My new favorite terrible Tumblr blog is this is female privilege, a blog that posts user-submitted examples of, well, female privilege. It’s a pretty MRA-adjacent idea for a blog, seemingly designed to be appreciated only by those who can use the word “misandry” without giggling. The woman who runs the blog seems to be fairly MRA-adjacent type herself; she recently responded to one critic with a sarcastic “Wow waahhhh it’s so hard to be a woman wahhhh!” (Literally; that’s an exact quote.)
So it’s hardly surprising that many of the posts seem to have been cut and pasted straight from the Men’s Rights subreddit – at least figuratively, if not literally. (Click on the pics to see the posts in context at this is female privilege.)
But a lot of the alleged privileges are a bit, well, odder than that. The blogger says she posts everything she gets, so either a lot of people have pretty cockeyed notions of just what privileges are, or some feminists are trolling her blog by sending along the dumbest non-privileges they can think of to make the blog even more ridiculous than it already is.
Some suggest that biological differences are “privileges.”
Some of the so-called “privileges” are the results of traditional gender roles that box both men and women in:
Dude, if you want to shave your body hair, shave your fucking body hair. There are lots of guys who shave or wax.
Some are comically delusional:
Chance this last one was submitted by a guy: 110%.
Some are just kind of whiny.
You know, there’s an easy solution to this: wait for a fucking stall, like women do.
Some are kind of weird:
And some are just, well, beyond hope:
Seriously, if you see these things as female privilege, you really, really shouldn’t be talking about privilege in public on the internet. You’re just making a fool of yourself.
The one redeeming thing about the blog: people argue back in the “notes.”
EDIT: Another redeeming thing: It’s inspired the response blog Actually This is Male Privilege.
EDIT 2: Amanda Marcotte riffs on the one about women having the wonderful privilege of sex any time they want!
@pecunium
I never mentioned anything about the duration of pain from being hit in the jewels, I simply stated the level of pain is extreme. I never said it was the worst either. You yourself stated you were floored when it happens. Why would you pretend it isn’t extremely painful other than a desire to disagree with everything I say?
I’ve never had kidney stones, but from what everyone tells me who has had them, they rate it #1 as far as level of pain. Getting hit in the nuts is extremely painful if short lived. A pain that can temporarily floor a man pretty extreme. How could saying that possibly stick in your craw?
And as I casually glance at my bookshelf, and see such names as Charles Dickens, Frank Herbert, Neil Gaiman, Bram Stoker, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G. Wells, Robert Lewis Stephenson, and Douglas Adams, still I think to myself, “Boy, I sure as shit place no value whatsoever on the artistic works of white men.”
I am a wealthy, successful entrepreneur and businessman; I am not “butthurt”, and the feminists and manginas have not managed to destroy my life despite their best efforts. However, I am merely pointing out the fact that white men’s work is considered to automatically have zero artistic value. Or at least, much less.
For example- Tom Clancy. John Grisham. Stephen King. Pulp writers- recognized as such, and sure, they make a living. But if they were non-white men, they would get much more critical credit. If they were female, they would be hailed as the best thing since sliced bread.
Merely pointing out facts; the facts tell me that I had best not attempt a writing career.
Steele? Buddy? Supposition about what you think would happen is not fact. By definition.
Yup, no white men are ever recognized for their literary achievements. Never happens.
What Steele actually means is that now sometimes people who are NOT white men ALSO get recognized, and this is very, very threatening to his fragile little ego.
Damn. That second link was meant to go here: http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/Fiction
Figuring out you’re a sockpuppeting is not anyone’s best effort to destroy your life. Maybe I’m just a mangina—nice anti-male bullshit right there, Shitforpole—but if I or anyone else here honestly cared about destroying anyone’s life I’m pretty sure we could do a lot more than just having the proprietor of this blog notice your IP address.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
^My reaction.
And you can chew on this one, also:
Canadian literature undervalues female authors, says UBC prof
Please tell me you’ve been a Poe this whole time, because the idea that someone could possibly be stupid enough to say this and not be joking makes my brain hurt.
Yes, society as a whole totally hates white men. When thinking of an example of a great, famous, tremendously lauded writer, absolutely no one would name Shakespeare, or Melville, or Faulkner, or Joyce, or Fitzgerald, or Hemingway, or Hawthorne, or Proust, or Cervantes, or Milton, or Chaucer, or Dante, or Byron, or Hugo, or Conrad, or Poe, or Steinbeck, or Salinger, or Swift, or Chekhov, or Tolstoy, or Dostoyevsky, or Kafka, or Ibsen, or Nabokov, or Twain, or SERIOUSLY DUDE THIS IS JUST SILLY.
