Today in Did That Really Get 196 Upvotes on Reddit: A Redditor claiming to be the owner of a brothel in Thailand explains how what he euphemistically calls the “problems in the sex industry” are mostly the fault of evil, lazy whores. Literally.
Let’s join the discussion already in progress. (ChaChaKrahp is the alleged brothel owner.)
A little further on in the discussion he makes this charming claim:
According to him, sex trafficking isn’t really a big issue, but when it does occur it “is more likely to victimize men” than women. (The main victims in his mind being trafficked men (by which I assume he means transwomen) … and male sex tourists.)
Those poor, poor Western sex tourists, suffering so at the hands of women and girls who’ve been kidnapped and sold into sex slavery!
But let’s just put this whole “trafficking” thing out of our heads. As ChaChaKrahp explains it, prostitution in Thailand is just a way for lazy ladies to make money. It’s totally on the up and up – “[j]ust like college girls in the US that work as strippers for $300 per night instead of picking strawberries for $50 per day.”
The only real problem is all those evil ladies ripping off dudes.
Did that last bit sound a little … MRAish to you?
Though this discussion isn’t in the Men’s Rights subreddit., ChaChaKrahp shares a lot of opinions and obsessions with the MRA crowd, peppering the discussion with MRA talking points on everything from dangerous jobs and breast cancer funding to false rape accusations and paternity fraud. While he claims not to “give a shit about MRA groups,” he links to prominent Father’s Rights site fathersandfamilies.com, and rails endlessly about the evils of feminism. He walks like a duck and quacks like a duck.
While ChaChaKrahp seems quite sincere in his beliefs, this is the Internet, and so there’s a chance that this “brothel owner” is not actually a brothel owner at all, just some dude making this all up for Reddit karma points and lulz.
Even if that’s the case, we still have all those hundreds of Redditors who read his comments and happily upvoted them, either because they thought what he said was sensible or true, or because the thought of owning a brothel in Thailand gave them boners.
The question remains: does Reddit attract the worst representatives of those in its heavily young, male, geek demographic, or is this how most of these (mostly) guys really think — even if they don’t usually say so out loud?
(Thanks to ShitRedditSays for pointing me to this lovely thread.)
EDITED TO ADD: Brothel Owner under attack (by a few people)! Send in the r/mensrights upvote brigade to upvote him even more than he’s already being upvoted!!!
I wonder how long until the discussion turns to talking about trans women in Thailand >_> It’s always hilarious when they go from the sex industry in thailand with cis women to trans women and proof of male oppression:
Amateur Strategist December 1, 2009 at 08:06
Novaseeker: I have a theory of why there might be more transexuals in Thailand, it came to me in one of those silly chain emails about “guess which of these 2 is a woman, and which is a man”, about 10 rows of them, and each looked kinda convincing. I’ve seen real women look less womanish in any case.
Well, the answer was that it was all of them men (dressing as women, if I didn’t point that out).
I began to think about the “sex tourism” blog posts others had posted, mostly of Thailand. Apparently it’s kinda a lucrative business to be a sex tourist server, for young Women. But where does this leave the young Thailandese Men? Sure there’s always labor to do, but that can’t be the end-all be all, and if the rest of the family is in on this, dependent on the income no matter how its produced, this could only coerce transexuality.
Like that guy from: http://www.the-spearhead.com/2009/12/01/suicidal-tendencies/ that Spearhead post on trans women XD
Of course, by the time you screen-capped it, it was up to 197 upvotes… 🙄
“It is normal for a Thai woman to lie to men to get money. “I love you.” “I don’t really have a husband across town.”
Now let’s switch genders and leave out the “Thai” bit just to include everybody here.
It is normal for a man to lie to women to get sex. “I love you”. “I don’t really have a wife across town.”
Yup. Sounds familiar.
So the khatoey become khateoy because it’s an easy and lucrative life choice?
Um…my parents used to live in Pattaya, and I have to say, that’s ridiculous even by MRA standards. I’m willing to bet that the supposed Thai brothel owner is actually a white dude who has his hand down his pants as he types, too.
Did he seriously compare “getting ripped off to the tune of 2 extra beers” to “being forced to have sex with strangers in exchange for continued slavery”?
I keep thinking the MRAs will stop surprising me with how far into the hole they’ve dug. Then up comes another shovelful….
I think when the “brothel owner” talks about trafficked men he means transwomen. (I reworded the post ot reflect that.) I only noticed a handful of comments relating to trans sex workers.
Also, if in theory male sex tourists were a victimised group they could very easily avoid said victimisation by not being sex tourists. See how easy that is? In fact, it’s quite possible to be a Western man and go to Thailand and not be a sex tourist. There are plenty of things to do there that don’t involve paying to have sex with teenagers and/or children.
I’m a little confused about how acting like a decent human includes selling the sexual services of his slaves.
“Does Reddit attract the worst representatives of those in its heavily young, male, geek demographic, or is this how most of these (mostly) guys really think — even if they don’t usually say so out loud?”
This is what I’m actually really afraid of. On the internet, there’s just so much virulent, hateful misogyny said so casually that you just have to wonder.
“This is what I’m actually really afraid of. On the internet, there’s just so much virulent, hateful misogyny said so casually that you just have to wonder.”
I’m bi, and sometimes reading comments from dudes on the internet makes me consider just sticking with the ladies.
