So someone on Reddit did a little experiment that confirmed what we already know: that Reddit is overflowing with misogynist douchebags. Here’s the experimenter explaining her somewhat casual experimental protocol:
I noticed after two months as my female username I was constantly having to defend my opinions. I mean constantly. I would post something lighthearted, and have people commenting taking my comment literally and telling me I was dumb or I didn’t understand xyz. People were so eager to talk incredibly rudely and condescendingly to me. People were downright hateful and it made me consider leaving.
Then I decided to experiment with usernames and came up with an obviously male name. While people still disagreed with me which is to be expected, I had more people come to my defense when I had a different opinion and absolutely no hateful or condescending comments. I am completely shocked at how different I am treated since having a male username. I am not saying Reddit is sexist, well kind of yes, but I think it’s really interesting and thought that some other girls on here would want to get male usernames and see the difference for themselves.
She posted this in TwoXChromosomes, a subreddit devoted to women and women’s issues that is regularly overrun with angry MRA dudes and an assortment of FemRAs. This time the MRA squad didn’t take over the discussion, and numerous 2XCers reported experiences similar to that of the OP.
earthpeesfire noted:
I had a feminine user name years ago. Fuck that. It was like having a target on my back.
cantstopthe tried to duplicate the experiment on a smaller scale:
Just wanted to say that I made an alt yesterday with a female name, and continue to post the kind of things I normally post under this account. And today I was told I should be raped.
That has NEVER happened in all my 4 years of being on this site with various neutral names.
misscastaway also tried posting with a clearly female name:
I just tried posting on an discussion from this account. Immediately an insult including the word cunt and remarks on how I’m making a fool out of myself.
Might be a coincidence but when posting from my regular account (which is very gender neutral) that I use for discussions related to science, fitness, books etc I have never received this kind of behaviour. Not even when it turned out someone knew more about the subject and I was wrong/short in my knowledge. Then I was given another point of view, with a source – that was it.
I guess I’ll keep using those accounts in parallel now just to see if this was just by chance or if it really makes such a difference.
fatchick400 reported on the results of a similar experiment:
I created this account a few days ago to comment on some fat-hate, and have actually found it really interesting to see reddit from a different point of view.
The biggest surprise for me is the difference in how fat women are treated vs fat men. There is so much more hatred towards the fat women. A lot of people even refer to these women as “it”, completely negating their gender all together.
Meanwhile in the posts about fat men there are a few hateful comments, but they’re mostly full of light hearted jokes. In a few posts where the guys were obviously morbidly obese, barely anyone commented on the guys’ weight at all. Yet in posts with woman who are maybe 200lbs , mocking her weight always seems to be the main focus of conversation.
twofish added her experience to the pile of anecdotal evidence:
Most people on reddit assume I am male until I make it a point to say otherwise. More often than not, once it’s discovered that I own a vagina I’m no longer taken seriously, my opinions are belittled, and a slough of sexist and misogynist jokes/accusations get thrown my way.
I love Reddit for many reasons but it is one of THE most hostile places on the internet to be a woman.
Over on the Men’s Rights subreddit, meanwhile, the locals largely dismissed the experiment as unscientific and biased. As DavidByron put it:
Just seems like someone who set out to “prove” her own biases. She was biased to begin with, she ran the “experiment” in a biased way, interpreted the results in a biased way and then presented them to support her initial assumptions.
It’s the usual princess feminism which says men have it easy and women have it hard even while the exact opposite is happening. Why wouldn’t she say which usernames she used in her “test” so others can look at her methodology? Of course it’s not serious but then that’s the point.
Others explained that they weren’t really sexist because they’re such earnest fanboys of GirlWritesWhat, a woman who is able to bypass the usual MRA misogyny by pandering to the misogynists’ fantasy of male martyrdom.
The woman who posted about the experiment in the first place has now popped in to the r/menrights thread, and has (very politely) suggested to Mr. Byron that he try the experiment himself. I guess we’ll see what happens.
Think about what people do with dogs that bite, before you suggest doing the same thing about men! 😉
I’ve never been to China. Therefore, China does not exist. The billions of people who have been to China and can testify to its existence can clearly just be ignored, because I’ve never been to China.
Why don’t you get it through your goddamn head that you can’t force a woman to be interested in you? if she is not interested, MOVE ON.
I’m perfectly nice to the guys I’ve liked, but if I told you this and whined about why they didn’t like me you would just laugh in my face and tell me that it doesn’t matter because hurrhurr I’m fat and a feminist of course he doesn’t like me! well guess what? maybe these guys are ugly to these women? maybe they smell? why should women be forced to date someone just because he’s nice. I’ll have all the sympathy for “nice guys” when men have sympathy for the fat and ugly girls and date them out of pity.
