Men’s Rights Redditor: “Women are like parasites.”

“I’m appalled at the number of you who would contaminate cookies with raisins, I really am. ”

Agreed. Chocolate is much tastier and (possibly?) more misandrist.

Am I reading wrong, or was scrapemind just pointing out that the Pharyngula post was an old C&P, and making it clear that zie doesn’t endorse the view personally? That’s how I read zir comments.

Re: worst jobs…yeah, food service (especially fast food) is among the worst in developed nations. Fruit picking is also awful, especially if you’re doing it for less than the minimum wage as many of the migrant workers in the US are.

I’ve actually worked unskilled construction and kind of liked it? Like, it sucked a bit because it was a mostly male workplace and there was some harassment (although I was lucky enough to be with a company that really didn’t tolerate that overall, so I dealt with very little), but overall I think it can be a pretty fun job if you enjoy using your body to work. I like manual labor more than white collar stuff though (and have done both) so take that as you will.

I’m a woman who mostly learned construction from a woman who was also in the military, and actually enjoy manual labor and am stronger than the average guy, and am on a first responder team where I have to meet the same physical standards as the men to boot! It’s always so fun to find out that women like me don’t exist in MRA-land, because I actually know a lot of us.

I also worked at a meatpacking plant (which ranks very high on the “worst jobs ever”) and our union was about 60/40 women/men, for what that’s worth. Strangely virtually all the management were men…

I love it when people seem to think that Hobbes’ interpretation of human nature is the most accurate. I mean wasn’t it Locke who won out in the end? And then you have stories like Don Quixote that blow any notion of human nature being even remotely that simple completely out of the water. And then there’s Kant, who while problematic in some of his beliefs, being a product of his time, still made a very good case for humans not being inherently evil. In fact I’d argue that we’ve made so much progress towards proving the fact that we’re not these inherently self-interested, sadistic, evil little creatures that MRAs think we are that just seeing the notion brought up in serious discussion has become utterly laughable.

AK re: scrapemind — yes and no. Yes to the first question but no, not just that, also complaining that we don’t believe in gender essentialism.

Also with regards to the comment that sparked this, that kind of blind rage is by no means the way towards progress. In fact it’s thought like that that poisons one’s mind and leads to things like the TERF movement, the MRM, MGTOWS, the SCUM manifesto, Naziism, Stalinism, and pretty much every other kind of reactionary and/or regressive thought pattern that has ever existed throughout history. It’s kind of the reverse of yoda’s warning in the star wars prequels (cliched reference I know) but still, as much as fear can lead to hate, it can work the other way around. That’s not to excuse this MRA fellow’s comment, because he’s being just as bigoted and hateful here.

@Argenti, thanks…admittedly Mr. AK just got back in town and we went out to dinner so I’ve some wine and that does make me prone to reading things in a generous light. I just wanted to be sure I was actually missing something. 😉

I worked in a factory. Generally, mostly men with a few women sprinkled in. Most of middle management were women, but all upper management I ever saw were men.

drst, neuroticbeagle: A friend of mine has a magnet on his fridge that says:

“Raisin cookies that look like chocolate cookies
are the reason I have trust issues”

Truth.

argh, premature post buttonitis! *chocolate chip cookies

That’s a great fridge magnet! 😀

I’m sorry that happened to you, Historophilia.

Hugs all round!

And all the more raisin oatmeal cookies for me, if they’re not in universal demand. For some reason I’ve gone off chocolate chip cookies. Chocolate chip muffins are great, OTOH.

LBT, Kitteh:
Rosalind Franklin
Barbara McClintock
Hedy Lamarr
the WWII Night Witches
Queen Elizabeth I
Rosa Luxemburg
Sojourner Truth
Harriet Tubman
Emmeline Pankhurst
Susan B. Anthony
Helen Keller
Fannie Lou Hamer
Myrlie Evers-Williams
Coretta Scott King
Ida B. Wells
Malala Yousafzai
Gerty Theresa Cori
Maria Goeppert-Mayer
Aung San Suu Kyi
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi
Elizabeth Blackburn
Amelia Earhart
Sally Ride
Ann E. Dunwoody
Bella Abzug
Emma Lazarus
…I could go on for a while. This is fun.

Never leave Rachel Carson off that list of high achieving women. Good scientist, brilliant writer. The Sea Around Us is absolutely masterful, though most people are more familiar with Silent Spring .

She’s been dead for decades and they’re still giving her stick.

Thanks again to everyone who has said nice things, it is all very much appreciated.

