When you spend as much time as we do here at Man Boobz scrutinizing the Men’s Rights movement, it’s easy to forget what a fringe phenomenon it is. So here are some charts from Google Trends – charting the frequency of certain search terms from 2004 until today — that help to put it all in perspective. (Thanks to Katz, Cloudiah and Cthulhu’s Intern in the comments for inspiring this post.)
That “rapidly growing” Men’s Rights movement that MRAs like to talk about? It may actually be stagnant or even shrinking, if searches for “men’s rights” are any indication. Despite a recent comeback, they’re still less than half of what they were at their height in 2004.
Now let’s put that in perspective.
No, there’s nothing wrong with that graph; it’s just that My Little Pony is so much more popular than Men’s Rights that the latter simply vanishes into the X axis.
But this graph is my favorite:
Well, nothing will top that, but here’s a graph showing that people are a lot more concerned about misogyny than misandry — and, I would add, for good reason.
Let’s see what other trends we can find!
(Oh, and sorry about the low quality pics; WordPress won’t let me embed the charts.)
Actually I’m going to guess that it was the mockery and the resulting embarrassment that made them take it down.
@Carley, I got really curious too, and well, my brain has been screaming at me for being all curious cat ever since. This is even worse than the time I decided Googling movies who’s adverts scared me might make me less afraid because knowing the ending of the movies might make it less mysterious and terrifying. FYI, this is actually a TERRIBLE idea if you’re someone like me who scares easily and won’t sleep when you’re scared because then you get to read about the scary stuff that isn’t in the adverts PLUS your brain is doing the conjuring of all the terrifying things ever, no need for special effects.
My brain is now on a constant loop of “when will you learn that if it sounds like it will disturb you it will actually give you nightmares for weeks and therefore you should just leave it alone?” I think this is the part where ostara learns there are just some things she should not know and be happy not knowing and leave it at that.
I’ve seen no signs that they are even capable of being embarrassed; they truly thought they were creating GREAT ART (in all caps, ‘cos they are manly men who are the only ones who create anything worthy of admiration, in between hunting the mammoth).
Ostara, I think you need a therapeutic cat video:
Dude, close the box, I’m not done yet!
Thanks, cloudiah! The brain bleach is much needed.
Cloudiah: I think they do respond to public pressure/mockery. Notice how few of the trollish sorts manage to make the move to being “regular”, as oppose to flash in the pan wonders.
About the only ones I can think of who have the combination of narcissism and no sense of self-reflection are Steele and Brandon. Even the Mellers, and the NWOs of the world wear themselves out.
Meller, you will note, no longer addresses active posts. Ruby is a now a drive-by commenter (ok, she was only more than that for a brief while, then she outed herself as being Tom Martin levels of reprehensible, and has been targeted for the mockery/shunning such stands merit).
But the rest, they burn hot and fast, or they sputter; a brief blaze of heat, then a smouldering threat of action; to come back and flare up when something really gets under their skin.
Diogenes might have the stamina; thought he is (as with Steele, and Brandon) prone to fits of targetting people; while ignoring others.
What they can’t abide is being treated as they deserve, instead of as the “deep thinkers” they wish to present themselves as being.
Cloudiah, love that video. Looks like Maru has a serious competitor!
Pecunium, I was speaking specifically of the Artistry Against Misandry folks, not our pet trolls. I think they were immune to mockery because — against all the evidence — they really thought they were talented artists. XD
I may have it downloaded on my tablet, I think I had to do that when i went to read it online. i came across it in my word processing app and was mildly surprised because I had totally forgotten about it. I saved it for a rainy day when i need a belly laugh.
Cloudiah: Pecunium, I was speaking specifically of the Artistry Against Misandry folks, not our pet trolls. I think they were immune to mockery because — against all the evidence — they really thought they were talented artists. XD
That couldn’t last much longer than someone not in the He Man Women Haterz Klub taking a good look at it.
And it seems it didn’t.
Thought some of them are precious. I have one who is stalking my blog… new accounts making the same sorts of attempted insults as he made here. Sort of sad, really.
Spanking vs. BDSM:
http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=spanking%2C%20bdsm&cmpt=q
For some reason, ‘spanking’ has been in a steady decline from the start of the chart. But I’m not at all surprised that ‘spanking’ is most popular in the UK or that ‘BDSM’ is (almost) the most popular in Germany, second only to the Czech Republic.
I am a women because i can put words together that don’t make sense. I come here to show to the world that women are stupid and in need of patriarchal oppression. I like talking about cats because I can not talk to human because I am making too good sense when talking.
I’m gonna have a lot of fun with this.
This obscure family band from Germany who had an infomercial in the us when I was like 8 years old is like five times more popular than men’s rights.
just putting this out there… But the searches for “men”s rights” will show way more than MRM hits – Google “men’s rights” just now and you’ll see lots of hits unrelated to Elam & co.
PS David – it seems a bit odd that the course, if it IS the same one, would be on the University’s website: http://202.74.67.49/CREPublications/publication.asp?Publication=1141&UDRH – maybe they tweaked it, but the person I was speaking to is adamant the course doesn’t exist.
Louise McOrmond-Plummer, did you perhaps mean to post that somewhere else? I see no mention of a course in the last couple of pages of this (year-old) thread.