When confronted with the simple fact that men hold the overwhelming majority of positions of power in the world – in government, business, culture, and pretty much everything else – MRAs like to pretend that the actual gender of those in power makes no difference because, well, the men in power are probably a bunch of manginas doing the dirty work of the women who really run the world. Or something like that.
Indeed, some MRAs have even managed to convince themselves that the very basic historical and sociological fact that men in power, by and large, tend to represent men’s interests more than women’s interests is some sort of locical fallacy – something that they’ve labeled “The Frontman Fallacy.”
Now A Voice for Men contributor and YouTube videoblogger TyphonBlue has done these guys one better in terms of sheer antifeminist loopiness. In the comments on one of the Warren Farrell protest videos I recently wrote about, she argues that men in power don’t really push male interests because … they probably don’t even think of themselves as men.
Here she is, writing under her other nom-de-net Genderratic:
I don’t even know what to say to this. I mean, WHAT?!
PROTIP: You’re not going to convince anyone you’re a great ally of trans* people if you refer to them as “it.”
Let me see if I understand this correctly. Genderratic here has proven that men who aren’t MRAs don’t actually identify as male… as long as one defines “identifies as male” to mean “is an MRA”. Okay then.
I, for one, was rather surprised to learn that I’m apparantly not cisgendered.
Tomorrow, since I know a lot of men in power, I will ask them “do you consider yourself to be actually male as in you identify with males?”
I suspect the answer will be 100% yes I do.
Are you kidding me? Anecdotally I would put it at 0% because I’ve never heard a man express a desire to be a woman. I’ve heard men express horror at the fact that I have no desire to be a man, though. Hmm.
But hey, anecdotes.
Please just go ahead and point me to all of this horrifically anti-male stuff that Hollywood is producing. Just five examples should be easy, no?
What is this fuckery? The only time I’ve heard men say they want to be women is when they whine about how much easier it is for women to get dates. Other than that, they really don’t seem to want that.
@ amandajane5
Remember, any movie where a man gets wounded or killed is misandry, because DISPOSABLE MALES!
This THIS THIS argument is the one that makes the people I tell about the MRA most fall into helpless laughter (many of them men).
Oh, reminds me: have been too busy to write about it, but there was a conformed MRM sighting on campus, and a FLYER!
My dept. head asked me about a flyer that had been turned into him by a (male) teaching assistant who received it from a (male) student who had been handed it while he was outside the building smoking one day.
It was a text only, black and white, print out, with a website, and a claim that the Sexual Harassment Policy at (my university’s name redacted) was anti-male–and supported false accusations.
He had gone to see the website and was flabbergasted.
I gave him the background, and he was even MOAR flabbergasted.
I don’t identify as very male, but that’s because I am one of those horrible gender abolitionist evil feminist alternative sexuality freaks.
Fuck off TyphonBlue, come back when you’ve learnt what empathy and altruism are. And doubly fuck off until you realise what a transphobic/cissexist* arse you’re being, and cease being such an arse.
* I’m not sure which is more applicable here, but either way TyphonBlue needs to fuck off.
AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHH. I can only summarize my feelings as TRANS RAAAAAGE. (Where is my Superman “I AM A MAN!” punch icon when I need it?)
First, the ‘it’ thing, but I really, REALLY fucking hate the ‘X-bodied’ shit. It’s so… presumptuous and fucking invasive. What makes a body ‘male’ or ‘female’? Does medical transition change that? If so, how much medical transition is required? It’s bollocks! Complete and utter bollocks. I am NOT female-bodied, kthanx. I am MALE, ergo my body is MALE.
Also, I don’t necessarily identify with other men. (No, I refuse to call them ‘male-bodied people,’ godfuckingdammit. I’m not playing this game where I lump trans women with cis men and get to pretend I’m oh so fucking genderenlightened.) THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MY IDENTITY. Who I hang out with != my identity.
…
*flailing SHRIIIIIIEK*
Someone with better (worse?) photoshop skills than I could totally get away with http://www.avoiceforMOARflabbergasted.com, for real.
I feel embarrassed for TyphonBlue, actually.
Ithiliana: was it an AVfM flyer?
What if the moon really is made of cheese?
What if cows are secretly plotting a massive uprising?
