One effect of living within the ideological bubble of the Men’s Rights movement is what you might call ideological inflation: MRAs start off believing, for example, that women don’t face discrimination today, in the developed world — an idea that’s wrong enough to start with. But then, surrounded by other delusional MRAs who reinforce their every wrong notion, the denizens of the Men’s Rights bubble come to believe that women haven’t ever been discriminated against anywhere and at any time in the history of the world. (You may recall those evil cavewomen who sat around eating prehistoric bon bons while the men hunted the mammoth to feed them.)
And that leads to things like the following video, in which the FeMRA video maker who calls herself The Wooly Bumblebee declares war on a pair of “Misandric Pants” she bought for her daughter by accident.
Yep, that’s right, she’s furious because one fucking percent of the proceeds made from selling these pants goes to a charity fighting against the very real discrimination and oppression that girls face all over the globe. You know, like being denied educations because they’re girls. Like being forced into child marriages with adult men. Like being forced into prostitution as children. That sort of thing.
Apparently girls don’t suffer from being repeatedly raped as children. But boys are totally oppressed because a tiny portion of the profits from a pair of pants goes to a charity that talks about, and tries to do something about, the shit girls have to endure because they are girls.
@Argenti — “I know!”
The British Board of Film Classification – the MPAA’s equivalent in the UK – has recently taken to posting very detailed reasons for their ratings on its website, though this postdated the release of Pan’s Labyrinth.
Here, for instance, is their explanation as to why they passed The Dark Knight Rises with a 12A (broadly the equivalent of ‘PG-13’, in that it allows children under twelve to see the film if they’re accompanied by responsible adults).
With really contentious films, this section can be a fair bit longer.
That’s a really interesting approach they’ve taken, Wetherby.
“@Argenti — ‘I know!'”
I was loving that episode for that, which might make the ending seem all the more stupid. Who wouldn’t love lemonade on tap and the sort of maybe possible but probably not tech he outfitted the house with? Hammocks as the kids’ beds!?
And then it goes all “we need a mother ship!” (And her daughter? Not “done” because motherhood makes a woman a grow up, dontcha know! *eyes roll right out of head*)
The goofy, the humans as the big bad, everything right up to that bullshit…and then they spring all that bull and it’s just “no, no >.< ”
Which isn’t touching how she basically married a “I won’t ever stop following you” stalker.
Don’t even get me started on that.
Oh good, it isn’t just me!
On movies: When I grew up, Statens biografbyrå (the governmental bureau of movie theatres, roughly translated) was very strict when it came to violence. Full frontal nudity you could have in children’s movies (which I think makes perfect sense – everyone has genitals, there’s nothing strange about that) but violence was a big no-no. American action movies with Stallone and Scharzenegger were always adults-only. Some American action movies as well as horror movies were completely banned from theatres, which of course created a huge hype around them.
They’ve loosened up since, but I think Sweden is still stricter when it comes to violence than many other countries. Nolan’s Batman movies were adults-only for instance. Although the bureau was more or less forced by angry movie companies and politicians who were pushed by lobbyists from said companies to allow the X-men movies and LOTR from age eleven (and kids from seven in the company of an adult).
I get that it’s problematic to ban movies from theatres from a freedom-of-speech point of view (even if one can still watch them through other channels), and I get that age limits are largely ineffectual anyway. I still sympathise with the basic morals of the movie bureau… Violence is bad, so children shouldn’t watch violent behaviour.
Btw, the puppy is gorgeous. I think it’s a German hunting terrier.
There are also more male feminists with children than MRAs, because feminism is currently an it movement for society.
One of the things to make clear… the MPAA is a non-binding rating, set by a small group of people; drawn from a very limited pool.
If a theater wants, they can ignore the rating, and let anyone in to see the show.
The group which does the rating is all volunteer, selected by a single person/small group, and has to be free to watch movies mid-day, mid-week, for months at a stretch. It is largely made up of suburban women, in their mid-60s; who have the means to have the free time. Those who have the interest tend to be a bit moralising/socially controlling. The selection process further filters for this.
They are anonymous, and unaccountable.