Dumbass.
You and every other Massive Raging Asshole who complain about this “phenomenon” are not nice guys in the least. Women probably avoid you because they can easily see what a worthless little shit you are.
Hey, Buttman. Utah is a very conservative state and has some bad conservative laws. We agree. Notice how the Virginia courts want the guy to have his daughter? Misandry! Utah is a very feminist state, by the way. You’re totes right to blame feminism for everything.
So you’re implying that your sister coerced her boyfriends into physically abusing her, presumably so she would feel sexually attracted to them, and I’m the one with the cheap shots? Ummmmmmmmkay? Hey: Are the women lining around the block to sleep with you yet? ‘Cause you’re a gigantic fucking asshole.
I shudder to think what exactly Buttman means by “successful with women”
@Crumbelievable
Ain’t it a coincidence how the self proclaimed nice guys are also the biggest misogynists? that it’s all about what women should do. Who women should date. What women should prefer. This is a trend that I’ve noticed in the manosphere. They slut shame women because they want to groom them into perfect docile little housewives. They hate feminism because women have options now. Women can marry or not. Women can sleep around or not. They cant force women into marriages anymore because women actually have rights and can support themselves. The more rights women have, the less need they have for men to control them.
I could care less what men do, whether they marry or not or if they choose to be parents or not. If men want more rights for themselves good for them. But they better not infringe on my freedoms and rights to support myself and live my life the way I see fit.
“maybe these guys are ugly to these women? maybe they smell? why should women be forced to date someone just because he’s nice. I’ll have all the sympathy for “nice guys” when men have sympathy for the fat and ugly girls and date them out of pity.”
Calm down. That’s fine. All I’m saying is that women would rather be with a jerk that beats her than a nice guy that doesn’t turn her on. I see fat girls with guys all the time and the guys are 100-150 pounds lighter than them. You can change being fat and men can change being nice so it’s a win-win situation.
“Why don’t you get it through your goddamn head that you can’t force a woman to be interested in you? if she is not interested, MOVE ON.”
Most of these girls will lead on a guy thinking that she is interested just to keep their mangina in the bullpen. They give these guys false hope so they keep on doing and doing and get nothing in return.
“Notice how the Virginia courts want the guy to have his daughter? Misandry! Utah is a very feminist state, by the way. You’re totes right to blame feminism for everything.”
Where are the feminists looking out for the children in these adoption cases? I always hear that feminists want the best for children in family court. Funny how when it doesn’t favour the female they are not for the children.
I just corresponded in an email to a feminist professor that helped craft a bill in Missouri to completely wipe out a father’s rights in an adoption. She is an unabashed feminist whose sole purpose is to benefit females. Quit embarrassing yourself with these proclamations that feminism is about fairness or equality.
“I could care less what men do, whether they marry or not or if they choose to be parents or not. If men want more rights for themselves good for them. But they better not infringe on my freedoms and rights to support myself and live my life the way I see fit.”
You’ll fight to the death to avoid any responsibility. You want women to sleep with whomever and then when they regret being a slut they can just call it rape. The definition for rape has become any sex that a woman regrets, whether it’s consensual or not. Father’s have no rights but that’s fine because it’s your body, your choice. Except, men should have to pay for the medical costs of your body and then pay you after you give birth and keep paying you. Equality!.
“That’s a cheap shot. It wasn’t coercive… at least not on the guys part. She was the one who was more obsessed with the guy. It was a simple example of how guys that are physically abusive are more successful with women than those who try to play the nice guy and hope that the woman notices him.”
So now it’s kind of OK that Buttman’s sister slept with a man who beat her up, in his opinion, and for bonus points he’s hinting that she coerced the beater into it?
It’s a shame that the legal option to divorce your siblings doesn’t exist.
What women? I wouldn’t. Wow, it’s sure a good thing that there are more choices in this world than “be with a jerk who beats you” and “be with a nice guy who doesn’t turn you on,” huh? There’s also “be alone” and “be with a nice guy who does turn you on” and even “be with a guy who is a jerk and beats you but be profoundly unhappy about it and not know how to or have the ability to get into a better situation because of [reasons].”
Also, Quackers wasn’t un-calm, and it’s weird that you would try to invalidate her argument by implying that she needs to “calm down.”
Maybe they’re attracted to each other. Maybe they like each other. Maybe their relationship makes both of them happy. I’m not really seeing where you’re going here, Buttman. Is it bad if someone dates someone who is lighter or heavier?