LOL at the idea that, say, Clancy and Grisham would be seen as something other than pulp authors if only they were women/POC. Those authors aren’t lacking in critical acclaim because they’re white men, they’re lacking in critical acclaim because they’re pulp authors and people who worship literary fiction are always a bit snobbish towards genre fiction, including the genres that are dominated by women. Occasionally a genre writer is so good that they do get critical acclaim – Pratchett would be an example, as would Clive Barker – but it’s not the norm, and it has nothing to do with the people who’re not getting that acclaim being white dudes.
Is this where we’re supposed to beg and plead with Steele to grace us with his novel, to prove that we’re not averse to straight, white, cis male authors?
And if you think people would fall all over themselves to praise Thomasina Clancy’s latest novel about a special-forces group shooting terrorists, or Danielle Brown’s work about a super-secret, inside-the-Vatican conspiratorial group, just because they were written by women, you’ve got another think coming.
… Wait, is this because J K Rowling and Stephenie Meyers are big on the Internet? Dude, big on the Internet does not always overlap completely with good.
@CassandraSays
Stating gender, race and sexual proclivities for authors of books you keep on a shelf show’s a desire to push an agenda of some sort. People without an agenda simple read a book without caring about the backround of the author. A book is either well written and engaging or it isn’t. Only a racist, sexist, gay proponent feels compelled to mention any author’s personal backround.
Pulp writers!
Stephen King, Jonathan Swift, Bill Waterson, Samuel Coleridge, John Irving, John Keats, Sam Keith, Lord Byron…
So, Steele? Your life’s ambitions have been put aside because women/feminists have or might say mean things to you? Really? From what I hear, writing professionally means that you need to develop a pretty thick skin, because a lot of people are going to tell you that your work sucks, no matter what your gender or skin color. I think you’re just making excuses for your own unwillingness to risk rejection. No shame in that; I hear writing’s a tough business. But please don’t blame women or feminists for choices that, ultimately, you and only you made.
Steele, dude, seriously, if writing is so important to you then just DO IT. I promise it’s not to late.
Dude, you need to get your MRM talking points straight. Don’t you know that the accepted truth amongst your crowd is that men dominate all artistic fields because they are naturally more accomplished and all women are good for is fucking and shitting out kids?
But if he actually started writing for his own enjoyment, he couldn’t use his lack of writing as a club to beat all of feminism with!
And these BROs call us “victim-feminists.”
if you want to be a writer you should probably learn what irony is
mikey if you wan to be a writer, maybe you should start with like a blog or something.
oh wait…
Wow, people sure have a lot of high brow (and I mean that in the nice way, not the “you’re a snob” way 😛 ) stuff on their bookshelves, I feel so inadequate. O.O
My bookshelf basically just consists of a bunch of D&D books, some Warhammer 40k books, and the Zombie Survival Guide.
Steele,
Perhaps that particular teacher who nudged you away from writing as a career path noticed that your attention to detail is somewhat lacking.
Varpole: (sorry this took so long. I’m not able to be as efficient as a wealthy, successful entrepreneur and businessman; who was enrolled in a graduate program last week, and able to attend lectures on literature in his spare time [when he’ s not doing 40 crunches, or tossing off the odd comment on a blog: I’m making chicken stock in the background, and doing some photography work; no time to excercise).
I am merely
pointing out[pretending the fact that white men’s work is considered to automatically have zero artistic value. Or at least, much less.FTFY.
Because this is the list of Pulitzter Prizes for several categories in the recent past. I chose the Pulitzers, not the Nobels, because that’s in the US.
2012 John Lewis Gaddis George F. Kennan: An American Life
An engaging portrait of a globetrotting diplomat whose complicated life was interwoven with the Cold War and America’s emergence as the world’s dominant power.
That beat out this:
2012 Mary Gabriel Love and Capital: Karl and Jenny Marx and the Birth of a Revolution
An enlightening, richly researched book on the saga of Marx, his family and the ideas and historical events they helped to shape.
So a book about a white guy, written by a white guy; who was pursuing typical white guy politics beat out a book by a woman about Karl and Jenny Marx. A book which dealt with, among other things, how Jenny helped support Karl during his entire career.
Yep, them women got all those dudes discounted.
Let’s go back.
2012 John Lewis Gaddis George F. Kennan: An American Life
An engaging portrait of a globetrotting diplomat whose complicated life was interwoven with the Cold War and America’s emergence as the world’s dominant power.
2011 Ron Chernow Washington : A Life
A sweeping, authoritative portrait of an iconic leader learning to master his private feelings in order to fulfill his public duties.
2010 T.J. Stiles The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt
A penetrating portrait of a complex, self-made titan who revolutionized transportation, amassed vast wealth and shaped the economic world in ways still felt today.
2009 Jon Meacham American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House
An unflinching portrait of a not always admirable democrat but a pivotal president, written with an agile prose that brings the Jackson saga to life.