I just listened to a short video from this same person talking about how feminists are misrepresenting the MRA and that is what people are listening to. I got my impression of the MRA/MRM by reading their stuff. Some of it didn’t sound right so I went looking for different opinions. This video blogger says they are about one thing but the articles and especially the comments tell a different story.
So where have I been missing all the nasty stuff about men and the “women are innocent victims” idea that fems have supposedly been pushing?
Has anyone seen ‘This Film is Not Yet Rated’? FASCINATING look at the USA movie ratings process.
I actually tend to ask friends regarding movies. Though I’ve gotten better over the years, I prefer to avoid rapeyness, and a LOT of that passes under the radar. So does a lot of the emotional creepiness that bugs me. Ratings aren’t much help on that end.
Funny thing. My sibling Sneak can’t handle even cheesy unbelievable violence… but zie actually really seems to enjoy really disturbing shit about child abuse. LOVED Coraline, finds ‘the Binding of Isaac’ (a video game) really entrancing. Zie’s such a happy funtime kid, it sometimes surprises me when zie shows an interest in that.
Also, godDAMN Pan’s Labyrinth. Beautiful music, beautiful art, I’m a Doug Jones fan… but it is one of the SADDEST MOVIES to me, beaten only by Grave of the Fireflies thus far. (Since I interpreted the fantasy land to be pure fantasy–yes, funny, considering me.)
“There are also more male feminists with children than MRAs, because feminism is currently an it movement for society.”
Not quite following the point there…
“which I think makes perfect sense – everyone has genitals, there’s nothing strange about that”
Can we teach America that?
I approve! I’d personally like to have a list of specific things that you tick off, from full frontal nudity, to explicitly described rape to almost fatal beating from more than two people. More eloquent than that, but so as to avoid spoilers but make sure that you *know* if something as important but subtle as implied sexual threats are included.
This makes so much sense. NZ isn’t nearly as puritanical as the US but we still are excessively hung up on *gasp* nudity and sex. It’s ridiculous!
Hi again all, sorry sleeping and work intervened. I really really don’t like war movies. As a genre generally I find them violent and, in particular, they tend to have scenes relating to sexual assault and worse. I watch movies for entertainment, to forget reality, and because wars really happen, and people really get hurt and killed, I can’t personally locate entertainment value in that. Apart from Blackadder Goes Forth.
A genre I do really like is Star Trek (not TNG and especially not DS9). One thing that I have always wondered about Star Trek is, is it naval? I get a bit lost with all the American rank terms, but I’m not aware of ensign or admiral being air or army terms. Also applies to Battlestar Galatica.
Did the American Navy win the future and the other services are gone? Or could this be a marines thing (really unsure of marines ranks).
@Hrovitnir: re NZ prudity (is that a word?) we had that nun in the 1970s/early 80s who seemed to be the sole arbiter of what “should” be considered vice. It always made me laugh about how she “forced herself” to look at objectionable material so the rest of us could be saved from it. And there’s a page on her on Wikipedia /faints in shock: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Bartlett
The other thing I found really amusing was that, in the late 1980s, it appeared that Wellington had a vice squad that consisted of one double-crewed squad car. Clearly there were only ever vice issues in Wellington for 8 hours/day, 5 days/week. 🙂
@Kiwi: DS9 is my favourite Star Trek!
Kiwi girl – I like Star Trek too, though I haven’t seen that many. I like what little I’ve seen of NG, too, especially when Picard’s having one of his the-French-are-the-greatest moments. 😉
@Tina
“I just listened to a short video from this same person talking about how feminists are misrepresenting the MRA and that is what people are listening to.”
Seems like the other way around. A lot of MRAs are always saying that Feminists are constantly working to criminalize heterosexual sex and that they view men as an “enemy” that needs to be defeated.
Utter horseshit.
@Kiwi girl
How can you not like TNG?!?
“Did the American Navy win the future and the other services are gone? Or could this be a marines thing (really unsure of marines ranks).”
