Two weeks ago, you may recall, antifeminist crusader and recent A Voice for Men recruit Erin Pizzey made an “Ask Me Anything” appearance on Reddit which was a rousing success, at least by the standards of Reddit and the Men’s Rights movement. (By the standards of logic and ordinary human decency, not so much.) This Saturday, she gave a sort of encore.
Here are some of the interesting things I learned from her latest three-hour appearance. (I haven’t read all thousand-plus comments in the thread; this is based solely on what she herself said. Click on the headlines to see her original comments in their entirety, in context.) Her comments are, as always, models of good sense and lucidity.
Ban feminists from government perhaps! Personally, I think, I would describe feminism, and I have fought for 40 years to publicize the damage that they were doing to family life and men and boys. To me, to condemn men as sole perpetrators of all or almost all atrocities in this world, feminists are a hate movement. I say this because just recently Sweden, Norway, and I think Finland are trying to bring in a law in those countries that will make any criticism of feminism a punishable offense. That is not the action of a movement dedicated to equality and freedom of speech for all, it is totalitarianism.
As far as I’m concerned, a sufficient amount of women have reached boardrooms and many of them publicly have said that they prefer a quality of life which includes family time, which for women in many ways is more important because we, in the long term, through our children and grandchildren. Men, as they climb up the steps to fame and fortune define themselves by how well they can take care of their wives and children. Different lifestyles, different goals, very few women want to spend the time and the total energy in making that high-achieving career lifestyle.
According to the most recent Catalyst survey, only 16.6% of Fortune 500 board members are women, and an even smaller percentage (14.3%) are CEOs. That’s a very strange notion of equality you have there, Ms. Pizzey.
So many men are lickspittles. Often in my travels when I’m speaking, I have asked men, informally, why they would never stand up to women who were devoted to the idea of a world without men. The honest answer was they were too dependent on having relationships with women to stand up for what they believed. …
I think most men live lives of quiet desperation–that’s a quote, I can’t remember who said it but it’s true.
I believe that was Elmer Fudd.
Wait, no, he said something about hunting wabbits. No idea, then. Who could have Thoreau-n such an idea around? Walden you like to know?
I’m not surprised that men are going their own way. Why would any sane man want to risk losing his property, his relationship with his wife, his financial stability, the children that he will be deprived of… at the moment, men don’t have any rights in this area. In England, Harriet Harman and her very powerful harpies are trying to bring in a law that will mean a woman has only got to live with a man for a very short period of time before she’s entitled to exactly the same amount of money and power that is given to married women. That’s already happened in Australia and Canada too!
I am constantly in the company of women in their late 30s and 40s who after choosing a career have decided they want children and marriage. I have to regretfully inform them that the present climate against men, they are very unlikely to have a relationship with a man and will probably never have children.
It’s true. Nowhere is the problem more noticeable than Los Angeles, by the way, where men give themselves the right to date (meaning, they can have sex with as many women as they want at the same time)… very sad situation, but, why would they do anything else? The legal system can destroy them if they commit to a relationship.
The Feminist Hegemony will fuck up your hard drive:
I did manage to get exactly one paper published, decades after the fact, on the surveys I did of the first 100 women in my Refuge. Just one, in a tiny journal. … But the feminist hegemony has worked hard to keep work like this out of the public eye.
They actually destroyed the hard disk of Professor Viano from Washington University when he tried to publish some of this work.
[citation needed]
For what it’s worth, there doesn’t seem to be anyone named Viano associated with Washington University in St. Louis (aside from a physics professor who got her PhD there), nor, for that matter, with George Washington University in Washington DC.
There is an actual Professor Emilio Viano who teaches at American University’s School of Public Affairs and is an adjunct professor of law at the Washington College of Law, and he’s written about violence and victimology so perhaps he is the man Pizzey is referring to. There is, however, no evidence I can find online that anyone, much less the “feminist hegemony,” has ever destroyed his hard drive, and he seems to have published extensively and had what looks like a pretty successful academic career without any obvious hindrance from the evil femlords.
I did find a news article in which Viano is quoted about a case in which the FBI secretly got its hands on the hard drive of one of its agents suspected of selling secrets to the Russians, but 1) that wasn’t Viano’s hard drive and 2) I’m pretty sure the Feminist Hegemony had nothing to do with that, as it was never discussed at any of our meetings that I can recall, though admittedly I spent most of our meetings eating the complementary bon-bons and playing with the cats.
I eagerly await Ms. Pizzey’s clarification of her assertions about the mysterious “Professor Viano from Washington University” and his “hard disk.”
