The Titanic sank 100 years ago today, and Men’s Rights Activists are still pissed off about it.
They’re not really pissed off that it sank. They’re pissed off that the men on board were more likely to go down with the ship than the women. You know, that whole “women and children first” thing.
Some MRAs were so pissed off about this that they were planning to march on Washington on this very day in an attempt, as they put it, to “Sink Misandry.”
You don’t know how much I would have loved to see this, a dozen angry dudes marching in circles on the National Mall carrying signs protesting the sinking of the Titanic and demanding that in all future sinkings of the Titanic that women and men be equally likely to drown in the cold waters of the North Atlantic. For that would be justice at last!
But, alas, due to unspecified logistical problems this march was cancelled some months back, and so misandry remains unsunk.
Or does it?
For you see, it turns out that the whole “women and children first” thing was not really a thing. Oh, on The Titanic it was. But women unfortunate enough to be passengers on sinking ships that weren’t the Titanic (or the HMS Birkenhead, which sunk off the coast of South Africa in 1852) weren’t able to push ahead to the front of the line. That, at least, is the conclusion of a new Swedish study (link is to a pdf of it).
The chivalrous code “women and children first” appears to have sunk with the Titanic 100 years ago.
Long believed to be the golden standard of conduct in a shipwreck, the noble edict is in fact “a myth that has been nourished by the Titanic disaster,” economist Mikael Elinder of Uppsala University, Sweden, told Discovery News.
Elinder and colleague Oscar Erixson analyzed a database of 18 peace-time shipwrecks over the period 1852–2011 in a new study into survival advantages at sea disasters.
Looking at the fate of over 15,000 people of more than 30 nationalities, the researchers found that more women and children die than men in maritime disasters, while captains and crew have a greater chance of survival than any passengers.
Being a woman was an advantage on only two ships: on the Birkenhead in 1852 and on the Titanic in 1912.
The notion of “women and children first” may have captured the popular imagination, but it’s never been an official policy for ship evacuations. It wouldn’t be fair, nor would it be an efficient way to get as many people as possible to safety.
Nor was “women and children” strictly enforced even on the Titanic. True, my great-grandfather, the mystery writer Jacques Futrelle, was one of those who went down with the ship, while his wife and my great-grandmother, writer Lily May Futrelle made it off safely (in the last lifeboat). But there were many men who survived, and many women who died.
If you want to get mad about the sinking of the Titanic all those years ago, get mad at the White Star Line for not bothering to equip the ship with lifeboats enough for everyone on it. Blame the captain, for ordering the ship to continue plowing ahead on a dark, foggy night into an area of the Atlantic where numerous icebergs had just been sighted by a number of other ships. Blame the crew for botching the evacuation – for the strange lack of urgency after the ship hit the iceberg, for the lifeboats leaving the sinking ship with half as many passengers as they could fit.
Much like the iceberg that sank the Titanic, Elinder and Erixson’s research has poked a giant hole in the “women and children first” myth. Of course, MRAs aren’t interested in historical accuracy. They’re looking for excuses to demonize women and feminists. So I imagine we’ll be hearing about the Titanic from them for years to come.
Here’s another tragic sinking, of yet another ship without a sufficient number of lifeboats:
EDIT: I added a couple of relevant links and fixed a somewhat egregious typo.
Well, unless they’re in the closet or for whatever reason have decided not to transition transpeople also present as the same gender that they are. Did you mean the gender they were assigned at birth?
Chaz Bono is not trans, yes. “She” nothing, he presents himself as a man because he is one, and his sex organs are really non of my or your or anyone’s business and have nothing to do with him being a man.
oops meant to say cis in the second response thar thar
Wahaha! Forgot to close my blockquote this time XD
“The Titanic was a singular disaster not indicative of a trend. Women’s inability to vote has been solved for the west, but is only one chapter of the millenia-long oppression of women. IT is an ongoing problem in many, many countries, as well, and it should be treated as a relevant part of history (Which is what almost all feminists do, regarding women’s suffrage in the west)”
Morons
Just dittoing that chaz bono is a “he” and sexual organ’s are irrelevant to trans people’s gender (or anyone else’s gender while you are at it). It’s really insulting to call a trans person by their gender they were assigned at birth so don’t do that.
Presentation doesn’t determine if you are trans or not even for cis people and it definitely does not determine the gender of trans people. A cis man can crossdress or a cis woman can wear all masculine attire and still be cis. It really all relies on personal identification.
Ooh, chivalry on steroids. Are you going to carry me and my groceries across that puddle?
This is very confusing because Chaz presents as a man but is actually a female. When she gets her new penis then she will become a man. I don’t see how one can be made so I guess they get it from an organ donor, along with testicles then will be cis. But how do they change her genetic XX to a man’s XY? And what if after she becomes a man he’s homosexual? Maybe she’s a heterosexual now but will became a homosexual after he gets his new penis.Or parhaps she’s a lesbian now and when she becomes a man and gets a penis he’ll then have sex with women and be a heterosexual.
That’s two strikes now. No. Chaz is a man now; period.
No, Chaz will be a trans man even after the surgery, because asshats like you are always looking for the next reason to deny the gender of trans people.
Case in point. It’s irrelevant.
Then he’s a gay man, but AFAIK Chaz is straight. Any other dumb-ass questions?
Or parhaps she’s a lesbian now and when she becomes a man and gets a penis he’ll then have sex with women and be a heterosexual.