What if we’re all cast members on a reality teevee show for aliens?*
What if MRAs had any sense whatsoever?
I mean, while we’re throwing out completely batshit and impossible ideas.
*This is true though. Ever wondered why spiders are both unnatural looking and always staring at you? THEY’RE HIDDEN CAMERAS!
(No, I am not done ranting yet. Apparently this is one of my big red buttons.)
Also, WTF, now it’s TRANS people’s fault that men are disenfranchised in government? Fuck you. Then why isn’t trans health care covered by most insurances? Why aren’t legislators sweeping out with trans education crap? Why isn’t gender and identity talked about more among politicians?
(Hint: BECAUSE THEY’RE NOT TRANS.)
Just… aaaaargh. AAAAAAARGH.
I’m going to go bake cookies now and sputter incoherently at my brown sugar.
50 to 90 percent of men want to be women? really? reminds me of the girlwriteswhat classic “The only male safe space left on the planet is the men’s bathroom, ffs. And even then, there will be feminist-leaning men policing what is said.” Perhaps being a female MRA requires an even bigger disconnect from reality than being a male one, if such a thing is possible.
Hmm… I think they’re just running out of shit to complain about and are just make it up as they go.
So… I can, off the top of my head, think of exactly ONE transsexual politician in my country. Somehow the vast trans conspiracy decided that she could come out of the closet, but the rest of them has to stay there in order not to create suspicion (I guess)? I wonder how they decide who’s gonna be allowed to come out. A lottery?
MRAs: You keep using that word, “fallacy.” I do not think it means what you think it means.
But what if the people in power on our planet are really lizard people, and they just like to disguise themselves as men? What if MRAs are the only true men????!
Also, 50 to 90%? That’s very… specific.
(http://memegenerator.net/instance/31576696)
(Because I love stupid internet shit that everyone else got over years ago)
Wow. All I can say is, those trans/feminist/wannabewomen politicians have the BEST camoflague I’ve ever seen. Like, the entire Republican machine manages to present itself as actively hating women. That’s quite some job of pretending to be Manly Christian Men they’re doing.
This is pure Heinz 57-Kinds-of-Wrong Sauce. Since they’re making up new logical fallacies, can we make some up too?
My house is full of spiders. o_O
@clairedammit – I am so sorry to hear that (shivers)
Remember a few months back when, um… Tom Martin?… made up a bunch of fallacies and named them after colors?
Good times.
As an actual trans* person, I can inform you that we have, in fact, infiltrated the highest levels of the western governments.
The fact that there is, like, zero, education programs regarding trans*? That the media (and laws!) overwhelmingly tend to reinforce the perceived gender binary? That my gender (among many, many others) doesn’t even get a set of pronouns?
All part of the plan. I mean, why work towards having our rights recognized when we can just make life harder for all the menfolk?
I don’t even… I have no words for this.
@LBT: Internet hugs if you want them. Hope your cookies turn out well. You’ll have to let us know if rage!cookies taste better than average cookies 😉
Note how her requirement for identifying as a man basically requires a guy to be either a male chauvanist or an MRA (redundances are redundant). So if a male politician advances some feminist cause or fails to be SUPER CONCERNED ABOUT FALSE ACCUSATIONS OMG, TyphonBlue has given herself license to say he doesn’t identify as male.
I guess as a trans* woman myself, according to TyphoonBlue, I’m, like, all set to succeed in politics because of it? Sweet. I have a few good ideas of how to better this country, if I do say so myself, like, for instance, total equality for all, a 110% inclusive ENDA, and nationwide free cookies on Fridays…you know, job-creating stuff like that.
MORGAN PFOHL IN 2016, yo! Vote for meeee!!!!! Thanks TyphoonBlue!!!!!!
XD XD XD
I’m not very tuned into trans* issues (but I’m learning!) so I could be way off base, but isn’t calling someone “male-bodied” or “female-bodied” offensive all by itself*? If someone identifies as male, then they’re male, so wouldn’t saying “male-bodied” imply that they are male in body only, regardless of how they identify? We already have the terms MAAB and FAAB to describe how others see someone or how they were seen in the past.
*obviously the way TB uses the the term is offensive
Off to see Skyfall!
I gotta say, I kinda dig her style (assuming that her avatar is a picture of herself). Funny hats and pipes? Hell yes.