The last little lesson I learned from Pizzey’s appearance:
Fried food gives me indigestion.
This from a woman who claims to care about victims of domestic violence, and whose biggest claim to fame is that she was the founder of one of the first DV shelters for women. Evidently when you spend a lot of time in the company of Men’s Rights Activists, jokes about “battered women” are just part of the landscape.
Ms. Pizzey, might I suggest that if you indeed suffer from any sort of digestive problem it might just be because you are full of shit?
What is it with the word “lickspittle”? I mean, I go for decades not hearing it used once and suddenly mysogynists are queueing up to use it. Is it because they’re all really Mr A-EL?
lensman:
What the actual FUCK is this shit?
Blaming your inability to get references correct on marriage? That’s one you don’t hear everyday.
KathleenB: Things have been calm for a while, but I think the endo is rearing it’s ugly head again. I need to find a new GYN here in TX.
…because gay is JUST LIKE trans? Um… Yeah, seconding hellkell. WTF is this?
lensman: WTF? Not only to the “you were made to do this, gay is like trans and forced into marriage” but no, Maher is not why most people know that quotation.
Maher used it because it’s a phrase which is so well known that borrowing it bring along a host of other thoughts. Pink Floyd used it, Maher used it.
The New York times had to correct a mis-use of it
Google it.
There is a web-show based on it..
So no, it’s not known because of Bill Maher.
@hellkell and Howard Bannister
That’s me trying to be useful and helpful here. If it come out wrong, I am terribly sorry.
@hellkell
It might seem weird, but being attached to somebody that verbally abuses you, belittles everything you do, refuses to work, turns everyone against you and isolates you from family and friends is not exactly helpful in thinking straight. No, it’s not as simple as getting a divorce. I stand to lose everything, including my kids. And, here’s the punchline, I am living in a traditionalist country where feminism is still at its infancy.
Anyway, I didn’t expect sympathy before, and I sure won’t expect it now, especially here.
@Howard Bannister
I chose the Alan Turing example because it was the closest to Aaliyah’s dreams. I suppose I could have used Sophie Wilson (born Roger Wilson, the designer of the Acorn Microcomputer and the ARM processor) instead of Turing, but it just wouldn’t pack the same punch.
Nevertheless, you are absolutely right. Someone who was born into a supressive and opressive social environment, was shunned because of sexual identity, and bullied by family, “friends”, “collegues” and the system to the point of depression has nothing in common with someone who is born into a suppressive and oppresive social environment, shunned because of sexual identity and…
…OK, you know it’s called the LGBT community for a reason, right?
I do however genuinely see your main point of contention. Times magazine has published a study in which it’s shown that male homosexual brain is closer in structure to the brain of a straight female (1) while the Journal of Psychiatric Research published a study in which it’s shown that there is actually symmetry in structure, something between straight male and female, which is perceived as female (2). Those, are just studies of course, and in science nothing is absolutely final, but, yeah, you are right, scientific consensus so far is that the male-to-female trans brain is quite different from the homosexual male one.
…Anyway, my point is still valid and it stands. I believe that trans people, due to the fact that their brain is structured differently are better equipped to approach problems in uniquely different ways and be more creative and resourceful. Which is why companies should embrace and value them, not shun and reject them.
Of course, you can argue (again, a perfectly valid point), that “the only thing worse than opressing a group of people is glorifying them”. I won’t argue against that.
I guess… I just want Aaliyah to be content and happy in her life, that is all. She may believe in an ideology that, I partially disagree with, but she is incredibly smart and sensitive person and definitely deserves to be successful.
(1) http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1815538,00.html
(2) http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022395610003250
@lensman
I’m not sure what to talk to her about at this time, but I bookmarked her blog. Thank you!
I understand that you’re saying this in good faith, but I don’t really appreciate you comparing me to a homosexual man. Not because I have something against homosexual men, but because I’m frankly sick of the pervasive cultural assumption that I’m just a gay man who wants to transition only so that he can feel more comfortable with his sexual orientation. I appreciate your support, but if you want to be a good ally to trans* folks, you really need to think about what you’re saying.
Moreover, I definitely do not believe that male and female brains are fundamentally different in the ways you allude to. And so I have no reason to believe that I have some kind of advantage over cis people.
I’ll pass. I think I’ll just try to get a work-study job at my university if I want to gain such experience. If, of course, I’m offered work study as part of my financial aid package.
Thanks. And no, it’s Okinu from Ghost Sweeper Mikami. There’s nothing special about her as a character – I just thought she was cute in the anime and manga.