Apparently just dumbass statements. Chaz is a dude now. Get it right, you cissexist cretin.
Kendra, thanks for sharing the story of how your Hospitals worked in the tornado. It’s good that they were able to do quite a bit in the face of an overwhelming disaster. Were the people with pick-ups responding to a plan, or did they offer help off their own bat? We practice different disasters both on paper and acted-out, with the ambulance, police, fire brigade, SES, and so on, to make sure all the organisations communicate and work together. It sounds like both the professionals and the public worked very well in your tornado.
We have two levels of power, a back up generator and a UPS for theatres and ventilated patients (I imagine a tornado would be too much to handle). Somehow, an electrician called in by a contractor managed to get hold of the key to the UPS system, and between them they turned of ALL the power for 5 minutes – in the middle of the day! Theatres and ICU were ventilating people by hand, in the dark in the case of theatres, as they have only small windows.
That’s Magpie above, in case you couldn’t tell 😉
In my morning paper today, there was a big article about how research shows that shared custody children (one week with mum, one week with dad) have a higher level of well-being in general than children who live with their mum only; that shared custody is the norm nowadays; and a story about a man whose ex-wife wanted sole custody but managed to get shared custody through a court ruling. This all makes me a bit confused, since Sweden is such a “hotbed for misandry”, and Swedish researchers have misandric bias. But perhaps the whole article was a late April joke.
Dvärghundspossen:
Is this ironic? Since from your name and blog you seem to be a Swedish woman, it probably is, but it being the internet I would advise for more clarity.
Oh lawldy, that femitheist blog. I can’t decide if it’s satire made from MRA comments, an MRA posing as a “feminist” from his worst nightmares or a very disturbed individual on the scale of the worst misogynist MRA’s, only the misandrist version. In any case, the BS in that blog has nothing to do with what vast majority of feminists thinks. It’s ramblings of a nutcase who calls themselves a feminist.
Kyrie, yes. 🙂 It was ironic.
Notice the femitheist blog only started yesterday – maybe it was set up by whoever first linked to it?
Remember people feminists killed Kurt Cobain… and all men are the sons of Kain.
(see his other video’s) Yes dear when your cut you do bleed.
You know I can’t actually tell if you are trolling or seriously don’t know any better. I will say that if you are being honest you literally know nothing about trans people. I am not going to answer your bs questions because I answered them already and I take it you just didn’t like the answer. If you care and want to know about trans people instead of making gross utterly misunderstanding comments fucking research. There is so many comms dedicated to trans people and many websites that discuss what it means to be trans. Hell I think wikipedia probably give you enough info to answer all these questions. If you don’t like the answer then suck it up, no one here needs to answer your ignorance.
Oh man, now you’re just trollin’. This is like every dumb assumption about trans people stuffed into one comment, though “organ donor” made me LOL.
RE: Bunny
Dude. Do you have ANY fucking idea how much a penis costs on the white market? Those fuckers might as well cost their weight in GOLD. Also it comes with a ton of possible complications.
Don’t call me ‘she’ for not wanting to hawk up $100K for an organ I don’t want. It makes you an asshole.
Also, I’m gay. Because I like to bang men, you see. It’s not complicated. I’m a man who gets the tinglies for my hubby. So I’m a gay man. And seeing as you are NOT my hubby, I don’t see what any business it is of yours what I have in my pants.
RE: Mollyren
Seeing as how my brother has the exact same opinion, I can’t dismiss it.
Sorry to hear about that. Hugs? I wish everyone’s family was awesome about their presentation and orientation but we’ll just have to work harder to make that more common.
RE: Falconer
Enh, it’s fine. I haven’t spoken to my brother in years (unless you count one conversation about the weather). So I don’t have to deal with his crap these days. I sure don’t want to put up with it from newbies on the internet. That’s what the Google phrase ‘trans101’ is for.
Wait, wait, wait, we get war names now? DUDE. Why did no one tell me this when I was initiated into the secret ranks of the feminist army of misandry? I call Diana!
Strangely, when someone tells me who they are, I take them on their word. I don’t decide whether or not I believe them based on extremely personal details relating to their genitals and their medical history. Nor would I ever think it’s in any way appropriate to ask a perfect stranger about extremely personal details relating to their genitals and their medical history.
Ugh, Bunny. I’m almost sorry I assumed your intentions were good, now I feel like you’re trolling. Sadly, a lot of people share the gross opinions you’re presenting as your own, so if you are a troll, you’re kind of a crap one.
Quick question: do you administer DNA tests to every single person you meet? Do you have to look at their genitals before you know whether to use “he” or “she”? If the answer is “no”, then obviously, in your own experience, there must be something else going on. Gender is a whole complicated social construct and transition is one of the ways people navigate it: but a trans man is a man and a trans woman is a woman. You will never know otherwise unless they tell you. I don’t want to derail this whole thread with trans101 (google is your friend), but
ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING: use the damn third-person singular pronoun the person you’re talking about prefers. In the case of Chaz Bono: “he”. I’d throw a note in about singular “they”, “ey/eir”, and “zie/zir”, but that’s kind of advanced class. All you really need to know is that if you call someone “she” and they say “Excuse me, but it’s ‘he’, I’m male”, you have no reason to argue.
Our friend Mags has her doubts about femitheist too — link on previous page.
Bunny: Go away.