In an apparent attempt to prove that they’re not misogynists, the folks at A Voice for Men have decided to take a temporary break from their practice of vilifying individual female activists to vilify a male activist – University of Toronto Student Union VP for University Affairs Munib Sajjad.
As far as I can tell, the folks at A Voice for Men decided to target Sajjad, perversely, because he told Toronto’s CityNews that he was afraid he was “going to be targeted” after announcing publicly that he thought a campus Men’s Rights group should be banned. The A Voice for Men post about Sajjad is a typically long-winded, and largely content-free, rant from the excitable John Hembling (“John The Other”).
But what’s more disturbing than Hembling’s empty bloviating on Sajjad is the way A Voice for Men has framed the attack. “Munib Sajjad, it’s your turn in the barrel,” the headline declares, and Hembling repeats the phrase “your turn in the barrel” in the post itself.
I wasn’t familiar with this phrase, so I looked it up, and found that it derives from a rape joke. Here’s the definition of the term, from Urban Dictionary:
To say someone is “in the barrel” or “taking a turn in the barrel” means it’s their turn to do an unpleasant task or to suffer an unpleasant experience.
Click on the “definition” link above to see the gang rape joke it’s derived from.
Rape jokes aimed at men — even men you don’t like — are certainly a, well, counterintuitive way of showing “compassion for boys and men,” as the A Voice for Men slogan has it.
EDITED TO ADD: Looking again at Hembling’s piece, I realize I hadn’t noticed his, er, argument that the term “mansplaining” — which I find useful from time to time — is somehow equivalent to the incredibly offensive term “[racial slur redacted]splaining,” which Hembling has just made up. (The slur in question starts with an “n.” You can figure it out.) This is ridiculous on its face, not to mention that it’s frankly racist not only to compare the alleged oppressions of men — who are not systematically oppressed — with those of black people — who are — but also to use a racial slur in doing so. Of course this isn’t the first time that A Voice for Men has used the n-word in an attempt to suggest that men, collectively, have it as bad as a historically disadvantaged and still systematically oppressed group.
Rape jokes and racial slurs: A Voice for Men has it all!
my feminist early christianity prof showed me a lot of instances in which women were cut out of the original texts (she specialized in gnosticism, i believe, from a feminist perspective). apparently there were female disciples of jesus…maybe lesbians! i am not going back to research that, but it’s cool to think about. and unsurprising. silly paul et al., he and others messed up a lot of stuff.
Oh, as an Atheist who occasionally makes pretenses at writing, I will say that the KJV is one of the most engaging to read, at least of the better books. There’s a poetic lilt that many of the more accurate and scholarly translations lack. Which leads me to an opportunity to repeat one of my favorite stories!
I went to a book-signing/tour thing for American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Neil’s a marvelous storyteller, so in addition to doing a reading from the Chicago chapter, he also talked about some of the things he did while writing the book–one of which was traveling the country a lot, to see it the way his protagonist did. I’m going to relate one of those tales, as best I can–any inaccuracies are the result of my memory.
So he’s mostly done with the book, but he’s still doing some polishing, when he’s visiting Las Vegas. He’s staying at a hotel that’s in the process of closing out before demolition; so as he remains, he’s in an increasingly empty building.
He is pulling out chapter header-quotes, and realizes that he wants to use the description the Queen of Sheba from the Bible for the Las Vegas chapter. So, being an American who travels a lot, he immediately goes to the nightstand; sure enough, there’s a copy of the KJV, provided by the Gideons.
He starts flipping through the book, and discovers that the page he wants has been badly misprinted, rendering it illegible. So, he calls down to the front desk.
Neil: Hello. I’m in room XYZ, and I was wondering if I could get a copy of the Bible.
Night Clerk: Well, sir, there should be one in your room.
Neil: Oh, yes, there is, but this one’s got some damaged pages, right in the section I was looking at.
Night Clerk: … So you want a non-defective Bible?
Neil: Yes, please, if it’s not too much trouble.
Night Clerk: Of… course, sir, room service will be right up with it.
Several minutes pass, and then there’s a knock at the door. Neil opens it, to find, not only the Night Bellhop, but also the Night Clerk, and one other guy (I think it might’ve been the night security watchman); the Clerk is in the center, holding the new Bible in his hands and offering it with reverence.
“In all of my years working here, no one has ever ~asked~ for a Bible.” Clearly, in this city of sin, such a rare action merits unusual attention.
So Neil trades holy texts with the man, who goes on his way with his co-workers, obviously believing they’ve just had the honor of meeting one of the True Devout.
And then Neil realizes he has just gotten a distinctly non-poetic newer translation (probably the Good News Bible, or some other modern-English work). He closed the story by saying, “I just didn’t have the heart to call them back and tell them I needed another one.”
@bahumbugi
That sounds awesome 😀 I’d love to know more about the original texts…should probably do some research on it when I have time.
Even just the KJV gives you some interesting commentary on homosexuality, actually. While Paul is death on man-on-man action, of course, he actually just dismisses lesbianism as a curse God laid on a city to punish the men–so God ~created~ lesbians that way, and we’ll have lesbians until all the men shape up.
@freemage
Wow Paul sounds like a massive dick. Another way dudes (at least Paul-dude) tries to make everything lesbians do about men.
@pecunium
I thought -im (ים-) was the masculine plural suffix, ain’t it supposed to be a -t/h- in the feminine?
/late night grammar… word-I-can’t-remember-at-the-moment
Wow God’s kinda a dick then. Luckily I don’t think God wants people to get raped, or that zie thinks we should ‘make the best of a bad situation’ and accept marrying a rapist/ carrying babies of our rapist. Because I would have a really hard time worshipping a god who thought rape was okay, and even if I knew for sure that such a god existed, I still would not be able to worship them.
