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Video Tuesday: PBS on Reddit’s sexism, and a dramatic reading of “SCENTED F*CKING CANDLES.”

Can you find the woman in this picture of Reddit’s admins? (Screencap from PBS Off Book video about Reddit.)

I’m not big on posting videos here on Man Boobz – aside, of course, from those involving kitties and/or other adorable furry animals, and, obviously, my own – but here are a couple you all may enjoy.

The first is a short PBS “Off Book” feature on Reddit. Most of it is fairly glowing, but at about 3 minutes in there’s a segment about the rampant sexism on Reddit, which includes interviews with several mods from Shit Reddit Says – who are the only women interviewed for the feature, and who elected to appear anonymously due to the very real threat of harassment from angry Redditors.

Naturally, plenty of Redditors were pissed that SRS got any airtime at all, and some were shocked and stunned to hear that anyone could possibly think there was a lot of misogyny on Reddit. (SRSers responded to it here.)

SRS also regularly deals with the rampant racism, homophobia and transphobia on Reddit, but there was no mention of that in the PBS piece.

The second video is a dramatic reading from YouTuber and regular Man Boobz commenter Jessay of that SCENTED FUCKING CANDLES rant I wrote about the other day.

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Kyrie
Kyrie
12 years ago

Not bad.

Tulgey Logger
Tulgey Logger
12 years ago

I miss Tiny Bunny and Small Dog! And ice cream.

One thing I don’t see to be at all valid when it comes to critiques of SRS is the assertion that they just use it as an excuse to be “ironically” bigoted. I’ve seen maybe one instance of that when the topic of “why aren’t there more jokes about SAWCMs” came up and someone posted a bunch of jokes, about half of which made fun of rural appalachians (which seemed like a classism fail to me). Otherwise, nada.

[sarcasm] But hey, many redditors disapprove of SRS as much as SRS disapproves of the rest of reddit, so there! [/sarcasm]

Sean Weaver
12 years ago

:thisisgood:

Also the scented candles rant is one of the best glimpses into mental instability I’ve read in a long time.

Foxipher Jones
12 years ago

I didn’t think “Scented Fucking Candles” could be worse. It’s totally worse in audiobook format. D:

Kyrie
Kyrie
12 years ago

SFC sounds exactly as I imagined. Good job!

ragefromthebasement
12 years ago

Seriously every MRA should live as a woman, gay, or trans person for a few weeks. They have no idea what it’s like to be walking down the street minding your own business, and have strangers gawk, touch, or insult you simply for who you are.

ostara321
ostara321
12 years ago

Seriously every MRA should live as a woman, gay, or trans person for a few weeks. They have no idea what it’s like to be walking down the street minding your own business, and have strangers gawk, touch, or insult you simply for who you are.

B-but teh wimminz don’t underSTAND how HARD it is to be turned on by boobies! Boobies in silky tops! Boobies you can never have! Boobies in heat! The horror! The horror! /sarcasm

Kyrie
Kyrie
12 years ago

Well, some do…

lauralot89
12 years ago

Can somebody dub that scene of Nic Cage screaming “NOT THE BEES” so that it’s “NOT THE BOOBS” instead?

CassandraSays
CassandraSays
12 years ago

It makes me sad that Reddit is the way it is. Given that the user base leans young-ish, it’s not a good sign in terms of where society is going. On the other hand, I think part of why dudes on Reddit are so angry is that they know very well that the stuff they say there isn’t socially acceptable to say in their real lives, so the internet is where they vent. The problem with that is that it’s the nature of online communities to reinforce people’s preexisting prejudices and messed up ideas, when those communities are composed of very similar people (and they drive everyone else away), so the fact that Reddit’s culture is so sexist ends up driving away a lot of female users, which leaves the angry young men posting sexist rants at each other, which nobody really challenges because most of the people who would be inclined to have given up on Reddit, which means that the angry young men end up feeling like everyone agrees with them really and just isn’t saying so in public. It’s an almost completely closed circle.

And lots of internet communities are like that, but it’s particularly a problem when the community is very large and the messed up idea that’s getting reinforced is “lol, rape is funny, and women are basically ambulatory sex toys”.

starterlifesydney
starterlifesydney
12 years ago

I don’t have any cats, just room after room filled with scented fucking candles.

darksidecat
12 years ago

One of my favorite parts of the PBS bit is where he says that Reddit is as diverse as the world, and then the map shows it’s extremely concentrated to the US and Western Europe. Ah, racism and imperialsm. Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and South and Cental America are, in fact, parts of the world with people in them.

ragefromthebasement
12 years ago

@ostara321

I forgot. In MRA land erections are PAINFUL.

speedbudget
speedbudget
12 years ago

To be fair to the ranter, patchouli does smell like shit and B.O. all mixed up together.

Shaenon
12 years ago

Damn, that PBS segment hurts to watch. It goes on an on about what a valuable academic resource and supportive, generous community Reddit is…and then halfway through they add, “Oh, unless you’re half the population, of course. Then the regulars will harass and yell slurs at you until you leave.” They don’t even get into the shitty way Reddit treats people of color, gay people, trans people, and basically anyone who isn’t a straight white college dude. It’s the definition of an old boys’ club, only with young boys.

Seriously every MRA should live as a woman, gay, or trans person for a few weeks. They have no idea what it’s like to be walking down the street minding your own business, and have strangers gawk, touch, or insult you simply for who you are.

I’ve seen a couple of online threads recently (not on Manboobz) where an MRA declared that if a woman had to be a man for a day she would DIE from the HARDSHIPS. In both cases, when pressed to explain what hardships this woman-turned-man would face, the guy answered that she wouldn’t be able to get dates from men.

