Tom Martin, a former gender studies student at the London School of Economics, recently became a minor celebrity amongst Men’s Rights activists and other angry men when he sued his alma mater for alleged sexism against men.
He’s now had his case thrown out of court. Let’s go to the Camden New Journal for details:
Tom Martin, 39, who lives in Covent Garden, claimed he suffered “anti-male discrimination” while studying for a master’s degree in gender, media and culture at the world-famous university in Holborn.
Representing himself at his application for a trial at the Central London County Court on Tuesday, Mr Martin complained of a lack of men-only sessions in the university’s gym and the preponderance of posters in the corridors advertising services for women without the presence of similar materials geared towards men.
Mr Martin, who describes himself as a feminist, said “hard” chairs in the library were uncomfortable for men and that a “male blaming culture” was evident in course materials, which “ignored men’s issues” and focused on wrongs done by them.
Damn those misandrist chairs and their man-hating hardness!
The judge didn’t buy it, saying Martin’s case had essentially no chance of success. He threw out the case and ordered Martin to pay LSE’s legal costs.
Martin, welcome to reality.
On Twitter, Martin responded to the news by calling his critics “whores.” One of many examples:
But I was really discriminated against, you whores!
And, yes, his Twitter handle is indeed Sexismbusters.org.
EDITED TO ADD: Actual headline today on What Men are Saying About Women:
EDITED AGAIN TO ADD: Tom Martin has replied to this post in the comments. Some highlights:
My legal complaint did NOT involve a complaint about the seating. You have been misled by the press – The Times and the West End Extra/Camden New Journal both mysteriously got it wrong.
One year prior to joining the university, when visiting its library, I did complain, that the seating being hard created a greater disadvantage for men than for women, as men have considerably smaller weight-bearing buttock pads than women, and men are heavier too – so for men, on average heavier than women, have more weight bearing down onto a pad which is approximately four times smaller than women’s on average – according to a BBC documentary on the subject.
He then details his attempts to fight this grave injustice. Also, there’s this:
[S]everal comments here are confusing ‘whore’ with ‘slut’. A slut has sex freely, which I am all for. Freedom of association is the ultimate in humanity. A whore charges for sex. Even if a woman is a virgin, but is waiting for Mr Right to buy her something, she’s a whore.
It’s counter-intuitive, but a lot of professional feminists are whores. They expect the government and men to do them special favours. They make up stories to convince men and government to believe that we all owe women something.
But really, if someone were keeping a tab, then…
Women owe men five years pension.
Women owe men some National Service.
Women owe men some inventions.
Women owe men positive discrimination in university curricula.
Women owe men some child access.
It’s women’s round at the bar too.
For the whole thing, see here.
For more charming quotes from Tom, see this post on the blog Butterflies and Wheels.
What a world of difference there would be between
“Let’s make the library even better for everyone!”
and
“Men have been systematically abused by the lack of softer chairs, let’s change that!”
RE the debate:
Great line from Estelle. “You don’t ‘volunteer’ to be a slave.” In response to Tom’s “statistic” that in Great Britain most of the women found to be part of a sex slave ring had “volunteered.”
Also, LOL at Tom making faces at the camera towards the end of Estelle’s opening (at about 20:00). I just… *shakes head and sighs*
Kirbywarp, just to confirm, when I complained to LSE’s library, in 2007, there were only hard seats in the library, and now they are all soft, plus new beanbags. The chairs cost £200 to £300 each or more, so it is a big deal for LSE’s library, which probably has about 500 seats. The place had a really impersonal atmosphere about it, but now it is extremely welcoming. I go there myself.
O__________________________________________________________O
Holy crap at some of the old guys in the audience… Jesus. From “I don’t know of one feminist text book that doesn’t slag men off, and that is just as offensive as slagging off gays or the foreigns” to “99% of prostitutes choose to be prostitutes, either because they’re drug addicts or whatever.”
What the hell, old white dudes, what the hell?
So glad that they’re at least being laughed down by a good portion of the audience.
Oh, what’s the matter, Warp? You surprised that people see misandrist-feminist rhetoric for what it is? You shocked that men take offense to being belittled, mocked, and attacked? You a little perturbed that your own bubble of festering bullshit extends no more than three feet from your own person?
Get used to it, buster.
After a poor woman in the audience was interrupted several times trying to make the point that Tom was trivializing rape statistics (and I could tell she was having a difficult time making it past the interruptions), Tom says the following:
“I was talking about ‘false rape’ as an epidemic, that has nothing to do with actual rape.”
Actually, Tom, it has everything to do with “actual rape.” The idea of ‘false rape’ is used to delegitimize claims of rape by claiming that in every case that doesn’t end in a conviction, the victim must have been lying. This prevents victims from stepping forward, and therefore perpetuates the idea that rape isn’t a big deal, the very definition of “trivializing.”
@Steele:
Well, my “bubble of bullshit” apparently extends all the way to England… So there’s that. 🙂
I dunno, I’m just always a little put off when I see these types of conversations happening out in the real world. It’s not surprising at all that the old white dudes were taking Tom’s side, while the rest of the audience (younger, a large proportion of women, students) took Estelle’s. It’s nice to know that the next generation is coming in a bit wiser than the previous one.
Dang its tough to say anything towards people you look to as mentors, though, be it debate participants or (possibly) professors. I know it’d be difficult for me to do anything except laugh nervously.
