In a case of spectacularly bad timing, Fox News happened to choose the day before the Zimmerman verdict was handed down to publish an op-ed proclaiming “the White American Male” to be the most oppressed creature on Planet Earth. In a piece entitled “Men — The New Second Class Citizens,” professional antifeminist Suzanne Venker declared that
From boyhood through adulthood, the White American Male must fight his way through a litany of taunts, assumptions and grievances about his very existence. His oppression is unlike anything American women have faced.
What is revealing about this quote, besides its complete disconnection from reality, is that Venker makes no other references to race in the rest of her piece, which runs through a number of tiresome and oh-so-familiar MRA talking points about the alleged oppression of men.
Venker complains about schools being biased towards girls, from grade schools that force students to sit still to colleges with their infernal Title IX. She whines about “sit coms and commercials that portray dad as an idiot.”
Quoting antifeminist psychologist Helen Smith, a friend of and sometime contributor to A Voice for Men, she suggests that women can get their boyfriends or husbands locked up on a whim just by claiming abuse.
I’m surprised she didn’t talk about the evils of “friend zoning.”
But when Venker refers to “men” in all of these complaints, she is evidently thinking only of white men — why else would she switch so seamlessly from talking about the alleged oppression of “men” to proclaiming “the White American Male” the ultimate victim?
There’s really no other word for this than, well, racist.
The day after Fox published Venker’s nonsense, we were of course reminded (as if any of us really needed to be reminded) of the very real oppression faced by “the Black American Male.”
Trayvon Martin didn’t die because he happened to see a show featuring a bumbling sitcom dad. He died because George Zimmerman saw a young black man in a hoodie walking home from the store and assumed, apparently because Martin was young and black and wearing a hoodie, that he was up to something sinister.
Trayvon Martin didn’t die because he was male; he died because he was a black male. His killer walked free not because his victim was male, but because his victim was a black male.
Suzanne Venker did us all a favor by revealing the unconscious racism underlying so many Men’s Rights complaints. The Men’s Rights movement is not only a movement that is overwhelmingly made up of white men; it’s a movement that’s almost exclusively about white men, and their largely imaginary oppressions, as well. We might as well call it the White Men’s Rights Movement.
“Isn’t she a great feminist hero, though? I mean, she fought for women’s suffrage. She represents you somewhat better than Paul Elam represents me, I’d say…”
I don’t like Emmeline Pankhurst. Don’t tell me what feminist represents me, whatever that means.
Jason is hopelessly brainwashed.
And Pankhurst is not the end all and be all of feminism, nor does she represent the last word on war and the draft. Got any new material?
@Jason
““Acting like it’s inevitable just increases the thought that you’re unfixable.”
Again, like you feminists do the survivors of rape?”
Tu Quoque Fallacy Alert.
Pecunium, can you please? I got enough of that shit already today. Ah fuck it, I’m not sleeping without more sleeping pills anyways (don’t worry folks, I start at a half dose of my original dose, so doubling it is totally fine)
First, fuck you, fuck the horse you rode in on, fuck your bullheaded beliefs, fuck your desire to use other people’s pain to further your agenda, and just for good measure FUCK YOU.
Ok, now that that’s out of the way…
Because you have so much fucking experience with either feminism, or being raped. Cuz see…I do. And you know who doesn’t act like it was my fault, doesn’t treat it like something I should be ashamed of? Feminists.
While the rest of society acts like it means your tarnished forever, spoiled goods, were asking for it, must be totally broken forever…feminists act like it’s a Bad Bad Thing done by Bad Bad People, and the blame rests on them. And if you’re still affected by it, that’s nothing to be ashamed about, and if not, that’s awesome, good for you!
I’d ask if you see the difference, but like I said, you’re one dense motherfucker.
I find the trolls who inform us of what we believe to be the most mystifying of all. Surely I’m the foremost expert on what I, personally, believe?
Ah, the great moral crusader Precunium. I never said that ALL veterans suffer from PTSD. When arguing with a pack of feminists, one must be careful with one’s words, and that includes avoid all-or-nothing statements.
About the White Feather Campaign:
So whose idea was this shaming of men?
A man’s.
@Jason
There is no draft at the moment. You are referring to the selective service. However, until women are allowed into full combat AND there is a draft enacted, there can be no injured party to take a lawsuit to court to challenge said inequity and therefore Feminists cannot challenge the DOD’s decision to keep women from being drafted.
Well, when you feminists talk about rape, the Bad People tend to be men. All men. What else does “rape culture” signify?
Then you should have clarified because that’s precisely what you said, you dumbass.
Do you white guys have any idea how whiny you sound when you go on about how hard it is that everyone treats you as intelligent, strong and capable, and that you see people like you portrayed as awesome heroes everywhere you turn? This is how the rest of us know you’re not actually oppressed.
And it was a damn clever idea, too, using women’s power over men to manipulate them.
Men are still subject to be drafted.
Nope. Look at the recent wars.
We were attacked. The Army wasn’t staffed as needed. The Guard, and Reserves were called up. People who had “critical skills” weren’t allowed to separate. Multiple tours were forced on people (some spent more time in Iraq than Germans did during WW2).
But there was no call-up.
The draft is a dead letter.
A rather odd comment for someone who’s pretending to be new here, no?
I don’t know if I can make the same arguments again and again, my points from earlier still stand and I think they’re clear enough that you all are more than capable of understanding them.
No, when you talk statistics rapist tend to be men, because e vast majority of racists are men.
You really hate logic don’t you?
And regarding suicide rates? Seems I borked my citations before, but from the one about rape victims —
And the one I failed to link to — http://www.veteransandptsd.com/PTSD-statistics.html
And back in 5 with the suicide rate among veterans. Because raw numbers are pretty meaningless for demographics.
@Katz
Silly Katz. You’re just a woman, how could you possibly know what you believe? Only alpha men can truly know anything. 😛
/sarcasm
She represents you somewhat better than Paul Elam represents me, I’d say…
I wouldn’t. None of us mentioned her. You did mention AVfM.
So Elam represents you, more than she us.
Dude, just no. You continue to show that you have zero understanding of even basic mainstream feminism. You don’t even fucking know what rape culture is. Hint: it’s a culture that trivializes, condones, and supports rape. It’s not “all men.”
If you actually took your damn time to do some reading, you would know this. Take a fucking break from your arguments and try to learn about mainstream feminism for once if you want to stop being seen as an obtuse douchebag.
Why would I pretend to be new? I am new, I usually have better things to do with my time than read the archives of Manboobz. Precunium is acting like a giant moral cruader to shame me into silence, so that’s why I said that.
Identify him by hinting at his real name and he loses his power and runs away. It’s all very Campbell-esque.
Rape is one of the most hated crimes out there. Our culture does not support rape by any stretch of the imagination. If a few people make jokes about rape, that’s nothing. People make dead baby jokes too. We don’t have a dead baby culture or anything like that.
@Jason
“I don’t know if I can make the same arguments again and again, my points from earlier still stand and I think they’re clear enough that you all are more than capable of understanding them.”
I refuted your selective service point upthread. Go read that.
See, arguments don’t tend to convince people if they aren’t backed with evidence
Rape culture is about society glorifying and/or trivializing rape. It is NOT rape=men.