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.
I’m one of those oppressed American White Males, and let me tell you, it’s awful. I mean, the cops pull me over for speeding and don’t even ask whether I have guns or drugs in the car. I apply for a job and the hiring manager just assumes I don’t have a criminal record, as if you could tell someone’s not a criminal just by looking at their skin.
People don’t grope me on the metro, people don’t make creepy comments about my ass at work, and people act as if I have a right to live in the United States and do whatever I want. If I were assaulted, sexually or otherwise, people would assume my attacker is in the wrong, and not ask me “but what did you do to provoke this attack? Weren’t you asking for it?” Whereas, if I assaulted someone, I would get the benefit of the doubt – maybe she was just lying and exaggerating what I did to her, maybe he was provoking me, maybe he started the fight. People practically act as if I can do no wrong.
This is what oppression is like, people!
/sarcasm
I’m constantly confused as to HOW modern classrooms are worse for boys than the 1950s classroom. My father went to Catholic schools and was constantly getting wrapped on the knuckles for talking, moving, not paying attention, etc. If anything classrooms today are more friendly towards activity than they used to be. Instead of rote memorization many classrooms use tactile learning and stations (i.e. to learn math they will count out m&ms at one station, do a worksheet at another station, and then a word problem at a third station).
I just never know where the idea that classrooms used to be great for boys because they could run and jump and play came from. Sitting still and following directions has always been a major part of the education system. This isn’t new.
Argenti….signed.
@guffaw-ferrets, so many kittehs! I should report that the inferior beta male whom I am only dating for his money and White Knighting abilities will soon be inducted as a servant of the Feminist Furrinati. I shall share evidence of our triumph with the Hivemind.
(non-MRA translation: My boyfriend is getting a kitten and I promise to provide pictures!)
Happy to sign.
In middle school I had a math teacher who announced the first day of class that while a girl might be the top student, the boys would generally do better than the girls in class. In high school I had an English teacher who told me that women don’t write at the college level, and a science teacher who pushed his anti-choice views in class because SCIENCE!
Not really seeing how this was favorable treatment . . .
I feel your pain… it’s not easy being white, male… gods I hope you don’t have to carry the weight of being heterosexual of the appropriate approved religion(s). 😉
In fourth grade, I once had a teacher react with surprise at how good I was at science and math. She told me that girls are hardly ever good at science at math. If I wasn’t the type of person who tries harder when you tell me I can’t do something, I would probably have given up on science and math right then. But now I’m studying biology at an excellent university.
Polydactyl, I totally understand, my aspiring middle class parents were still sure that the best I could be was a librarian. Nothing like low expectations to make you angry enough to do better, until recently I have held many high rating positions in a number of technical fields (and I still love librarians).
Theoretical question: if a man loves cats a lot, like A LOT a lot — as in, has hand-raised several kittens and is given to posting many pictures/videos of all kinds of cats (including many of his own kittens and one of a basket full of someone else’s kittens) to his social media account every single day …
but he often labels these pictures “pussy”, as in “see how much I love pussy” …
is he way alpha, or totes a beta mangina?
This may also relate to the weekend’s cunnilingus conversation, so the answer is probably too complicated for me (a mere woman) to understand.
Jayem, congrats on the impending addition to your family : D
Yoyo-So true! I’ve also done really well at university partly because my stepdad told I wouldn’t be able to make it in college. I was too stupid and irresponsible to take care of myself and get good grades. I’m happy to say he was very, very wrong.
Another thing that has happened to be in school that favors male students is when the teacher asks a question and I raise my hand to answer. I answer correctly but get told I’m not quite right. Then a male student raises his hand, gives exactly the same answer I gave, and gets praised for giving such a good answer. It makes me so mad.
This. It makes me so angry when it happens. I’ve gotten pretty good at pointing out to my professors when it happens to others, but it’s not often I get the same support when it happens to me.
I’m confused. Did boys not sit at desks before feminism?
@Nahida
Careful, there’s a Tom Martin joke lurking there.
It was the other students that got me instead of the teachers. Apparently taking auto shop so as not to end up stranded by the side of the road makes me a lesbian? In electronics, I was actually told, “I don’t need help from a Girl Scout!” when I was asked for help on a project by the first person he had asked for help, my male lab partner.
“she suggests that women can get their boyfriends or husbands locked up on a whim just by claiming abuse.”
If men were being locked up for DV, there would be less violent crime. I don’t see how devaluing and disbelieving victims does anything other than enable abusers to step up their violence.
Argenti: Signed, and will be signed by the Lady Faire once she gets online tomorrow night.
Brain-Bleach for the weary:
http://www.upworthy.com/a-12-year-old-egyptian-boy-flabbergasts-an-interviewer-they-werent-expecting-a-political-genius-4?c=ufb2
This kid is my new hero. 12 years old, fighting a theofascist regime, and, oh, by the way, knows what the fuck a tehofascist regime IS. This kid’s toenail clippings have more activist spirit than every MRA to ever walk the earth.