Also, lensman, I should note that programming is not what I truly want to do. I’m just doing it because I need some kind of income. I mean, I do like some aspects of programming, and I must say that I actually find jQuery exciting sometimes, but at the end of the day I see my current career path as little more than a path to independence.
lensman, I’m very sorry to hear about your family situation, but what you said was still weird and offensive. But definitely sympathy to you (although this isn’t really the space for that.)
@lensman
Starting after the witness I saw hellkell point out (typing as I’m reading…)
“(And while we are at it, Alan Turing is also the reason most of us don’t speak German right now, since he was the guy that cracked the Enigma codes that the Nazis used during WWII)”
You do know that not all Germans are nazis, right? Because my aunt is from Germany and I don’t appreciate the fucking comparison. Same for her son, my cousin, who’s been speaking both German and English since he could talk. If you want to say ‘so and so helped win the war against the nazis’ just say it, don’t use cute little euphemisms that drag a bunch of people who are decent human beings into your shit.
“It might seem weird, but being attached to somebody that verbally abuses you, belittles everything you do, refuses to work, turns everyone against you and isolates you from family and friends is not exactly helpful in thinking straight. No, it’s not as simple as getting a divorce. I stand to lose everything, including my kids. And, here’s the punchline, I am living in a traditionalist country where feminism is still at its infancy.”
Not really a punch line, since feminists don’t think women should always get the kids, that’s the sexists who set up women as being more nurturing than men.
Also,earlier you said that marrying a ‘high conflict’ person wasn’t a good move, but its not your fault she’s abusing you. It’s hers. Don’t put that blame on yourself, you are both adults who can make your own decisions, and it is 100 percent her decision to abuse you. I hope you do get help, nobody deserves that.
“Nevertheless, you are absolutely right. Someone who was born into a supressive and opressive social environment, was shunned because of sexual identity, and bullied by family, “friends”, “collegues” and the system to the point of depression has nothing in common with someone who is born into a suppressive and oppresive social environment, shunned because of sexual identity and…
…OK, you know it’s called the LGBT community for a reason, right?”
I see gay people and trans people are all the same. This is ignoring the fact that trans and gay aren’t one or the other,trans people can be gay, and I’d be fooling myself if I said that I had the same problems as a trans woman who was gay, Because I have cis privilege, I may have to put up with homophobia crap, (thankfully not much so far) but not trans phobic stuff. Just cuz the issues are related doesn’t make them the same.
I’m sorry you’re in a bad situation, truly I am, but you can take that guilt-tripping shit and stuff it. I don’t know your life, and frankly, the way you’ve been going on saying fucked-up things, I don’t really want to.
My brother told me yesterday that he’s sorry for being like that. His explanation is that he’s stressed out and, since I’m often around him, he takes his frustration out on me all the time. He told me that he knows he should change, but I’m not very optimistic given that he’s always had this tendency to take out his frustration and anger on me. I mean, he’s not abusive at all, but he is certainly very insensitive and mean at times.
So please type it up – if you don’t mind and it’s relevant to what I just said about my brother, of course.
Maybe “most USians’ minds”? Or “most USians who watch Bill Maher”? I’ve known that phrase for years before I’d ever heard of Maher, and I had no idea he’d quoted it until I read it on this thread. (I’m Australian and have never watched Bill Maher in my life.)
“I actually find jQuery exciting sometimes”
*squee* I hated, absolutely loathed, JS, and then there was jQuery and everything needed subtle, smooth, sexy transitions. I’m head over fucking heels for jQuery — need a menu that drops down but degrades gracefully? jQuery! An image gallery, of any shape size or functionality? jQuery!
Yeah, totally love it. And should you ever want to talk CSS/HTML/jQuery/php, get my email from pecunium and drop me a line…you used to HTML5 not requiring a body tag? Because that just feels so very wrong! (I taught myself HTML in like, fuck, 1999? I’ve been doing it since the 90s?! I feel old now)
Yeah so reporting from the US to say I had no idea Maher said anything of the sort (and am still pissy my introduction to Thoreau was the parts of Walden focused on the cost of building his shack/house/thing)
Also, LGBT community my ass. A very short list — bi people exist sometimes, when it’s convinent, the rest of the time the same “they’ll just cheat” applies, but with extra hate because screwing around with someone of the same gender/sex/binary-essentialism-trans*-exclusion is some sort of “traitor to the cause”. And trans* people are forgotten almost always, and shunned as…how to word this…let men marry men, you’re letting men marry dogs — mention trans* people and gay marriage will be jeopardized because people will buy that argument. And let’s not fucking touch anything involving whether bisexual is binary essentialism and bi people are inherently transphobic…but lesbians area being forced to fuck men if trans* women can be lesbians (or hi Cathy Brennan!)
