“Men’s Studies” has existed as an academic discipline for several decades now. Not surprisingly, most of those involved in it identify themselves as feminists – as people interested in studying gender tend to do. But not all of them: A couple of years back, a group of mostly anti-feminist academics and popular writers with an interest in gender decided to try to do a sort of end run around the discipline of “Men’s Studies” by conjuring up a whole new, altogether un-feminist discipline called “Male Studies.”
Recently, The University of South Australia announced that it would start offering postgraduate courses in Male Studies sometime in 2014; our old friend Eoghan/Sigil1 brought this earthshattering news to the Men’s Rights subreddit the other day, where it was greeted with … suspicion and hostility.
GotMyFrogHatOn wrote:
Great, now men have the same opportunity as women to waste their time and money on a worthless degree!
Liverotto was even blunter:
YES, because the cure to bullshit is… MORE BULLSHIT! /s
That’s right: Men’s Rights Redditors hate Women’s Studies, and Gender Studies, and apparently every academic discipline with the word “Studies” in it so much that they’ve transferred this hatred to a new academic discipline that could well have been (and sort of was) designed just for them.
But don’t worry, they still hate Women’s Studies the most:
What was I saying the other day about projection?
I started typing an answer, then realized I might be misunderstanding something. The equivalent expression in my language to “fairer sex” translate as “beautiful sex” or “weak sex”. Could someone tell me what it means in English?
Ayway, I live in a reality where I, and many women, find men sexy. Craaaaaaaaazy, I know.
Sorry I have enough brain to question what society deems at “the truth” about whatever. I have notice that its not always the truth. And besides that peacock are male birds and peahens are female birds so if you are trying to make an analogy to humans you fail. XD
It’s true you guys. Scientists held up Fair-O-Meters to peacocks and peahens and determined this. And they were scientists doing it with science so you can’t question it.
Peacocks are scientifically beautiful.
Haha, seriously Ruby? THAT’S your response? Really?
Hang on, I need to do some research.
*checks body for feathers*
Sorry Rubes, but it turn out humans aren’t pea fowl. SCIENCE!
Does ‘fairer’ mean ‘more beautiful’?
Where “fairer” strictly denotes “more beautiful,” of course it is a cultural construct. Nature has no objective, universal concept of what is and is not aesthetically pleasing. I’m not quite sure where peacocks fit into your attempt at an argument. It is certainly a human projection that make peacocks are “more beautiful” than females. (And did you know that sometimes peahens grow male plumage when they reach peafowl menopause? Just an unrelated but cool little fact.)
Where “fairer” is accompanied by a retinue of other connotations, it is even more obviously a social construct.
Regarding brains, I recommend this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Delusions-Gender-Society-Neurosexism-Difference/dp/0393068382
Also, there are more than just two sexes. Human beings come in a dazzling array of different chromosomal make-ups, genital configurations, hormone levels, and secondary sex characteristics, so the whole idea of “males” and “females” as “opposite,” discreet groups isn’t a given, much less the idea of “male brains” and “female brains.” What contemporary neuroscience has suggested is that testosterone might have some effect on brain development. But testosterone isn’t a “male” hormone. All human beings, regardless of “sex,” produce testosterone to varying degrees, including not at all.
(I know all Amazons, including myself, consider ourselves “matriarchal” and place “women” in a place of cultural privilege and honor, but our conceptions of gender and sex are a little bit different and more complicated than those of patriarchal society. Not perfect, if I may say so, but complicated.)
I’ve always thought peacocks were overrated anyway, peahens have their own lovely plumage.
I bet peacocks think peahens are pretty beautiful.
I just wanted to quote this immediately after you posted it for no other reason than I love it.
How to participate in a discussion, the Ruby way!
1. State your opinion as fact.
2. Respond to those saying “that’s just your opinion” by rephrasing your statement and claiming you have been misrepresented.
3. Do not respond directly to any posts again; doing so may result in having to back up your assertions.
4. Respond to objections with “It’s science! Are you delusional?!” Repeat as needed.
5. Do not contribute anything of value to the discussion ever.
6. ???
7. Profit!
I’m so confused… do the peacocks not like to look at the peahens naked because nudity is not a good look for them? Or is it the peahens who don’t like to look at the peacocks naked?
If we were like peacocks, we wouldn’t have so many people using make-up and pretty clothes. One sex would have pretty colors naturally. Instead, what do we have? Slightly different body shapes.
And are you saying that the peacock doesn’t get horny* when seeing a peahen (at the right season?) because that seems unlikely (especially, because, thank you google, the male is on top while mating. he has to want to mate or the specie dies)
*do birds get horny? do the have sexual pleasure? brb.
1. State your opinion as fact.
2. Respond to those saying “that’s just your opinion” by rephrasing your statement and claiming you have been misrepresented.
3. Do not respond directly to any posts again; doing so may result in having to back up your assertions.
4. Respond to objections with “It’s science! Are you delusional?!” Repeat as needed.
5. Do not contribute anything of value to the discussion ever.
6. ???
7. Profit!
8. Speak on another thread like nothing ever happened.
Damn. I also skipped “Why are you picking on another feminist, you extremists!”
There’s also claiming to be a BETTER feminist because SCIENCE.
Actually, I’ve secretly been a peacock this whole time. I’m sorry to have lied to everyone for all these months.
Another thing that might need to go in there somewhere:
Call your opponents dumbasses; get furious when they call you a dumbass.
And.. what do think of that, lauralot? It’s fore Science.
It appears that your link doesn’t want to open for me…it’s because I have feathers, isn’t it?
i’m not an evolutionary biologist but i feel pretty confident saying the last common ancestor of humans and peacocks was fucking forever ago.
to repeat: science- you don’t understand it.
html mistakes are misandry. Or in my DNA. Or is it because of cave women? Meh.
http://www.clipart.dk.co.uk/DKImages/Animals/image_sci_animal035.jpg
I have feather too, actually. Pretty blue ones. That might be the cause.
Now that there is one beautiful bird.
when i was little i used to go to summer camp at the zoo and one time an employee in cart came around a corner too fast and scared the shit out of one of the free-roaming peacocks and it shot all its tailfeathers i guess as a defense mechanism and there wasnt any point to that story except i got a free peacock feather