Are you talking about, like, when a woman is friends with a man? And the man doesn’t say that he’s looking for more for friendship? And they just have this, like, friendship as though they were friends or something? The dreaded, imaginary “Friend Zone”?
Yeah, that’s bullshit.
“Maybe they’re attracted to each other. Maybe they like each other. Maybe their relationship makes both of them happy. I’m not really seeing where you’re going here, Buttman. Is it bad if someone dates someone who is lighter or heavier?”
She was trying to have a pity party and compare fat women to men and there’s really no comparison. The fat women I know are in relationships with guys half their size. Plus you can always lose weight.
One tiny little problem with this line of reasoning; men aren’t dogs, you colossal fucking dipshit.
Another tiny problem: why should a women be “held accountable” for getting beaten? She’s not the one doing the beating. Isn’t there another human being involved somewhere in the beating process who needs to be “held accountable” a bit more?
But we’re dealing with a guy who saw his sister getting beaten and thought, “Wow, I should be more like that awesome guy who’s beating her,” so he obviously has problems reaching logical conclusions about things.
Also, Quackers wasn’t un-calm, and it’s weird that you would try to invalidate her argument by implying that she needs to “calm down.”
I’m pretty sure he was talking to himself there. I think Quackers hit a nerve.
Aw, Buttman. I know it’s pleasant, when you’re a lonely misogynist, to imagine that all the happy men you see with girlfriends are actually big jerks and meanies, unlike your oh-so-delightful self who is clearly such a catch, but it’s not true. Most couples are genuinely happy, most people are not in abusive relationships, and most women don’t want to date you because they don’t like assholes.
Oh come on, Buttman. You can do better than this. Are you sure the bill “completely” wipes out a father’s rights? Are you sure Beck’s goal wasn’t kinda about clarifying the law for the parents’, adoptive parents’, and child’s benefit? Think before you answer this time.
Yeah, but that’s not true. Very offensive, but very not true.
Do you seriously believe the shit you type? rape is not sex a woman regrets. It’s sex without consent. This is reflected in the law you dumb fuck. Its funny though, you MRAs sure do love to uphold the culture that calls women sluts and makes them feel guilty for having sex.
And yes, my body my choice. I have the right to decide if I want to What men are paying the medical bill? stop lying. You want to remove child support laws? so fight for it. Like I said before I don’t care what men do, just stop trying to remove my rights and inflict your values onto me.
And don’t tone troll me, that shit won’t work.
The source of this is Nice Guys who write scripts for hollywood and TV, not women, at least as a special stereotype that women do.
…Buttman isn’t a bot that churns out MRA talking points in response to stimulus? For reals?
Well, I don’t think that bots are capable of being evil towards their siblings, so I guess this one is technically human.
Oh give me a break. Where is men’s personal agency hmm? no one is forcing these men to stay friends with these women. If I know I don’t have a chance with a guy I’m not going to stay his friend and delude myself into thinking he’s going fall for me just because I’m “nice” also it’s easy to recognize when someone is stringing you along, that is a shitty thing to do so dump them.
But hey since you know the situation of ALL women maybe you can help me! I have a guy friend who I met on a dating site. We dated once but I wasn’t really interested in him other than as a friend. He’s since dated other people and I’ve given up on dating because I don’t want to right now. I’ve been there for him when he was in the hospital for major surgery and I’m always there for him when he needs to talk. He’s said this himself to me. That I’m a good friend and always there for him when he needs me. Problem is I suspect he might have feelings for me, or at least is open to sleeping with me. AM I LEADING HIM ON? even though he mainly calls me to hang out? even though I’ve always been there for him? do tell since you know women so well!
oh look, Buttman can’t answer my question. Surprise, surprise.
OMG Buttman, troll of all trolls. Ignore the psychology of abusive relationships completely. It really doesn’t surprise me though because, based on your comments, I can imagine you may have come from a home where victims were blamed and misogyny was rampant. So often people come from abusive home lives and wind up in abusive relationships as adults. I feel for your sister and I hope she can get away from these types of men which include you! A good brother would try to help her out of the situation, not laugh at her for “being stupid.”
And with the “women want assholes” stereotypes, if we wanted assholes we would be banging down the doors of these MRAs houses to try and get with them instead of laughing at them on this website. SOME women are attracted to assholes, some women are attracted to men who act nice at first but eventually show their true colors at a point in which the woman is already in love and struggles to get out for reasons which you clearly have no understanding of, and some are attracted to nice guys. Sometimes it has nothing to do with niceness, they just want someone who is goodlooking to them, or is successful and confident, or shares their interests, or has a great intellectual or artistic mind. Either way, instead of sticking every woman into one group of mindless robots who have the same desires, consider that the reason you think “nice guys” like you can’t get laid is because they aren’t. actually. nice. guys.