As a young female geek who works with lots of young male geeks, this gives me especial pause.
So, um, I own a brothel in some exotic place I only know about through porn. I mean, I live there. And I’m a business owner. And so what I do is run my business really well by protecting all the women I sit at home masturbating to in my basement. I mean, those women that are really actually my real employees. And they’re awesome, but the rest of the women I see on the street and at the grocery store and online are total whores. I mean, the exotic women from that exotic place are whores. And also evil oppressors who use my mindless uncontrol over my penis against me. I mean, all men’s mindless uncontrol over all men’s penises.
Signed, TotallyWhoISayIAmOnTheRedditInterwebz6969
Whenever someone asks me why I’m a misanthope, I point to the Internet.
I also point to the Internet when asked why I’m a misanTHrope, which is more often than being asked about my misanthopy.
“Does Reddit attract the worst representatives of those in its heavily young, male, geek demographic, or is this how most of these (mostly) guys really think — even if they don’t usually say so out loud?”
Reddit is unmoderated, and unlike Usenet, I don’t think it’s possible to find personal information about posters (on Usenet, when someone make too much trouble, people troll him and post his address and phone number), so I’m sure it’s a safe haven for a lots of trolls and nutcases.
I think the internet gives guys like this the freedom to let their assiness run amok. They’d never say shit like this in public (most of them). I’m not sure if this is a good thing or not.
I don’t believe the pimp wannabe for a second. Like Cassandra said, if these guys are so victimized by sex tourism, don’t be a sex tourist. Problem solved.
Think of the penes!!! Won’t someone please think of the penes?!!!!
Sheesh! Can’t a guy hire a prostitute to spunk all over without being ripped off? What is this world coming to?
I think they’re pretty representative. There’s a lot of resentment toward feminism, demonization of men (within feminism and general society), and the subsequent implication that men have it so good/women don’t, when that clearly is not true. One of the ways this resentment manifests is upvoted bile like the OP, misogynistic YouTube comments, etc.
Of course the OP’s crap, and I don’t think, if most of these 200-odd guys thought about it, they’d upvote it. But the internet is not conducive to deep thinking, so they see a view that sympathizes with men for once (as opposed to the endless parade of Women’s XXX) and they upvote, move on.
You can make fun of me, call me a piece of shit or a twisted vile woman hater as you’re all wont to do, but I’m just giving you what I think is the truth. And unlike the more overt ultra-misogynistic MRA hilarity, this resentment is, IMO, widespread. You can think on it, or just make fun of it.
That’s nice, dear.
“One of the ways this resentment manifests is upvoted bile like the OP, misogynistic YouTube comments, etc. ”
Except that the resentment is completely unjustified. All this paranoia and anxiety MRAs have about men being devalued in society and treated like less than dogs is absurd and baseless.
@MRAL,
Is it possible the resentment, which I’m sure is present in some amount thought I’m not sure it’s as widespread as you say, is due more to men’s loss of privilege and power as women become more equal participants in society and less, well, submissive gallery pieces and live-in maids and babysitters?
I mean, though I can’t really imagine it firsthand, it must feel really darn good to be the kingpin of a family, business, and community by virtue of having a penis. And when that’s taken away (or moderated, since it hasn’t really gone away yet) it’s probably pretty confusing and frustrating.
Also, the term feminism used as an abstract demonic force is a pretty convenient punching bag. Thai brothel-owners saddened by the whorish evil nature of most women? Feminism is to blame! Men are frustrated with loss of privilege? Feminism! (oh wait, that one’s actually true)
Hey MRAL, what if we think on it, find it ridiculous, and then make fun of it?
I’m just not seeing how a topic that involves women and children being sold into sex slavery can be twisted into a male-victimization story by anyone with any sense of empathy or proportion. If in fact the many men I know who do not behave that way are the exception, and the lack of empathy and proportion necessary to act as you describe is “widespread,” then maybe men deserve to be demonized, because they are basically assholes. (This has not been my experience, but hey, maybe I’m sheltered, maybe the men in my life are disproportionately manginas and I don’t know how real men think. I’m open to the possibilities here.)
Also, when it comes to “thinking on it,” I can’t help but notice that you are pre-emptively playing the victim card and not trying to engage with any of the reasoned responses you have received time and time again (e.g. explanations of how feminist priorities actually address many of the concerns you’ve raised regarding how men are treated.) So uh, you might want to consider that. You know. If being called names every loses its appeal for you.
He’s never going to leave, is he? Especially now that he’s found a new tagline (think on it!).
You know a person has become truly unhinged when they think that rich people going to poor countries to take advantage of the poverty of the poor people in those countries is a case of the poor people exploiting the rich people, just because the poor people in question have vaginas. No amount of resentment justifies that kind of stupidity and obliviousness of class/race/international issues.
There’s also the issue of the age of many of the poor people involved, but at this point I’m so used to MRAs displaying Pedobear tendencies that that part barely even registers any more. The sad part is that there’s an actual men’s issue in there – some of the children, and I really do mean children, being exploited in Thailand are boys – but none of the MRA dudes are interested in touching that issue since it’s mostly men doing the exploiting and the boys in question aren’t white.
Grr, “being called names EVER loses its appeal.” I am a daughter and sister of proofreaders! I should be better than that!