Well,I got carried away there. It’s not literally the whole world. Only a teensy weensy portion of it.
The fellows at A Voice for Men, you see, evidently stung by criticism that they aren’t activists, have begun engaging in real, honest-to-goodness real-world activism, by which I mean that a handful of them, some in Canada and at least one in Australia, have been putting up posters advertising the AVFM website.
In other words, their activism consists of putting up posters for a website whose only activism thus far has consisted of putting up posters for itself.
Well, eventually they’ll get the hang of it, I guess.
In any case, the A Voice for Menners have discovered something about activism: if you do things that are offensive enough, people will be offended. And so they’ve managed to offend some people in Canada and in Australia where their posters have gone up. In Australia, there have even been a couple of news articles written about them! For example, one in Melbourne’s Herald Sun says:
A MAN who is littering the city with posters promoting a website that encourages men to support rapists has declined the opportunity to explain himself.
The website, which the Herald Sun has chosen not to name, is campaigning to get men sitting on juries for rape trials to “vow publicly to vote not guilty, even in the face of overwhelming evidence that the charges are true”. …
The website’s publisher, Paul Elam, told the Herald Sun he was too busy watching the movie Air Force One to be interviewed, but later said by email he stood by the campaign.
Ooh! How very, very alpha of him.
Other articles (see here and here) describe the posters as “hate posters,” because one of them seems to suggest that women provoke domestic violence against themselves. The text of the poster reads “Domestic Violence Women Are Half the Problem.”
In fact, Elam and company are trying to suggest that women instigate half of all domestic violence, and thus are “half the problem,” but they’re so wedded to the easily misunderstood “half the problem” slogan that they somehow cannot seem to get this idea across in poster form. (This idea is itself incorrect, but that’s a whole other kettle of angry dudes.) Elam and company don’t quite seem to understand that an important part of activism is actually conveying your ideas to the general public rather than simply provoking people.
You can’t buy this kind of publicity!
Well, technically, you could, but no one would, because no one would willingly pay money for a publicity campaign that makes them appear to be hateful assholes — and in fact, even a teensy bit more hateful than they actually are.
So, congratulations, I guess?
If anyone wants to help AVFM in its publicity campaign, the super-sarcastic poster below, and a number of other poorly thought out and badly designed posters, can be downloaded from AVFM here by “anyone who wants to print and distribute them.”
Note: THIS IS A REAL AVFM POSTER. I didn’t make it up. See here.
Oh noes not posters! I’m starting to feel faint… dizzy… urge to wear pink and go to the kitchen rising…
Nah, that was just acid reflux. I’m all better now.
I hope they don’t post more posters in Hamilton.
If I didn’t speak fluent NWOslave, my interpretation of that pear poster would be “????”.
But since sadly I do, I know that it actually means “rape is a myth feminists use to oppress men.”
Oh sweet jebus….
Also, now envisioning a kettle of angry dudes, over a roaring fire. Add garlic, cumin, ginger, turmeric, cayenne pepper… spicy!
If I didn’t follow this blog, I wouldn’t understand the message of any of their posters! This is why they fail at propaganda and graphic design.
“The poster revolution has now begun!” They actually believe that is a thing.
BWAhahahahaha! The poster revolution! Posters of the world unite, and throw off the shackles of staples and glue! We posters will no longer tolerate being copied en masse, and plastered to boards and walls and telephone posts!
My goodness, that was awesome. Thanks for that, AVfM. Whew.
Now, if they were even half as adept at activism as they are at shooting themselves in the foot…
The pear one has to have been designed specifically for Manboobzers, because I really don’t think anyone who hasn’t specifically watched the manosphere from a feminist site would have a clue what they were talking about.
You know, I’m having more and more experiences in which some obtuse loudmouth goes on and on and ON about their pet theory (or political position, or what have you), and every time I try to challenge them on an error or unbased assumption, they just repeat themselves.
It’s like they think that if they just say it often enough, or loudly enough, then their audience will go, “Oh! Of course, you’re right, I never saw it that way. I now fully agree with and support you!”
No, loudmouth, I understand you perfectly well. I just disagree with you. Because you are wrong.
The good news is, I’m getting more adept at disengaging and escaping.
Katz, my first thought of when they started talking pears was pear-shaped bodies. It makes a bit more sense to me.
Oh boy!! TiME TO GET SOME PERMANENT MARKERS!!!
I hope they start posting here! Can’t wait to deface me some posters!!!
And yes, I’ve seen the odd AVFM sticker around too. First thought was “no WAY! I’ve been reading Manboobz too much”. And then I checked, and it was AVFM.
And I laughed and laughed at the thought of someguy hastily plastering that sticker up and scurring away before anyone realized what he was doing.
“No, I think I’m going to pass on this free publicity to watch some movie.” Reason #47 why they aren’t a ‘movement’.
BlueBee, I think it’s because “pear” is an anagram of “rape.” But that’s the sort of thing you’d only realize if you already knew what the poster meant.
Katz, I totally didn’t notice that. That makes much more sense though.
That Herald-Sun article is too funny–love it!
And I’m sure the posters are going to have the new recruits lining up for the cause. Whatever the cause is, because you’d never learn what it is from those posters.
Maybe I haven’t been here long enough, but that ‘pear’ poster was pure WTF. I assume it has something to do with hating women because my default is [do not understand MRA bullshit] -> [assume it has something to do with hating women].
In regards to the first one… please clarify which human rights feminists plan to deprive men and boys of, because I cannot think of any.
Its a human right to be an utter asshole. What we deprive them of is the ability to act that way and get away with it or go unnoticed.
I figured out that “pear” is an anagram for “rape”, but then “that’s a nice pear” and “grow a pear” don’t make any sense in that context, since “pear” is being used in place of “pair”. Grow a rape? What’s that supposed to mean? Sadly, I’d bet they think that’s the most clever part of the poster.
Wow, it makes much more sense now that I see pear = rape. I thought pearist was just meant to be “sexist” or something. Now it’s EVEN STUPIDER.
The website’s publisher, Paul Elam, told the Herald Sun he was too busy watching the movie Air Force One to be interviewed, but later said by email he stood by the campaign.
This is the best worst thing I’ve seen in a newspaper since my husband’s hometown paper ran the side-by-side headlines METH USE UP IN LORAIN COUNTY and CHEESE FESTIVAL: MORE CHEESE, PLEASE!
@pillowinhell
It seems they get their “right to free speech” mixed up with “no responsibility of free speech”. Right to free speech means you can say whatever shitty, hateful thing you like. You just have to take responsibility for it. You have to accept that people will say it was a shitty, hateful thing. You have to accept that the people you’re saying shitty things about aren’t going to want to hang out with you any more and are going to say less-than-flattering things about you.They just want to say (and do) whatever the hell they want and everyone say “Yes, yes, you are right and awesome.”
As strange as this is for me to say…you’re preaching to the choir.
I don’t think they’re mixed up at all. I think they know damn well how free speech works and they are hoping that others don’t.
Tolerance only goes so far.
I’m glad someone explained that pear meant rape because I certainly didn’t understand that poster. Really, what notable woman said that all men are born rapists?
Excellent observation!
Also, PERSONA!!!! I f’ing love those games.