That said, the content of her posts just makes no sense. I do think it could be said that 50-90% of men aren’t “entirely male” in the sense that they don’t fully live up to all the expectations put upon them by society’s gender roles, but to jump from that to “they would rather transition to female”? Ridiculous.
Well, let’s patronize trans* individuals in order to back up our deluded beliefs by claiming that ALL male politicians are trans, and not only that, but that almost ALL men want to be women. The stupid is strong in this one. Too strong.
Did the stupid and bigotry temporarily freeze your brain too?
I’m voting for Morgan! The cookie platform won me over. Cookies + equality is a winning combination! XD
Morgan has my vote too. Cookies for all!!
Clairedammit, you’re probably very popular with the voting alien viewers. The spiders mean that you won’t be eliminated… this round.
Can’t vote; eating cookies.
What if The Matrix is actually a documentary? What if George Washington was just a character made up by historians to troll future generations? What if all the mall Santas are really aliens? What if Tom Hiddleston is the anti-Christ? What if Obama is secretly a muslim terrorist from Kenya just waiting for the right time to declare sharia law… Oh, wait, some people actually believe that. *raises a clenched fist to the sky* FOX!
I feel like if everyone in government was actually a trans woman then TyphonBlue would be a lot better educated and actually have any idea of what being trans is like. It’s almost like she’s just making shit up!
I vote for Morgan! Free cookies for everyone!
I had a fun b-day–I went out for various chocolate-type desserts at a cafe and then to a bar for truffle fries and drinks.
@Creative Writing Student
Possibly, which could be me starting to get jaded and annoyed with the sheer ignorance displayed by MRAs. I dunno, sorry I’ll stop commenting.
Also I think switching back to ritalin based meds was a bad idea. While the other meds did cause depression, they also kept my impulsiveness in check, forced me to think about what I was saying before I said it.
Morgan, I must know more about your platform first. Are you a proponent of cookie diversity? Would we be allowed macadamia nut one Friday and ginger snap the next, or are you firmly pro-chocolate chip?
Also, because nobody else has posted this yet:
And now I’m just making excuses, my gods, what’s happened to me?
Morgan: The gluten-free special interest groups want to know what’s in it for us?
It’s true! It’s true!
@aworld
My response was “Wat. Wat. Seriously. What the fuck. Fuck you, TyphonBlue. Fuck you. *mental static*” Then I wrote my comment. Then I had some orange juice and worked on my assignment (a snarky rantview) so I was able to work out some of the remaining static there.
Seriously, Stu Rasmussen’s story is awesome. If trying to parse MRA theories about how male politicians are secretly transwomen, which allows them to have the same levels of EVIL as ciswomen, gets you down, the full story on Radiolab will cheer you up.
http://www.radiolab.org/2009/oct/19/new-stu/
So MRAs have gotten bored with trying to appropriate herbivore men and now they’re trying to appropriate trans women instead? Awesome.
Just out of interest, does she ever explain why she believes that 50-90% of men want to transition?
@Creative Writing Student
Oh, sorry about the misunderstanding there, I think I’ve been spending too much time staring into the abyss on SRS lately, I think I need a break from getting mad at bigots on the interwebs.
@aworldanon
But were you pointing into the bowels of the abyss like a histrionic jester?
(Sorry guys, I couldn’t resist…)
I do kinda get what you mean about taking a break from getting mad at bigots on the internet, it kinda seeps into your brain because of the combination of stupidity and hate. At least when getting mad at publications they break it up by suggesting that members of One Direction are ‘bad boys’ (UK!Cosmo) or running poorly-drawn comics about the problems of ‘illegal immigrant’ vampires running unchecked (The Sun. I shit ye not.)
Wait, is that the Sun’s very first attempt at using a metaphor or do they actually think that the people in question have pointy teeth?
As soon as you can convince me that David Futrelle is busy pushing my interests, I might concede some of the arguments here.
I wasn’t aware that male politicians get some subliminal command to benefit men at the expense of women.
Indeed you fools would be hard pressed to find a single law that benefits men at the direct expense of women, but I can find plenty of laws that do the reverse. “Differently situated ” of course, and the victim class must remain the victim class.
Anyway this is one of the funniest threads ever on this blog of a man-hating male. The irony is so rich I just felt I had to comment.