Today is an auspicious day. For the Men’s Rights Subreddit, which we often write about here on Man Boobz, has won the prestigious World’s Greatest Shitlord Award. Oh, sorry, I mean it won the Subreddit of the Day award on Reddit. Which is, in this case, pretty much the same thing.
Here are some highlights from the official announcement , which I am totally not making up. No, really, you can go look. Someone – that being XavierMendel, one of the mods of r/subredditoftheday — actually wrote these things. And meant them. I AM NOT BEING SARCASTIC THIS IS REAL HOLY SHIT.
The topic at hand today takes a generous turn from our amusing and lighthearted articles of the month. On this, the last day of January, we look at something a bit more worthy to be called an article. /r/MensRights comes up a lot across reddit and, indeed, across the world as being one of the few centers for men’s help. It’s often attacked, and is always the center of one controversy or the other. My questions reflect that. MensRights is, undoubtedly, the home of great activists.
Again. I am not making this up.
There were some people close to me that suggested I not run this article. That the repercussions of doing so would be unreasonably bad. Well, here you go, people. This is my way of saying that a good reporter doesn’t care. A good reporter reports. It’s not in my job to care about consequences.
I’m not sure that Mr. Mendel quite understands the difference between “reporting” and “asskissing.”
/r/MensRights. Never in our society could the uninitiated imagine such a place. A place where feminism is questioned, and our culture is deconstructed to find what it’s really up to.
Hahaha, what? I was not aware that feminism wasn’t ever questioned on the internet, or anywhere else in “our society.” I mean, it’s not like I run a blog that features nearly 500 posts detailing people attacking feminism on the internet, most of them nastily and ignorantly and sometimes using the word “cunt,” and the vast majority of them not on Reddit. And it’s not like this only barely scratches the surface of the subject.
/r/MensRights is one of the last fortifications of free thought to exist on Reddit.
Yeah, that’s why I was banned – not for trolling or harassing or calling anyone names, but for politely if persistently disagreeing with the denizens until then-moderator ignatiusloyola threw a fit.
“Surely you jest,” one might tell me, “when you mean they’re alone in this regard?” No, hypothetical 19th century British gentleman, I do not. I truly mean it when I say that. What other subreddit openly questions feminism? None spring to mind, and I make it my duty to catalog various subreddits. Most end up banned or run down within a month. Only /r/MensRights remains.
Reddit: Bastion of Internet Feminism.
Nobody can say for sure whether or not they’re correct in any single regard. It’s certain that, due to the laws of probability, they’re not correct in every regard. However, it’s also certain that they’re correct in most of them. Occasionally a wackjob or two will suggest that feminism is behind Cinnamon Toast Crunch (The taste you can see!™). The accuser latches onto those wackjobs to denounce the whole movement.
Yeah, it’s not as if comments suggesting that a man allegedly wronged in divorce court should turn to murder got literally dozens of upvotes in r/mensrights, or anything.
Oh wait, they did.
Yeah, it’s not as if Men’s Rights Redditors gave literally hundreds of upvotes to a post about a t-shirt suggesting that men could be convicted of rape simply for being in a room alone with a woman.
Oh wait, they did.
It’s not as if Men’s Rights Redditors regularly give dozens if not hundreds of upvotes to posts from unhinged hate sites like A Voice for Men or Angry Harry,or fall all over themselves praising an internet-famous female MRA who thinks that many abused women “demand” their abuse.
It’s not as if they think “spermjacking” is a real thing in the world that should make all men think twice about ejaculating in the general vicinity of women.
It’s not like … oh, you can find many, many more examples for yourself.
After claiming that “people have died” after being called misogynists, while “nobody ever dies after being called a misandrist,” Mr. Mendel winds up his speech with this stirring conclusion:
I support the struggles of people who are in bad positions. I respect it, in a way, for I have also seen great struggle. My struggle is not over, nor will it end until my death. For I struggle with something that will not go away through legislation or social change. The Men’s Rights Movement, however, struggles with something very changeable. Very malleable, able to be fixed within a generation if so desired. So I will support them, for they have a fighting chance. …
/r/MensRights is controversial for a reason. In the same sense as Jews of the 1890s, Irish of the 1850s, Hispanics of the 1350s, and many more. Each generation has their controversial improvement in society. We’ve gotten off easy so far, but we have to make it happen eventually. As far back as anyone living can remember, the table has been imbalanced in one way or another, favoring men or women. It’s time the table stays level for once. We need equality.
And that’s what /r/MensRights is trying to do.
Oy yoy yoy. There’s so much ridiculousness to unpack there that it makes me tired. I think I’ll go take a nap.
Mr. Mendel followed his stirring introduction with some questions for the denizens of r/mensrights. And there was some discussion. I can’t even. Not right now. I’ll get to all that in a future post.
In the meantime, Skepchick’s Rebecca Watson – who has been on the receiving end of r/menrights’ heroic activism more than once — has her own reaction to the Men’s Rights is the Subreddit of the Day announcement.
Are we talking faux-gressives who grate on the nerves in general? Because I just got a promo email talking about a certain German industrial band who have declared their support for FEMEN because…fuck it, I’ll just let you read their nonsense for yourselves.
Yeah, man, I’m a fan of FEMEN in that they show their boobs instead of just complaining like those other whiny feminists!
Again – dudes like this, you’re not helping, so do be so kind as to go fuck yourself.
(Putting “fan” in scare quotes was a particularly nice “it’s not like I actually care about the issues” touch.)
So the latest movie version of “Jane Eyre” was on this afternoon, the one with Michael Fassbinder.
I blame you all for my watching the latter 2/3 of it while making dinner. :p
What about people who use the phrase “[holding/setting] back feminism”? Because for whatever reasons that phrase never seems to be used about people who are actually setting back feminism in any way.