And Kitteh, ooh pie! Maybe I could try a slice of each, I could have a balanced three course meal of pie, pie and pie 😛

I have several women to add to the list:

Anna Komnena
Empress Theodora of Byzantium
Grace Hopper
Margaret Beaufort
Queen Isabella of Spain
Christine de Pizan
Joan of Arc

I have a series of post it notes with names of awesome historical women stuck on the wall above my desk at University but I’m back home for the Easter holidays so those are just the ones i can come up with off the top of my head.

Also, interesting Historical thingy of the day in London post the Great Plague the numbers of women entering the Guilds and Professions, particularly those related to textiles, increased hugely and many of them went on to be very successful and respected Guild members, even becoming Freewomen of the City of London. I think I may end up doing my third year dissertation on them.

If we’re putting Sally Ride in the list, the oft-overlooked Valentina Tereshkova belongs on it too.

Yay neurite and mildlymagnificent!

Yay Falconer, back with the Cat! How’re the babbies, have you and Beloved had any sleep lately?

Here’s a list of some great Australian women (I confess to my shame I know precious little about some of them):

Faith Bandler
Nancy Bird
Elizabeth H Blackburn
Quentin Bryce
Edith Cowan
Betty Cuthbert
Miles Franklin
Dawn Fraser
Cathy Freeman
Elizabeth Kenny
Elizabeth MacArthur
Nellie Melba
Roma Mitchell
Rosie Kunoth Monks
Elizabeth Murdoch
Pat O’Shane
Mary Reiby
Shirley Smith
Joan Sutherland
Truganini

“And Kitteh, ooh pie! Maybe I could try a slice of each, I could have a balanced three course meal of pie, pie and pie :P”

Mais oui! That’s my kind of balanced diet. 😀

lowquacks, how are you? Any news you want to share? People were asking after you today.

@Kittehs

Add Oodgeroo Noonuccal!

@Kittehs

Sorry, haven’t read the threads back far. RE: Lavvy, here’s what I’ve sent close friends who’ve asked on facey (excuse the lack of capitals; if I know the intended audience personally I tend to skip them)

lavvy went in for an x-ray today but didn’t get the planned biopsy
he’s back home and a little wobbly from the anaesthetic but fine
anyway his liver’s very knobby and almost certainly cancerous
primary liver cancer in cats is really rare tho
which means it’s probably spread from somewhere
he’s probably full of cancer
we talked about biopsies and chemotherapy to extend his life but he’s a very old kitty and we don’t want to put him through distress/wondering why we’re sending him to nasty places to get nasty needles that make him feel bad
i don’t want him to think we’re punishing him for being sick, i want him to know he’s loved so so much
if we took him in for a biopsy tomorrow [UPDATE: we didn’t] what would probably happen is they’d cut into him, see he’s riddled cancer, and it’d be inhumane not to euthanise at that point
so mum and dad and i (not [MY SISTER] tho) support just keeping him home, away from vets and distress, giving him lots of love, and having him put down when it becomes apparent that he’s not living a satisfying life anymore
we know that he’s not long for this world – in cat lifespan terms, he’s on borrowed time already
so the idea is to just enjoy what time we have left with him, which could be weeks, could be months, maybe even a year
or could just be a few days
we just don’t know
:

Oh gods, lowquacks, ALL THE HUGS. That’s exactly what Katie had.

@Kittehs

I’m really really happy I got to see him again, but it’s pretty upsetting.

It’s exactly what my grandmother had at the age of 40 too, and it’s really upsetting to mum that that’s the case. We knew he was poorly but just thought he was getting really old. He’s quite tired and with not a lot of appetite (but always asks for food), and doesn’t purr quite as loudly, but seems reasonably happy for now. We’re just going to spoil him and keep him from unsupervised trips outside until it’s time that’d it better for him to go in to get a big needle from the vet.

How did you handle things with Katie?

PS no need to apologise, I mentioned people asking ‘cos there’s no way you’d have time to catch up with all the threads.

Pretty much as you’re doing. She was much further along; our vet said she probably had about a fortnight to go and that’s about what it was. There was no question of treatment, apart from cortisone to help her appetite during the short time she had left. He’d said the same thing about doing an exploratory – that it might be kindest to let her pass under the anaesthetic – but I said no, if she wasn’t in pain I wanted her brought back (I was going to be in Portland the weekend of the op).

Only thing I can suggest (probably totally needlessly) is to keep an eye out for signs of distress, if he calls or cries. Katie went from heart failure during that horrible week before Black Saturday, and if I’d recognised the symptoms I’d have had her to the vet sooner. As it was, she passed in her own time, which I must say is entirely typical of that child.

Lowquacks I’m so sorry to hear that. However long your poor kitty cat has left I know you will make it full of love.