My reactions were complex:

1. MRAs honestly have no idea what discrimination means or what it would be like to be discriminated against. (I mean, as a straight white lady I score pretty low in the Oppression Olympics, but even I’ve had to go through the ultimate suffering that is not getting dates.)
2. It takes quite an ego to imagine that your sexual attention is the most precious and vital resource known to humanity.
3. If I got turned into a man, I could probably still score dates with men. You just have to know the right neighborhoods.

VoIP
VoIP
12 years ago

They have no idea what it’s like to be walking down the street minding your own business, and have strangers gawk, touch, or insult you simply for who you are.

SMILE, HONEY
Yesterday a 12-year-old told me to suck his dick.

It makes me sad that Reddit is the way it is. Given that the user base leans young-ish, it’s not a good sign in terms of where society is going. …And lots of internet communities are like that, but it’s particularly a problem when the community is very large…

If it helps, Something Awful, especially the left-wing subforum, hates Reddit. If I’m not mistaken, SRS was founded by goons.

I’ve seen a couple of online threads recently (not on Manboobz) where an MRA declared that if a woman had to be a man for a day she would DIE from the HARDSHIPS. In both cases, when pressed to explain what hardships this woman-turned-man would face, the guy answered that she wouldn’t be able to get dates from men.

I was a Civil War reenactor in college, and lived as a man during campaigns. I didn’t DIE from any HARDSHIPS, although I did get rained on all night once. (My biggest problems were due to my poor eyesight and total lack of vision in one eye–I couldn’t hop a fence with everyone else once, because I had to feel around before I knew where it was. Awkward.)

ragefromthebasement
12 years ago

@Shaenon

Amen! It’s interesting to note that when you ask people who have lived as men and women, they usually say it is much more difficult to be a woman.

I’m a straight white girl, so yeah I dint face the struggles a lot of other people do, but the society undermines, questions, or dismisses anything i have to say pisses me off. I’ve worked quite a few jobs, and I’m a fairly competent employee, but you will always get that one customer who doesn’t want to hear your advice because you’re a woman. So I have to find a male employee to tell them the exact same thing before they’ll believe it. Now I’m not saying this is bad as getting beaten up, but it still sucks.

And then there’s the sexual harassment that seems to come out if nowhere in middle school. It’s not fun when everyone in the room is talking about your breasts (or lack thereof) and boys ask you for a blowjob in the hallway as though you would ever say
yes!

ragefromthebasement
12 years ago

It would be fascinating to have a psychologist analyze that SFC rant. A glimpse into mental instability indeed.

Viscaria
Viscaria
12 years ago

@shaenon:

(I mean, as a straight white lady I score pretty low in the Oppression Olympics, but even I’ve had to go through the ultimate suffering that is not getting dates.)

Me too! It was terrible! One time I had this crush on this guy and he didn’t reciprocate. It was the worst thing anyone had ever doforgo me. And then he went on to date someone who wasn’t me, even though I had already expressed an interest, like he has no respect for the concept of first-come, first-serve.

I drowned my sorrows from being so wronged by writing rage comics wherein I blamed him for my misery, and blamed him also for any abuse he received at the hands of the partner he chose, because he could have avoided the abuse if only he’d chosen to be with me instead. Random strangers supported me and agreed that he’d treated me poorly and deserved what he got.

Oh man, wait, I’m sorry! I got confused; that wasn’t me, that was a thousand men/boys on Reddit talking about women/girls. What I did when I had a crush that wasn’t reciprocated was felt sad about it, blamed no one, and then moved the fuck on.

Viscaria
Viscaria
12 years ago

doforgo = did for me. Smooth move, iPhone.

hellkell
hellkell
12 years ago

’ve seen a couple of online threads recently (not on Manboobz) where an MRA declared that if a woman had to be a man for a day she would DIE from the HARDSHIPS.

HAHAHA. Yes, I’d fall out from the hardship of making 30% more money and having every word–no matter how banal–fawned over and basically being told by society I’m the best thing since sliced bread. Truly a fucking cross to bear.

CassandraSays
CassandraSays
12 years ago

It takes a truly epic sense of entitlement to think that having a hard time getting dates is quite literally the worst problem that a person can face.

Also privilege. Lots and lots of privilege.

cloudiah
12 years ago

Yeah, because making up 88% of DOD-identified victims of rape, sexual harassment, or unwanted sexual attention in the armed forces even while being dramatically underrepresented there is a huge privilege for women.

Source: See Exhibit 15 in the DOD 2011 Annual report on sexual assault in the military.

Well, I’m sure those are all made up accusations anyway, due to morning after regrets at sleeping with beta soldiers, and the investigations were conducted by manginas.

nwoslave
12 years ago

Funny how PBS gives air time to any pampered princess who get’s her precious feelings hurt. Somewhere in the western world one of the privileged class feels slighted. Just stop the world and let me off! Perhaps you can petition big daddy to make it a right that no woman ever feels the slightest discomfort?
————
@ragefromthebasement
“Seriously every MRA should live as a woman”

I guess we should all be grateful women don’t ever live as a man. Since western women have zero sexual self control as women, what chance would any of them have of not being a rapist living with a man’s sexuality? Oh that’s right, in lala fantasy land men and women have identical sexualities. The gang at the top told you what to think and the bobblehead dolls nodded vigorously.
———–
@CassandraSays
“Given that the user base leans young-ish, it’s not a good sign in terms of where society is going.”

It’s an excellent sign of things to come. The privileged class will be loathe to give up their superior status and power of course. As history has shown us over and over again, they always are.
————
@ragefromthebasement
“Amen! It’s interesting to note that when you ask people who have lived as men and women, they usually say it is much more difficult to be a woman.”

Did a poll amongst the pampered people reveal they find their lives are so much more difficult?

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