That reminds me of the obsessive emphasis of gratitude in so many religions. I hate it so much. Recently I got a stomach virus, and when I told my father that it was made worse by anxiety and stress (I didn’t tell him about the cause of my anxiety and stress for obvious reasons), he bluntly told me that I’m only feeling stressed out because I’m ungrateful to what Allah has given me.
Oh dear, I fucked up the blockquotes again. V_V
🙁 Jedi hugs for if wanted. Also, did you change your avatar? I love it (either the new one, or the old one I didn’t notice XD)
Yep, I just changed it. It’s Okinu from Ghost Sweeper Mikami. I’ll seriously be shocked if anyone here knows about that manga.
Marie: O_o Why? I mean, I like the New Testament better than the Old one, mostly cuz I’ve heard more from it in recent memory, and mostly cuz Jesus sounds a lot nicer than God in the Old Testament.
The Argument is that the Covenant of the NT replaces that of the OT, and that Paul has good interpretations (as evidenced by his epistles being more strongly represented than any others; add Acts (the account of his deeds/a political text about struggles for primacy of interpretation in the early churches, and that case is even stronger).
But…. Jesus says that’s not true (“The Law shall not pass, not one jot, not one tittle“).
I think (based on some recent cultural analysis done by Classical scholars) Paul was so successful because his basic message was, “be nice to each other” but subsequent interpretations have clouded this.
Take the issue of covering one’s head. In Rome the right to cover one’s head (for women) was limited to “matrons”: that is the wives of citizens (and not all citizens, but only citizens who were not infamous. That is freeborn, and not taking part in any number of unsavory professions).
So Paul said, “all who are in church are equal,” but more than that, all are equal at the highest level of society.
There is a lot more of that sort of lost cultural baggage which we don’t have a visceral (and in some cases we do, but a reaction which is viscerally opposite to Paul).
The issue with shellfish is that, under the Laws of Moses shellfish (and pork, and rabbit, and a large number of fish, and beef stroganoff, and any animal which is legal to eat, but not killed properly; or blemished) is against the rules.
Peter had a vision (not Paul, though it’s in Acts) where God tells him, “what I have made is none of it unclean”. There is a wider context for this too; a Centurion was at the door, i.e. a Gentile, one to whom Peter thought, “The Word” shouldn’t be preached (this was the fight over circumcision; and it related directly to the question of superseding covenants). Paul appropriated Peter’s vision to promote his wider view of to whom Jesus’ message was meant to be applied.
It’s complicated, and it’s an ongoing battle among Christians.
@pecunium
Thanks for the info 😀 I’m learning a lot of bible stuff today XD
My mind has been blown. I had no idea that abortion was completely allowed in Judaism. o_o
There’s a similar thing about Islam. Contrary to popular belief, Islam actually allows abortion in the first trimester. I doubt many devout ultraconservative Muslims care about that, though.
Completely O/T, but my cousin sent me this link and it was pure sunshine through the clouds after this craptastic week.
http://pvaras.tumblr.com/image/48524868487
Warning, picture may be dusty because I found a few motes in my eye
@Buntzums Thanks for the link. I found watching the mras talking a bit nauseating though!
Regardless of which god we’re talking about, if they were real I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t be going around saying “here, have some e-coli and puke for a few days, that’ll make you love me more”.
@shadow, so lovely, thank you.
Regarding Boston, just to say, Hubby and I send our best wishes to all in the U.S. So sorry, the world can be so cruel. Sorry that sounds so lame.
@Kielbasa – is it as simple as that? I hold the yarn in my right hand, so English.
I can see myself getting all kinds of confused trying to swap. I haven’t figured out how to do rib on circular needles yet. Turns into moss whichever way I go. 😀
Here is the part where I shamelessly show off my work.
It has some pretty major flaws, but I’m still proud of it!
Huh. I guess the goddesses have punished me for shamelessly tooting my own horn by borking my link.
http://viscariaflower.tumblr.com/image/45721601754
Huh. I wish I knew someone who knitted, I’d pay them to make something with a Canadiens logo as a present for Mr C.
Reminds me of the writing website I used to frequent. It seemed to attract a lot of very parochial USians, and the rest of us – from all around the English-speaking world – got pretty tired of being told that “you spelled color/humor/aluminium wrong, you should use a spell check”. One of the Brits had as his motto “It’s our bloody language, we’ll spell it how we want.” 😉
I hope I’m not late to the party! If hellkell’s back yard isn’t big enough for everyone, mine is. I’ve got the firepit and patio lights too, and picnic tables. Also, I have outdoor speakers that are hooked up to an HTPC inside, so we can listen to internet radio or anything we want. I have a blender that will make some great Margaritas. I’m about to run out of tequila, but I can definitely offer some Grand Marnier and other liqueurs for mixing. LBT, if y’all want to bring that tea, I have a sangria recipe that uses fruity tea.
By the way, I’m going to follow the lead of some of you and change my nym. Remember my kitty. REMEMBER THE KITTY!
My backyard’s pretty big, but I don’t have outdoor speakers. Mr. HK could probably score those ones that look like rocks for cheap though.
LBT: no need to bring anything but yourself!
I also have shit tons of Zrtec and Benadryl for anyone with cat allergies. Or just Texas allergies. This place is trying to kill me via my sinuses.
@Freemage –
“If I weren’t an Atheist–if I actually believed that the God of the Bible was real, I’d have to spend my entire life opposing the motherfucker. As it is, the character of “God” is the sickest asshole in fiction, ever.”
I’m not an atheist, as you know, and that’s exactly how I feel about that character of God. It makes Joe Stalin look good.