the skills is strength the 5 points at the upper end of the scale become critical in the selective pressures, which is why women aren’t seen in the ranks of pro-football, but they are more than competitive in things like pool and poker (though the relatively higher number of men in the latter skews the apparent abilities of women. It’s worth noting the lack of repeat, year for year, of the same names in the final table of tournaments. Poker is a game of skill, over the long run; but luck is crucial at points, and random chance… is random).
Pecunium
“It’s almost as if the strong, tough, intellectually superior, dude, was being abused by weaklings and women.”
Oh maybe pussy whipped men like you suck up to them.
And you:
1) Men and women are equal but god how can bad men still continue on oppressing us.
2) Women work together except evidence shows that there are still some stupid women that don’t get on board with Feminism.
3) Torture is when you whine and moan to someone else (clearly I must give way here)
4) Since I was messing around it is now taken that men don’t work together and women do.
5) you like strawmen
6) I post comic porn
7) Feminist can make smart arguments.
8) Winnie the pooh is a misogynist.
9) Lifeboat should be given to women because they are “slightly” weaker.
10) You are awesome.
Actually those are all things you’ve said and claimed o_O
And ty for number 10
Oh maybe pussy whipped men like you suck up to them.
That was harsh O_O
Ha ha. Your such a loser you have to put words that I didn’t even write. You are really screwed up.
No srsly… um… what? xD
Are you SURE you’re still having fun? You’ve suddenly gone into vicious personal insults o_O
Okay, what do you believe?
I believe in an orderly, gender-neutral evacuation that puts disabled people and children first and crew last.
What do you believe in?
Rutee Katreya | January 31, 2012 at 5:28 pm
CHrist this one is rock-stupid.
Now now, let’s be civil.
No using His name in vain.
@ Holly Pervocracy |
“Yeah, I’m in favor of gender segregation in sports where physical size/strength is a big factor.
…So? No one was trying to prove that there are no physical differences at all between the sexes. That would be silly.
But the differences don’t come down to “everyone with testicles is automatically Captain America,” either.”
Wow. Some where trying to prove that they’re only slight differences. I disagreed.
“Oh maybe pussy whipped men like you suck up to them.”
At least he gets pussy!
BURN!
Seriously, what’s going on here?
I believe in an orderly, gender-neutral evacuation that puts disabled people and children first and crew last.
What do you believe in?
He’s not going to definitively answer that xD
It’ll be something about what WE supposedly believe and how he doesn’t believe in that XD
Ha ha. Your such a loser you have to put words that I didn’t even write. You are really screwed up.
Says the man who made up a list of non-statements from others to ascribe to ami.
And now I am off to buy some supper. Have such fun with the piñta as is possible. When the candy runs out, stop hitting it.
Seriously, what’s going on here?
Our troll is on his last legs.. he stopped being amusing 1.5 hours ago and 1 hour ago he desperately wanted out but his pride (his natural genetic XY pride) won’t let him go (reminds me a lot of Casey Mordred xD ) and now he’s down to personal insults xD
The candy ran out a while ago, I’m just kinda staring at it xD I just want to intuit what his worldview is. He’s stopped doing that and he’s just insulting ppl now o_O
I love the personal insults! Remember that guy that was trying to make fun of Dracula’s name and called us all ugly? He was funny. I miss him *sigh*