2008 John Matteson “Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father”
2007 Debby Applegate The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher
2006 Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
2005 Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan de Kooning: An American Master
2004 William Taubman Khrushchev: The Man and His Era
2003 Robert A. Caro Master of the Senate
2002 David McCullough John Adams
Going back ten years… one book by a woman; about a white man. One book about a woman (and her father).
Yeah, those women have tied that up.
How about Fiction?
2012 Water by the Spoonful by Quiara Alegría Hudes
An imaginative play about the search for meaning by a returning Iraq war veteran working in a sandwich shop in his hometown of Philadelphia.
More details
2011 Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris
For “Clybourne Park,” a powerful work whose memorable characters speak in witty and perceptive ways to America’s sometimes toxic struggle with race and class consciousness.
More details
2010 Next to Normal, music by Tom Kitt, book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey
A powerful rock musical that grapples with mental illness in a suburban family and expands the scope of subject matter for musicals.
More details
2009 Ruined by Lynn Nottage
A searing drama set in chaotic Congo that compels audiences to face the horror of wartime rape and brutality while still finding affirmation of life and hope amid hopelessness.
2008 “August: Osage County” by Tracy Letts
2007 Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire
2006 by No Award
No award.
2005 Doubt, a parable by John Patrick Shanley
2004 I Am My Own Wife by Doug Wright
2003 Anna in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz
2002 Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks
Well, women do a little better here. Two of the works are by women (and no, Tracy Letts is a white dude). And one of them is about what you would call a “feminist theme”. But in 2006, there wasn’t anyone, male or female, they thought was up to par.
Why don’t we look at history… surely there, where they have such a strong agenda to rewrite the past surely if The feminists and manginas have created a culture in which white men- due to their alleged privilege and horribleness- can never have anything meaningful to say,” that culture will be evident in the awards for writing about history:
2012 Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, by the late Manning Marable
An exploration of the legendary life and provocative views of one of the most significant African-Americans in U.S. history, a work that separates fact from fiction and blends the heroic and tragic.
2011 The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery by Eric Foner (W.W. Norton & Company)
For “The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery,” (W.W. Norton & Company), a well orchestrated examination of Lincoln’s changing views of slavery, bringing unforeseeable twists and a fresh sense of improbability to a familiar story.
2010 Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed (The Penguin Press)
“Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World,” by Liaquat Ahamed (The Penguin Press), a compelling account of how four powerful bankers played crucial roles in triggering the Great Depression and ultimately transforming the United States into the world’s financial leader.
2009 The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed (W.W. Norton & Company)
A painstaking exploration of a sprawling multi-generation slave family that casts provocative new light on the relationship between Sally Hemings and her master, Thomas Jefferson.
2008 “What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848” by Daniel Walker Howe (Oxford University Press)
2007 The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation by Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff (Alfred A. Knopf)
2006 Polio: An American Story by David M. Oshinsky (Oxford University Press)
2005 Washington’s Crossing by David Hackett Fischer (Oxford University Press)
2004 A Nation Under Our Feet: Black Political Struggles in the Rural South from Slavery to the Great Migration by Steven Hahn (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press)
2003 An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943 by Rick Atkinson (Henry Holt and Company)
2002 The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America by Louis Menand (Farrar)
Shit… there was a book about how a White Dude’s slaves could be used as a lens to view race relations; and to help us view Jefferson in a more rounded light. I suppose that counts. There is also the book about Malcom X, but that was moved over from Biography, so it’s sort of grey. But one woman did win, even if a lot of white dudes writing about white dudes makes it kind of hard to spot. There was even some writing which seemed to be primarily about the black experience in the South.
Must suck to be a white dude right now. All those women keeping you from being a rich novelist (because really… if you are making a living writing, who cares if someone whom you’ve never heard of on the internet says you write pulp… the checks still cash). All those women taking up the small amount of serious publishing in serious literature (instead of that profitable pulp), and history and biograhy.
Why they got four awards, in ten years. That shows how doomed you would be; what with being a white dude and all.
HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA. *wipes tears of laughter out of eyes*
Yes, pity the poor white man with no societal outlet for all his pain. Puh-fuckin’-leeze. Pull the other one, it has bells on.
paul elam has a whole website of people who read his writing, and he can barely string a sentence together.
it’s easier than fucking ever to get your shit out there, but apparently the only creative endeavor that matters to you is coming up with excuses to not take the risk. dont be a fucking coward, take all the time you spend here complaining about things and actually do something with it. it’s probably gonna suck because you only know like fifty words and you seem to go out of your way to sound stitled and leaden, but those are things you could maybe fix with practice!
stop talking about it, stop bothering us about it, just go and do it you fucking baby.