Yes, I realize I just summoned the kraken. Treating the LGBT “community” as some happy family that’s utterly accepting of anyone who isn’t cis and entirely gay (or lesbian) really pisses me off. Like *thinks* more than half my ex’s // people I fucked around with, we’re also bi/pan/omgs-I’m-not-having-this-debate. And even the majority of them wouldn’t be okay with it if I took hormones or medically transitioned (for the curious non-trolls, that question has a neon “idfk” sign, with a “maybe if I can afford it, sorta want?” On the second one)
/rant
I do not even know how to process this information.
You are talking about some d00d on the teevee, Right?
Millions of people through many generations have read Thoreau in and out of school, but HBO has 28 million viewers so “most” people (meaning you) think of Maher because he quoted it once. Criminy!
Whoa, whoa, whoa…
What’s that, feminism? Do go on, I can’t wait to hear this.
Holy shit.
Does it ever occur to some people that other people might be fucking because they want to? They’re enjoying it? They might even – gasp – love an individual human being rather than going by a checklist?
@aaliyah
Alright, typing it up now, crossing fingers that it actually posts XD
I hope some of this is helpful, but its mostly me blabbering about how things changedmwith my family.
My brother I just ended up telling him whenever something he said bugged me, which worked for him because he already knew and just needed to be reminded to break the habit, though if your brother does want to stop and is in habit of making insensitive remarks it may help, but I can’t know since I don’t know him.
Gah, I feel like all this isn’t going to be much help 🙁
My dad was harder to talk with, idk why though. I had a lot of help, because my sister was trying to help repair things with us (his offhand jerkishness had gotten to the point where I felt like I couldn’t talk to him openly, even though he was fun when he wasn’t being a jerk.) she ended up telling him what bugged me, and we had a couple talks with him trying to fix things even after then.
I ended up sitting down and angst dumping on him(mostly unrelated to his jerkishness, more of for when he sent me to a kiddie asylum. Which is a jerk move, but not related to the rest of this). After that things slowly got better, with me pointing out when his comments were really not funny. So it wasn’t so much as one thing the time things finally turned around.
Ok, trying to get good advice from that rambling…
It really helped to have my sister there, if you have anyone who can help:/
I’d give him a heads up that you’ve got something you want to talk about and what it is. Idk why, just what I’ve done, so they’d be forewarned.
Hopefully since he said he was sorry and would try to work on it you can bring that up. Before I got on my meds I got in fights easily so I left notes around the house reminding me of common solutions to it. (Like to use my iPod when I wanted to listen to music and no one else did). I hope this doesn’t sound to weird, but if you guys can work out a way to remind him when he’s getting stressed and taking shit out on you.
Going to try to sum this up since my mom wants her iPad back(she’s been rather patient, I’m just a slow Typer here). A couple years ago I used to get in a lot more fights with. My family, and was a heck a lot less fun when I was stressed. Some of what helped was getting on anti depressants (don’t know if he’s depressed or not that was just a me thing) but the other part was my sister kicking my ass in gear and helping me realize what a jerk I’d been. All i can think of is that The most you can do is let him know he’s hurting you. He has to change his behavior, and if he wants to but needs help you can try to help him if you want but it’s still all on him
Wow I hope that made sense and at least wasn’t unhelpful, I’ll try to get on the Internet again tomorrow and see if I made a complete ass of myself. Sorry if any of this came across as condescending.
“but lesbians area being forced to fuck men if trans* women can be lesbians (or hi Cathy Brennan!)”
Oh gah. Gah. Trying to formulate words around this…trans isn’t incompatible with being a lesbian! All that is needed to be a lesbian is being a girl who likes girls (but not guys or not most guys or whatever). Or whatever. If someone is a trans women who likes women she be a lesbian. This is like that shit where she thinks trans women must secretly be guys or whatever… Ugh.
Being trans isn’t incompatible with being a lesbian. I fucked up the beginning of that sentence, so here is the fix.
Epically simple version? Being Cathy Brennan is incompatible with not being a TERF (she flips out that cis is an insult, seriously, just google her, ALL THE WARNINGS though)
Cathy Brennan is a terrible, terrible person. I hope she steps on LEGOs for all of eternity.
Hey there, lenstroll! I’m sorry that your traditionalist country places more emphasis on people on the TV than the literary canon, but there’s really no reason to generalize that to the entire world.
(Also I think you’re full of shit.)
And we have ear, nose, and throat specialists because ears, noses, and throats are all the same thing.