Check out this post from PZ Myers, tearing apart a sleazy JohntheOther video about Rebecca Watson. In the video, JtO, the number two man at A Voice for Men, declared Watson a sociopath for allegedly mistreating a “handler” assigned to her at a Skepticon convention.
Trouble is, Watson’s “mistreatment” never actually happened, and her public recounting of her (wholly imaginary) selfish behavior was part of a good-natured prank, with the humor directed not at her handler but at herself and the conference organizer. The handler was of course in on the joke. It would seem that JtO either misunderstood the joke, or simply decided to misrepresent what happened in order to make Watson look like a sociopath.
Are there any truly honest MRAs out there? At this point I cannot think of a single one.
JtO, evidently stung by the criticism, has made the video in question private. And he’s made another video responding to the criticism from Myers, Watson, and the handler from the convention itself.
In the video, he offers his own explanation for why he missed the obvious fact that Watson was making a joke: he claims he didn’t actually watch enough of the original Rebecca Watson video to get to the punchline of her joke before making his diagnoses of her. That might seem to reflect poorly on JtO’s research skills. But he’s not overly troubled by this, evidently. “My bad,” he says, cheerfully.
But he still thinks she’s a sociopath, and argues that the criticism he’s gotten doesn’t stem from his complete misrepresentation of Watson’s joke, but because he’s “struck a nerve.” Then he babbles on about various other crap including Jessica Valenti and weapons of mass destruction and, well, I wasn’t really paying much attention at that point. He ends by calling PZ Myers “Sunshine.”
Here’s that video. I watched the whole fucking 11 minutes and 11 seconds of it. I wouldn’t really recommend that to anyone. You only have to watch about 11 seconds of it to conclude, correctly, that JtO is an ass.
A guy who endorses murdering radfems as an act of vigiliante justice is clearly the best person to judge others’ mental states.
Boom boom I’m all too aware that these are often the decisions made by mothers. I had to quit my well paid job because the hours pretty much garenteed I’d never be home for my daughter. I now have a job that siuts my being a single parent and I consider myself fortunate. I’m sure that many parents regardless of gender find themselves in tough situations where they have to choose between being paid decently or being with their children. I think society would benefit immensly from finding waysa to accommodate the needs of all parents.
Four seconds, actually. I needed four seconds of video to conclude that JtO was an ass. Economical!
It’s really hard to believe that these assholes are still howling about Rebecca Watson and Elevatorgate. Especially when you consider it was all over 4 little words.
“Guys, don’t do that.”
How horrible! How terrible! What a hideous person she is! How dare she tell men what to do! She is the worst person who has ever lived! She must be destroyed!
Really? Seriously?
I didn’t expect differently from MRAs and other misogynistic losers, but what was very disheartening was the backlash from the atheist and freethinker (ha!) community. It just proved to me how sexist the community really is.
But now I’m genuinely creeped out for Rebecca. Every time she posts a blog update, or a video, or another podcast, these fuckwits swarm. I’m worried about her safety. She goes to the same conferences and rallies that a lot of these assholes attend (not MRAs, but the angry, sexist, atheist men). I believed she’s also had her docs dropped.
JtO is a slimeball and a liar. Big surprise. But even when he gets pwned, he comes back with some bullshit like, “Why do they try so hard to prove me wrong? Is it because they know I’m right? I think it is.” Then smiles that weaselly little smile of his.
Bold text fail. Sorry ’bout that.
What a stunningly unappealing person he is. Wherever he isn’t bloated, he’s chosen to be greasy.
All these months and months and MONTHS of ranting and raving and threatening and whining and calling names, and you know what, dudes? Women still won’t have sex with you if you proposition them in an elevator at two in the morning after they’ve spent the previous six hours talking about how they don’t want to be propositioned.
Life’s cruel, I know. Poor babies. Cry it out.
“This game is rigged.” Is the best way to describe what women and people who support women’s rights have to put up with.
Yeah. JtO whole tirade in combination with elevatorgate puts me in mind of Twisty Fasters “International Accords Governing the Fair Use of Women”. So Holly, I quite agree with your Woman Who Dares assessment.
You know what’s funny? Everything that MRA’s claim feminism has caused is usually an issue that feminism is trying to deal with.
Male survivors of DV and SA: do you know how much money the gov’t gives to DV shelters? Not a lot. And in my area, half of the DV shelters will accept male-identified folks. But look at it from the perspective of the shelter – they’re trying to keep a safe, confidential space for a group of abused people. Specifically, a group of abused women who were abused by men. Ideally, we would be able to have some men-only DV shelters, but considering that DV shelters and crisis lines get their budgets cut a little bit more every year, and increasingly have to rely on private donations, grants, and fundraisers, THERE ISN’T ENOUGH MONEY. Plus, most of the DV shelters in my area opened their doors to male-identified persons specifically b/c of the issue of women with teenage boys. Yes, it is fucked up to tell a mother that she can stay at the shelter, but her son cannot. They are attempting to rectify this.
Male circumcision: find me a feminist organization that supports circumcision, and I will give you $10. PS: a little radfem blog in the corner of the internet ranting about the dangers of penises does not count. Aside from Jewish (and maybe Catholic?) people, who actually supports circumcision anymore? Haven’t doctors pretty much proved that it’s useless and cruel?
Male parenting: yeah, feminists have been trying to convince the government and society at large that paternity leave is a good thing.
Also, @stonerwithaboner: you know you’ve got a dick emoticon on your website, right? I don’t think you’re quite the free-thinking maverick you want people to think you are.