@Kittehs, historophilia

Thanks for your kind words. Lavvy’s quite a stoic cat, so I’m worried we’ll miss signs and he’ll find some way to sneak off to die. We wouldn’t have even known he had extensive cancer if it weren’t for us calling the vet to come around to have a look at an itchy spot (turned out to be a flea allergy) on our other kitty and him thinking Lavvy’s abdomen was unusually lumpy. He’s getting to be very slow, a little twitchy, and very tired. I’m not an expert but if he’s not chasing all the mice he wants on the world’s largest kitchen counter with all his old strength in Kitty Heaven by June I’ll be surprised.

Until then we’ll just give him all the love and hugs and overlooking of minor kitchen-counter offences we can.

That’s what got my kitty in the end too. By the time we found the cancer it was everywhere, and since he hated going to the vet and was already 19 we decided not to do chemo. He lived another 3 months after we found the cancer, and died at home, in my arms.

With a young cat or one who didn’t mind going to the vet I might make a different decision, but with an elderly cat I think what you’re doing is much kinder. Why make his last days full of stress and fear? Just keep him home and give him lots of lover and attention.

@CassandraSays

Lavvy’s probably about that old. We rescued him for my twin sister’s 5th birthday, and I’m 20 very very soon, and he wasn’t a kitten when we got him – probably 1 or 2 years old. Thanks for the kind words and support. Men Boobzer are lovely (and I will keep pushing internal pluralisation for that phrase forever, because I think it’s hilarious).

@David

Thaks so much for both the kitty words and the quality quality blog with the world’s nicest comment section.

lowquacks I’m so sorry, hugs if they’re welcome, and I’ve got the whiskey out if you want some.

@Argenti

I’ve got a little here, actually. “Australian Bourbon”, which is probably a contradiction in terms/prosecutable, the cheapest in the bottle shop. I tend to be a little classier but w/e right now. It’s way more sweet than firey, a bit Old Crow-y, but has this old feeling of having been aged in pine rather than oak and an odd vanilla-y sort of spicy finish (a little rye) that recalls the worst Australian rums. Must be the terroir here. Awful bottle, too. But very cheap – just $5 over what the tax’d be on the stuff!

It’s so easy to miss these things. I only had Katie up to the vet because she’d been losing weight. She was thirteen, so it seemed a bit early to show signs of old age like that.

You’re definitely making the right choice imo, keep him as happy and comfortable as possible, all the love, and yes, keep him indoors. Is he still interested in going out at all, though he’s slowed down?

Australian Bourbon?

Is that me by marriage or Sir if he took out citizenship?

😛

@Kittehs

Unfortunately, yes. Mostly just to eat and poo, but he still wants to go on adventures and we have to keep him in the yard and supervised. He used to get in fights with neighbourhood cats/dogs and wouldn’t be up to that now, and might not have the reaction speed to deal with cars. He used to love long walks and swimming in the creek and everything, too.

@Kittehs

Haha! The distillery’s in Young, NSW, so not a Victorian spirit, but it’d be perfect if it were.

Would he accept being on a lead, the sort with a little body-harness made for cats? We have Mads on one of those when we take her outside.

All this reads to me is, “WOMEN SHOULD BE THANKFUL WE DON’T RAPE THEM MORE LIKE WE COULD”

Here’s a gold medal. Now go away.

@Kittehs

I really, really doubt it. There’s a children’s playground next to ours, and we’ve a big foresty frontyard and usually someone at home to supervise kitties, so we’ll just let him outside and watch him from enough of a distance that he doesn’t feel cramped/we can rescue him if needed.

@lowquacks: That’s terrible, my heart goes out to you.

@lowquacks
That is rough.
Just give your kitty lots of love.

Ah, that sounds like I don’t think you give you kitty love.
I do.
I’m just saying more love than usual. Enjoy your kitty while you have you cat and let ’em go when it is time.

@lowquacks
hugs

lowquacks, I am so sorry about your kitty. It’s just so hard to lose someone who’s been part of your life for so long. He’s lucky he found such a loving home! Sending all the hugs and chin scritches to you all!

@lowquacks:

It’s the roughest. My kitties have all been with me since they were kittens. I lost one last year, and it was rough. Hugs, if you want them.

Lowquacks: I’m so sorry. Hugs to you and kitty. This truly sucks.

Enjoy the time you have left. Ours went so fast I wish I could have more time.

Étienne is a guy’s name (and I suspect that’s a dude given the French last name). If that’s the case, he’s either a troll or on some serious self-loathing.

Ugh, I am not going to dig up that awful thread where I was being an asshole. I am just going to apologize here and continue to wallow in shame. Had to drop this off here, though- thought you folks would appreciate it:
http://www.feminisms.org/5853/mens-rights-activists-and-misdirected-hatred/

You OK, TTF?

I’m alright, thanks, hellkell (and all the other folks who asked- you guys are great).