Actually that phrase mostly seems to be used to mean that the person in question is setting back feminism by being a feminist.
You know what sets feminism even further back? Advocating for equal rights for women! We need to stop!
I’ve mostly heard it from conservative-ish adolescent nerdy types of either gender accusing some poor women of setting feminism back by partying, or taking some sort of drug, or or wearing revealing clothing, or taking photographs of herself, or being traditionally feminine, or not being traditionally feminine, or…
Dressing “like a slut”…slutwalks…dressing “like a prude”…shaving…not shaving…wearing makeup…not wearing makeup…taking her husbands name…not taking her husbands name…
On one hand, you have the “any cultural narrative is patriarchy so doing any of the things society expects you to do is supporting the patriarchy and thus setting back feminism” group, on the other you’ve got the “not following cultural narratives makes feminism look inaccessible and gives feminism a bad name” (shaving supports the patriarchy! // hairy legged feminists!)
Aren’t double standards delicious? Here, have actually delicious things, confetti cake with vanilla frosting! Enjoy!
I usually see it in the “tone troll” way, telling some person they aren’t doing the group they support any good, because they are alienating people by being vocal about the injustice they want fixed.
“If ‘X’ just weren’t so hostile/militant/vocal about it, then ‘Y’ would be more willing to support them.”
Which is, of course bullshit. If “Y” were supportive, then “X” wouldn’t need to be activist.
I’ve also seen it about not being anti-abortion by an odd young woman whose idea of feminism focused around third-world aid (but not contraceptive aid!), opposing abortion, not liking pink children’s toys, and making it well-known that not all women sleep around or anything.
She took (reasonably mild) a gender studies course at my uni, and I’d be interested to see her how tutes turned out.
Just looked those up, and lord are they colourful!
Ah yes, the old “don’t alienate the majority because you can’t change anything without them!” argument.
Turns out the majority didn’t fix the problem and that’s why we’re doing it.
Unless there’s some massive unforeseen catastrophe or social shift that’ll change things. That’ll happen someday, right?
lowquacks — the weirdest part of that weirdness? Pink was associated with boys a century or so ago. (For no particular reason, I’m going to blame Mr. Kitteh’s red shoes)
In the West, yeah. Because it was a light shade of the very military red, apparently. This particular fact seemed to be a big favourite in my first-year sociology/cultural studies classes for whatever reason.
Did anyone see what the 49ers did about the cornerback who make the anti-gay statement?
It’s not just that they gave him a talking to…, it’s that they making it clear they expect him to keep it up.
NEW ORLEANS — Jed York, the 49ers CEO, said Thursday he was embarrassed and frustrated by cornerback Chris Culliver’s “very dumb” anti-gay comments at a recent Super Bowl media session.
“I saw him this morning and told him, ‘It’s up to you to live up to your apology,’ ” York said. “He made a bold statement of wanting to get to know the LGBT community.”
Culliver apologized Wednesday night in a statement and expanded on that Thursday morning amid an intense and massive media session.
It lasted up until the 193os,with books on rearing children saying girls ought to be in blue, because pink was too masculine a color for them.
Urgh, fauxgressives.
I wish I had a dollar for every tumblr slacktivist who made some vague statement about oppression, said they weren’t going to do a damn thing about it, then patted themselves on the back for their rebellious spirit. I’d be able to pay a rent.
The idea that one can set back feminism by being too overtly sexual is pretty common amongst a certain group of Brits. They’re never feminists, or even vaguely femininist-friendly.
English teachers. Got a nasty surprise when our English teacher left in the middle of a term. She’d always taught us poetry by reading the text aloud first, then getting us to understand the general gist of the thing, then finally getting down to the nitty-gritty of techniques and devices. Replacement teacher’s first lesson. Starts to read a poem aloud, gets to the middle of the second line …… and pauses to ask the person she’s standing beside whether ‘that’ was alliteration or onomatopoeia (or some other challenge). Poetry instantly, and for the rest of the year, lost all its interest, let alone sparkle.
Kiwi girl. Next time you get a zucchini, just hit the google for chocolate zucchini cake. You will get eleventy gazillion hits of which all but a mere thirty odd are for much the same recipe. Oil instead of butter? Not so much American as avoiding the cream butter and sugar process in order to throw the whole lot in a bowl and stir. I often substitute half the oil with melted butter anyway.
The Daily Mail set? Because that view seems reasonably common in the constantly Poe-worthy letters page of our Mail-esque Daily Telegraph.
Pecunium — thanks for that, I just vaguely remembered it as a Victorian thing, which is ever so helpful >.<
Cassandra — really? I’m used to seeing it from radfems (maybe a subset, but still identifying as feminists) — then again, I’m extra touchy about that subset, seeing how they’re all “women born women identifying as women” and all *sigh*
Yep, pretty much. I have an auntie-by-marriage like that, it was pretty funny having her lecture me about how I was setting back feminism every time I wore a short skirt as a teenager.
Not creaming butter and sugar might be my biggest pet peeve about American baking recipes! /utterly random aside
Oh god, my English classes. Memories…
Sometimes I got lucky. We got to read a poem about being Spiderman, or a sci-fi story about trying to kill each other, or something like that. But god, GOD did I tire of literary analysis. All the symbolism and crap made me want to tear my hair out. It’s fun if I’m doing it on my own, but doing it for a grade just sucks all the joy out of it.
Did turn me on to Shakespeare, though!
@ Actually you’re right, there are a few 50 and 60 something radfems who say similar things.
When a feminist starts to agree with a conservative it’s usually a good sign that she might want to rethink her position.
Cassandra — oh fuck yeah they end up coming full circle and colliding with conservatives, which, combined with my non-existence (or worse, blerg) makes me, well, extremely put off.