If you ever have the desire to get yourself downvoted on the Men’s Rights subreddit, here’s one sure-fire strategy: Write a sensible comment suggesting that birth control benefits people with penises as much as people with vaginas.
Here are the two top replies to this comment:
I was going to point out some of the ironies inherent in Men’s Rightsers getting mad about women getting “free” birth control, but I suspect you can figure those out on your own.
This is why the so-called Men’s Rights movement is not so much a rights movement as a take-away-other-people’s-rights movement.
Ninja’ed by one of the best!
some guy has also managed to get in a “your mom” and a fart “joke.” Truly a comedic genius. George Carlin and Richard Pryor are wherever they are just kicking themselves for never getting to that level of humor.
I am in full support of finding more birth control options for men. We should share the wealth of side effects birth control causes.
I have used the following:
1. Birth control pill that made me gain ten pounds and increased my breasts to a DD (some may not see this as a bad thing, but none of my bras fit).
2. The hormonal patch that ate holes in my skin.
3. The Depo Provero shot that made my sex drive disappear for a year.
4. An IUD that hurt so bad when it was inserted I fainted, and then gave me nine day periods with such bad cramps I had to stay in bed with a heating pad.
Birth control is so much fun! The best times was when I was between relationships and practiced celibacy, sometimes for years. Now I am married and use nothing, though now we have the problem of infertility to deal with 🙁
@fembot: And that is why I choose condoms over the pill =P
Condoms are good, but if they slide off or break you have to take the morning after pill.
True, though the side effects aren’t as bad now as they were about 5 years ago…oh god the memories >.<
About twelve years ago I spent a day bent over a toilet vomiting from that darned morning after pill. They are much better now, thank goodness.
I use the implant. I don’t trust it, but one of my many brain irregularities (tokophobia) doesn’t trust any birth control that isn’t hysterectomy. It is good in that I don’t have to remember to take it every day, seeing as another of my many brain irregularities (severe anxiety) causes poor memory. This causes me to forget to take essential-to-not-dying medication sometimes. Somehow, I’m not dead. I also forget to take my anti-anxiety pills too. 😛
Some guy, I’m not complaining about the downvotes.I find upvotes and downvotes helpful for giving me an idea of how completely misguided the folks in r/mr are.
Yeah, the first pill I took had me sick for a week. I woke up the next day feeling like I had hit by a train. Now, the worst side effect I get is sore boobs. A bit of a pain but miles better in comparison.
The IUD insertion is brutal. Fortunately my doctor gave me a single dose of benzodiazepam so I was nice and relaxed – I still cussed like a sailor because of the cramps. On the upside: if childbirth is anything like that, it’s good incentive to keep using birth control…
P.S. My health insurance covered part of my IUD costs, I didn’t pay a cent to my doctor to insert it, and the world did not collapse. See America, it is possible.
@Flora
Lucky! When I had to have an HSG test (ink injected into the uterus to see if the fallopian tubes are blocked) my doctor wouldn’t give me anything, even though some women claimed it was more painful than childbirth. I had to have my mom mail me some vicodin.
I know three women who use IUDs; for one of them, it’s been great. The other two bled, like all the time, for months and months.
Someone take my vagina, I don’t want mine anymore =(
So we should have sex and just be celibate if we can’t afford birth control, but if we don’t have sex we’re frigid bitches? If we don’t want kids we’re horrible sluts, and if we do want kids we’re sperm-stealing child support chasers?
I asked my boyfriend why he helps pay for my birth control and he said “Because you can’t afford it and I enjoy having regular sex with you.” I guess that’s misandry, some how.
I think there was a male birth control suggestion that involved sonic-ing the testicles. I don’t know what happened to it though.
I do know my partner did not appreciate my suggestion that he sit on a loudspeaker though. 😛
The last time I took the morning after pill I was 18, and I still remember the nausea. And the constant bleeding, weight gain, and emotional confusion that led me to stop taking the pill. These guys want hormonal contraceptives and all the lovely side effects that go along with them? They’re more than welcome to it.
I guess they’re pretty close to developing a male birth control pill that inhibits sperm production and sperm motility.
OT, for those talking about problems with IUDs. There are different kinds of IUDs. There are two currently available in the US, the ParaGard, which is a copper-containing IUD and the Mirena, which contains hormones. ParaGard tends to increase bleeding and cramping in some women but has the advantage of being able to stay in for 10 years. Mirena actually tends to decrease bleeding, and some women actually stop bleeding with them. They can be used for 5 years. If you had problems with a ParaGard, you might consider a Mirena.
Screwdriver or The Hedgehog?
Either way: ow.
I’d amend that to ‘even more idiotic’.
@Tulgey Logger
I actually have a Wii-mote in the shape of Eleven’s screwdriver… *evil little giggle*
Don’t you just love MRA “logic”?
Active sexual dysfunction often IS normal function. It’s a normal consequence of aging, for one thing, and prevents reproduction when advanced paternal age is likely to contribute to developmentally disabilities in offspring. The same can be said of instances where impotence is correlated with serious chronic conditions. And lest we forget, Viagra doesn’t actually treat erectile dysfunction. It does not address underlying causes, and it has no long-term positive effect. It’s sole purpose is to enable a man to get his rocks off during a limited time interval.
Moreover, what are the consequences of impotence, other than the inability to have sex or reproduce? Impotence is not life-threatening. It’s not painful. It does not impact a person’s normal activities of daily living.
Pregnancy, by contrast, is painful, uncomfortable, life-threatening, disabling to varying degrees, and known to occasionally lead to long-term damage to the woman’s body. But no, because it’s what God intended, let’s deprive women of the ability to avoid the hell that is pregnancy and childbirth, while supplying men with happy pills. Because, you know, men really are entitled to be hung like a horse as an antidote to being forced into fatherhood. *Headdesk*
“Mirena actually tends to decrease bleeding, and some women actually stop bleeding with them. They can be used for 5 years.”
My doctor told me about 10% of women stop having a period all together. I am one of those lucky few – it is beautiful! (Although I did have one period post-IUD that was like being hit in the abdomen with a baseball bat. Repeatedly. At random intervals throughout the day.)
David,
Pointing out a swing of votes with a spread less than 10 is pretty lame, especially for a reporter presumably addicted to facts and a reality based community.
Pointing out the nonsense of the opinions seems reasonable. Making a big deal out of the votes themselves, especially at reddit, seems meaningless and a waste of everyone’s time, yours and your readers.
Especially since you don’t bother to report the silly opinions, or the misogynist opinions, or homophobic responses that get downvoted. So it’s just more one sided silliness from you that makes you, and your SRS buddies here, happy, and apparently gives the SPLC fodder for fundraising.
But it misrepresents the dynamics of that forum and the dynamics of reddit and you know that.
It is amusing to watch your commenters here fulminate over horrible MRA downvotes and then turn around and rationalize SRS downvote brigades. I know if I were a reporter I would be so happy to see my posts abused in this way.