Happy to sign.
As for those boys having to sit still. I’m old enough to remember the 1950s primary school routine of boys not sitting still being sent to the headmaster for a few strokes of the cane – or, much more often, being threatened with those consequences.
Of course, Miss Martin in gr 5 didn’t need any such namby-pamby referrals. She had a ruler which was a souvenir of a trip – had samples of wood from trees in some region or other, it looked to be nearly half an inch thick on on side to a nervous nellie, goody two shoes like me. She just cracked it across any offending knuckles she happened to notice – mostly the boys.
@Freemage
I watched that video too. That kid’s awesome.
By the way, his language seems very precocious in the translation, but he’s just speaking Modern Standard Arabic, which is basically a standardized variant of Arabic used for writing and formal speech.
Pollydactly and freemage, I pull my hair out when male engineers redo my measurements because womens, or when a representative whose tender I was assessing thought I was the secretary, cos writing. Arghh!
Oh, and I checked out the more recent case in Indiana. Seriously, WTF? These shitheads arrested her without any actual medical evidence. She’s been held in custody with no formal charges against her, because they’re waiting to hear the lab reports. I suppose if they discover that she in fact suffered a perfectly normal, non-induced miscarriage, they think they’ll be able to just release her and hey, no harm done, right?
I suppose it’s hardly worth noting that neither of the two women arrested for feticide on their own offspring are white?
Naturally, the feticide law was passed on a completely different pretext (charging assailants who caused a pregnant woman to miscarry against her will, which is something that I have no problem with them being charged with). Amazing, isn’t it, how they just happened to leave it worded in such a way that it could result in the mother being charged, too?
All the fucking Legos, all of ’em.
According to just about every Fe/MRA – everything bad that’s ever happened is feminism’s fault. Even the fact people died on the Titanic (nevermind “women and children first” wasn’t exactly official maritime law or anything). I even remember one other post on this blog where someone made the claim suicide didn’t exist until the 1970’s – which obviously means he has no idea a country called “Japan” used to have a ritualistic version of such.
If they had to base anything on facts or valid sources rather than ruminate on theories they pulled straight out of their ass or from Warren Farrell, they couldn’t continue to make up examples of their supposed discrimination for being males that has not been observed or documented by any other entity.
@Polydactyl & Augochorella:
Just about every guy at my school, save for myself and a few others, were the most obnoxious people to have as classmates. They’d constantly pick fights with teachers over one thing or another when not trying to converse with one another, even when across the room. It got pretty unbearable at times.
It’s also why I don’t get the “women talk too much” notion either – no one talks more loudly and as constantly as guys do (especially dude-bros). Tell them to be more considerate of others by lowering their voice? FREEZE PEACH! ‘Cause, like, freedom of speech means you can be a dickhead without dealing with the consequences…right?
The notion that “girls go on and on” seems to just come from the fact they love the sound of their own voices and are dismissive when it comes time for anyone else to speak. It always came off as something like this:
“So, like, me and my buddies went down to the lake and went water skiing – until my best friend, Tim, ended up breaking his leg when trying to do a trick. We then had to spend a bunch of hours at the hospital before we went back. After that – we got some pizza and had some beers before passing out. What about you?”
“Well, this morning after I got up–”
“Goddamn – you’re boring me, bitch!”
It’s the classically hypocritical “when I do it, it’s fine – when you do it, it’s wrong. Just ’cause.” mentality.
saintnick86-I think not only is it hypocrisy is the only reason it’s okay when guys talk a lot, it’s also based on an assumption that nothing a woman says is ever anything important. But when men are talking, it’s the most important thing ever!
Saint Nick, my daughter is running into this at school . Her teacher has no control in the classroom and the boys run wild, firing lit spray cans at each other and fighting yet the girls get told off for wearing jeans in winter. Only the boys are allowed pants.
Can we not link “low expectations” to becoming a librarian (or nurse, or teacher, or any other “traditionally female” job)? It’s fine if it’s not your thing, but preferring the sciences doesn’t mean the sciences are objectively more challenging, or fulfilling, or whatever. I’m not mad; I just think it’s sloppy thinking.
(Not to mention that those of us who can choose jobs/fields because they are challenging or fulfilling are a tiny minority of people on the planet.)
(And not to take away that women are definitely steered into/away from certain fields, which sucks, but doesn’t make those fields inherently worse or better.)
(Parenthetically yours, cloudiah.)
Excuse me, men face oppression worse than anything women ever faced? Being too young to personally remember, or never having been personally affected by sexual discrimination in education, employment, etc. is no excuse for supposedly educated women to display such profound ignorance of recent history & social conditions.