Actually, Tom, it has everything to do with “actual rape.” The idea of ‘false rape’ is used to delegitimize claims of rape by claiming that in every case that doesn’t end in a conviction, the victim must have been lying.
Rightfully mocked as the misandrist. Acknowledging false rape accusations in no way implies as you state; it is merely calling attention to a perceived social problem – but of your, in your vile estimation, since it affects primarily men, it isn’t worth your consideration. Disgusting.
@Steele:
A “perceived social problem” that lies in direct contrast to rape cases. Some proportion of rape charges are false, and some proportion are true. If the statistics say that false rape charges almost never happen, and you claim they happen often, it necessarily implies that you also think actual rape doesn’t happen as much.
That’s just logic.
It’s nice to know that the next generation is coming in a bit wiser than the previous one.
Estelle was in no way entirely incorrect; I do not consider Tom to be a mainstream MRA and Estelle was in the right on certain occasions; however, your specific objections to Tom’s rhetoric belie your disgusting misandrist-feminist indoctrination. You’re tut-tutting because the men in the audience take offense to being demeaned? Good luck with spreading that pure-breed manure.
If the statistics say that false rape charges almost never happen, and you claim they happen often, it necessarily implies that you also think actual rape doesn’t happen as much.
Well, now that’s not what you originally said, now is it, Warp?
@Steele:
If you think that rape doesn’t happen very often, then you by necessity think that the victim is lying in a great majority of rape cases. Also, by necessity, you believe that feminists make too big a deal out of rape (since it doesn’t happen very often), and therefore you think it is a more trivial matter.
I’m having some trouble finding the inconsistency. Care to point it out?
In point of fact, Warp, believing that false rape claims are underreported does not imply that I believe that rape “doesn’t happen very often”. It just means that I think false rape claims are underreported and should be taken more seriously.
Holy crap, a real life tone troll (34 minutes in)! Gah, smarmy meter’s off the charts!
People really aren’t that different offline rather than online, are they?
@Steele:
Do you not see that focusing on “false rape” rather than “rape” draws focus away from what is actually a problem, and contributes to making things even harder for rape victims? If there were in fact evidence for “false rape accusations” being very common, you’d be perfectly valid in your desires to draw attention to it. But there isn’t.
Truly, Warp, I am chortling; I believe you are stricken by the lack of feminist lickspittles and misandrist dogma in the room; you’ve so marinated in self-hatred and misandrist demeaning of men that you cannot understand why others are not so filled with your vile manure.
But Kirbywarp, you’ve got it the wrong way round. I was talking about false rape (not rape), and she was using a separate discussion about the seriousness of rape to try and shut me down.
Look at the laws on rape and false rape allegations, and you’ll see they have nothing to do with each other. False rape claimants are prosecuted (sometimes) for ‘perverting the course of justice’. Nothing to do with rape laws.
The revealing thing about the exchange in the debate though, is how none of the women in the audience appeared to be familiar with the argument, indicating they to that point were unfamiliar with men’s rights perspectives – and no one managed to present a convincing argument to refute my perspective over the following minutes, despite opening their mouths and just blurting out that I was being unhelpful or something etc, without explaining why, and without acknowledging the unhelpfulness of false allegations, to among other things, the likelihood of genuine rape victims actually being believed.
False allegations of rape… are not rape.
The BBC head guy just lost his job and the BBC is about to go through the ringer again because despite a man alleging a man raped him, then retracting it due to mistaken identity, the BBC persisted in reporting the original claim as if genuine.
Subsequently, the BBC have failed to report their intransigence in updating their headlines, despite a guest on one of its own panel shows pointing out this precise problem.
The BBC has a track record of failing to report false or mistaken allegations against men. Knitting circles of female BBC execs and their male toadies get all upset about lying women letting the side down, so just… ignore it like a manboobzer.
All kirbys should be marinated for at least an hour before grilling.
(Are we playing “Steele makes every English teacher in the world sob in despair” again?)
@Steele:
Erm… are we watching the same video? Because while Tom’s crowd seems to be more vocal about their opinion, the consensus of the rest of the room is on Estelle’s side. I’m perfectly satisfied that most of the audience shares my beliefs.
Maybe you think otherwise because there isn’t any man-hating in the room… and therefore you think its impossible that I see any allies? That’s more on you than on me.
Steelebutt, I thought you were done with this place. You just can’t quit us.
@CassandraSays:
I do so wish that Kirbys didn’t make such a tasty grill item… But, them’s the breaks. *continues terriyaki shower*
(… how much do y’all wanna be that Steele isn’t truly chortling right now? :P)
Maybe you think otherwise because there isn’t any man-hating in the room… and therefore you think its impossible that I see any allies?
Indeed; as I’ve said, I don’t consider Martin a “mainstream” member of the Movement; his ideas are somewhat “out there” as it were, and I would certainly understand a plurality of the audience siding with Estelle.
It is not “on me”; it is you who lamented as such – that is, for lack of a better word, your “butthurt’ that men took offense at being attacked and misandristically demeaned. I rejoice in the fact that this will never change, you asshole.
The best analysis of the debate is here:
The funniest one is here:
That’s it – Steele is a Poe. It’s just not possible for anyone to write that badly unless they’re doing it on purpose.