We see right through that sense of entitlement to our vaginas, the pretending to be our friend in hopes to screw us down the line or take advantage of us when we’re drunk and suggestable. If you’re being nice to someone just to get in their pants, you are not nice, you are manipulator. Nice people are nice to people because they have kind, generous, and thoughtful hearts. They don’t expect payment for their kind actions.
Also, consider lowering YOUR standards instead of expecting super model types to lower theirs. I know this is tough for an entitled person to hear, but if you are not working on yourself you should not feel entitled to people that do. Just because in the movies the loser always gets the hot girl, you shouldn’t expect that. It happens sometimes, we don’t control who we fall for, but if you’re shallow you should accept other people’s shallowness instead of demonizing them for it. I’m dying to see the reaction of one of these “nice guys” to a traditionally unattractive girl hitting on them. Let’s see how receptive they are to that.
Oh, I just keep reading more silly comments. For your “false flag” theory. I thought MRAs were the keepers of truth, justice, and logic, with none of the irrational, emotional, reactionary ways of us feminists. So if you’re so logical and unreactionary, why is there always this burst of ridiculous reaction every time you get “trolled?” Shouldn’t you be immune to this type of hysteria? Just for the record, all the feminists who ever said anything remotely misandric were just trolling too. We’re even now.
“Friendship” is leading a guy on. Because I’ve had male friends who were not my type, physically or mentally, but were cool to hang out with. They asked me out and I was clear with them that I wasn’t interested in them romantically but on a friendship level. I mean, I wasn’t mean about it, just honest… those dudes still try to convince me to date them to this day. I don’t flirt, I don’t bat my eye lashes, I don’t ask for drinks, I just casually sing karaoke with them at the bar once a week. I’m such a tease!
And I don’t want to be with anyone who doesn’t turn me on, mean or nice. The whole point of a romantic relationship is romance. Why should the man get the benefit of a woman who turns him on but the woman should have to settle for sex with someone who doesn’t? If the dude doesn’t turn my crank but is cool otherwise, sorry buddy, it’s the dreaded “friend zone” for him. Not that FRIENDSHIP is such a horrible thing. Heaven forbid you have friends. But I’ve found men who are nice AND turn me on, so I don’t really get the all women dig assholes thing. I’ve dated a few assholes but they didn’t make it past a few dates when I realized that they were, indeed, assholes.
Yeah, that’s how it works. Women everywhere are not being forced, coerced, propositioned under the influence of drugs and alochol or when they’re minors. They’re just sluts who regret having consentual sex. Because it makes sense to parade your sex life in front of police, a judge, jury, your family, friends, and enemies, because you’re ASHAMED of your sexual exploits. It’s not more likely that you would just never speak of them again and nobody would give a shit. That’s the reason people go through the painful, humiliating process of rape trials because they regretted a one night stand. That’s that MRA logic and reason you guys were talking about!
DED! I wish I would’ve had these words when a guy told me that sexism does not exist within the field of engineering because he’s never seen it.
(sorry for the extremely long response, this guy is a goldmine of wtf)
Oh man, are we doing an MRA advice column? I’m in. I’ve got so many lady-problems that take so much solving.
@Buttman, I left my ex and am now married. My ex was a huge Nice Guy and it’s taken me a while to understand just how manipulative he was; for example, when I broke up with him, he frequently called my mother and my friends and ranted to them for hours about my personal life, sexuality, etc. Two years after the breakup, he is still friends with my little sister and many of my personal friends on Facebook, and comments on their feeds constantly. I have kept my peace about this, but it bothers me to see him come up so often on my little sister’s facebook. She remembers him as a kind near-uncle who gave her presents at Christmas, and I believe that she’s old enough to make her own decisions about people. Ex is not inherently a bad or dangerous person. Am I within my rights to ask my husband to call him out for a duel, or should I insist that my father enact his property rights over my sister and delete her facebook? O Buttman, what should I do?
@Chuckadee: I would have been more interested in these experiments had they been conducted before contemporary feminism had taken root.
See: Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (AKA: Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte).
See: James Tiptree, Jr., (AKA: Alice B Sheldon).
See: Women, passing as men.
Etc. (AKA George Sand, George Eliot, and others I am not recalling at moment because 5:36 a.m.)
So Buttman thinks the posters blaming and rape-apologizing to the girl in the Reddit thread are false flags planted to make MRAs look bad… then goes on to blame and rape-apologize.