I don’t think it’s so much “the Navy won” in the Trek future, Kiwi Girl. It’s more a metaphor (“sea ship” being the closet equivalent for “star ship” and all the exploration/conquest that implies–think both Darwin’s Beagle and Capt. Cook’s career).
Going back a bit, I wish I knew how to spin. I’ve wanted to learn ever since I first read Circle of Magic years ago, and I’ve been knitting for six years now, so this year when the local fiber arts festival rolled around I decided I was learning to spin, damn it. I got my wool, I got my spindle, and then the woman who gave them to me left me completely to my own devices without any real instruction.
SO I ran home to Youtube and after multiple videos and various spinning websites I sort of got it, except the thread I was spinning kept breaking. Then my cats found the wool and I had to hide it after they utterly decimated it…now the whole thing has gone missing after the holidays, so I’m assuming someone found a bag of what looked to be nothing but wool fluff and threw it out, so I don’t even have the spindle anymore.
Pretty much all Sci Fi ever uses nautical terms for space ships, not just for ranks but for the ship itself.
For example in Battlestar Galactica (the sci fi show/film I’ve watched most recently) they talk about Port and Starboard and Forward and Aft and they have Marines on board.
And again in pretty much all Sci Fi they’ll refer to Hulls and Decks and Helms and various other nautical terms. Since sea going vessels are the closest equivalent that we have to space ships both in terms of their construction and of their internal organisation of personnel and command structure it makes perfect sense that the terms would transfer directly across.
In fact, the naval terminology is so embedded in the way people think about space travel due to it’s ubiquitousness in science fiction that if we ever do some day construct space vessels in the science fiction model then I reckon that these terms will be used.
I’m not sure where this habit first appeared in science fiction but my guess would be that it grew from things like Jules Verne. He and other writers were writing about submarines before they wrote about space ships so obviously would use naval terms and then literature featuring space ships was the next step beyond writing about submarines and the terminology carried across.
Lots of people have TNG as their favourite Trek ever. My reasons for preferring DS9 over TNG are
– DS9 have more long storylines (at least after the show had run for a bit).
– DS9 have no characters I’m really annoyed with, unlike TNG. I think Deanna was really hot, but her personality… Her recurring “Captain, I sense deception” when someone is OBVIOUSLY lying through zir teeth, and her whole advisory style which reminds me of annoying school councellours I’ve had.. no. And WESLEY, the horrible little epitome of perfection. Plus constantly sleazily-grinning Will “fucking ’round the galaxy” Riker.
– DS9 varied more in tone, from pretty dark episodes that dealt with terrorism and war crimes to pure comedy episodes. I liked that.
– I’m a fan of the ferengis! It’s a stroke of genius to place a bunch of neo-liberals, sexists and money-grubbers among the enlightened humans from communist-utopia Earth. And I loved Ishka’s storyline where she eventually managed to instigate various feminist and social-democratic reforms on their planet.
– I like the story-line of Sisko, how he was seen as this religious symbol by the Bajorans despite not believing in it himself… and how he gradually began to believe after all. It’s pretty cool too with the predominantly white Bajorans worshipping a black guy… I mean, we’ve seen the opposite a thousand times.
– Gul Dukat is one of the best villains ever!
– The Dominion are a better enemy than the borg. Sorry, the borg are awesome on paper, but as executed they’re pretty lame…
These are the reasons I could think of right now, maybe there are more. DS9 FTW!
“DS9 have no characters I’m really annoyed with, unlike TNG. I think Deanna was really hot, but her personality… Her recurring “Captain, I sense deception” when someone is OBVIOUSLY lying through zir teeth, and her whole advisory style which reminds me of annoying school councellours I’ve had.. no. And WESLEY, the horrible little epitome of perfection. Plus constantly sleazily-grinning Will “fucking ’round the galaxy” Riker.”
I agree with the points about Deanna. I think she was mostly used as a plot device and never had much in the way of personality.
I disagree with Riker though. I liked that he was so full of himself because in real life you’re going to have those people who think they’re the shit because they’re in a position of power. Also because it made Picard look so much more intelligent and capable by comparison.
Also the Big Bang Theory was right, Wesley was the Jar Jar Binks of Star Trek.