What do Men’s Rights Activists want? Based on what they actually do, it’s seems pretty clear that many of them want little more than the right to pester women with endless cries of “what about the menz?” But from time to time MRAs will step forward with little bullet-pointed manifestos presenting their grievances — and their goals — to the world.
So today let’s look at one of these little manifestos, from an MRA calling himself TzeTze Anopheles. It’s pretty revealing. And stupid. But that goes without saying.
Tze Tze starts off by demanding:
A complete rollback of all misandric laws. … It is high time we assigned the systematically unjust, contradictory and oftentimes outright insane feminist laws to the dustbin of history.
So what does Tze Tze mean by this? Well, you guessed it: “Paper abortion.” That is, the right of men to abandon their children without penalty.
Reproductive rights must be bestowed on *both* men and women and the cruel farce that is the current family law regime ended. This entails granting men the right to unilaterally “abort” their responsibility for any child they might have sired for the *exact* same time period a woman has to abort her child.
Huh. If this man lives in Texas, should he have to drive to a clinic in another state in order to carry out this “abortion?”
Tze Tze continues:
I want nothing less than the complete removal of sex from the equation regarding laws. By this I mean, that women have to be punished to the same degree as men for the same offenses and the ‘Pussy Pass’ needs to be rescinded. Additionally, I demand that women no longer be excluded from having to register for selective services. Draft has to be unisex.
Given that there hasn’t been a draft for decades, and that it has been feminists, not MRAs, who have been pushing for women to have the same rights to serve as men, I’m not sure this is the gigantic CHECKMATE FEMINISTS issue you think it is.
Tze Tze’s next proposal is a doozy. Indeed, it’s positively Anthony Zarat-esque in its audacity:
A complete segregation in society with regards to schooling and work. By this I mean girl only and boy only schools combined with appropriate education methods tailored to the respective sex’s natural inclinations. With regards to work I mean creating – as best possible – companies that are male only or female only.
Wait, what?
If Feminism’s claim that women can do everything men can do holds water women shouldn’t have a problem with this since it gives them an excellent opportunity to demonstrate this claim by *deeds* not words. Likewise, I am convinced that men – undistracted by the actions of women and without the necessity to sugarcoat everything they say and abide to a totalitarian politically correct behavioural code – can achieve far better performance than we have at present.
Oh, but Tze Tze isn’t done yet. He also demands:
The creation of male only and female only healthcare, pension funds and other social benefit schemes. And here again I say to Feminists who might have a problem with this: put your money where your mouth is. If women are naturally superior at basically everything – as claimed by Feminism – they should be delighted to no longer have to “carry the burden of the inferior male”.
Yeah, I don’t know many feminists who actually think that women are “naturally superior at basically everything,” or who even think about the genders in these terms.
It just seems a little odd that Tze Tze’s grand political program is based largely on playing a weird game of GOTCHA with the straw feminists living in his head.
And men for their part will know that their labour will no longer be abused in order to pay for the entitlement of western “princesses”. I for my part am convinced this would strongly increase the incentive of men to work hard, seeing as they would be sure to actually be able to enjoy the fruits of their labour.
I’m pretty sure “men for their part” — and even a good number of MRAs — would see your plan as pretty much the dumbest thing they’ve ever heard.
Tze Tze then throws in some garden-variety libertarian nonsense about reducing the size of government and “return[ing] to the US constitution, the original constitution.”
But it turns out he’s got quite an odd definition of democracy, as he then moves on to demand:
A complete reworking of suffrage.
Oh dear. This doesn’t sound promising.
I believe universal suffrage is unbecoming to any republic. When the mob rules democracy degenerates into a corporate circus, a cesspit where corrupt individuals bribe criminals to pose as politicians and the plebs is fooled and hoodwinked on every level.
Yes, “the plebs is fooled.” What kind of elitist can’t master subject-verb agreement?
As such more democracy is actually *less* democracy, and certainly…less freedom.
Black is white! Up is down! Freedom is slavery!
Cats are dogs and dogs are cats!
What I envision is a mechanism by which merit can be determined effectively and suffrage bestowed accordingly.
Presumably this wouldn’t involve a writing test. (See “the plebs is fooled” above.)
Hence, any individual would have the potential to acquire voting rights but only if he or she manages to demonstrate outstanding merit by, for example, inventing a useful technology, creating a successful business, creating excellent works of art, literature or philosophy (and thus demonstrating above standard wisdom). Naturally, this mechanism would have to be balanced out and its details worked out in a holistic sense.
Yeah, that sounds great.
It was nice of Tze Tze to suggest that women might pass this little test of his, but he didn’t mean it. A mere five days after publishing his little manifesto, he published a post with the title “Why Women’s Suffrage Destroys Democracy,” arguing that
Any country that thus gives women the vote is *inevitably* doomed to devolve into tyranny ere long. There is no other possibility.
Too bad, ladies! I guess the vote is too important to be entrusted to you, what with your love of tyranny and all.
Tze Tze moves on from the question of suffrage to another critical question of our age:
A widespread and stringent inquiry into the feasibility of a male contraceptive pill as well as an artificial womb. These two innovations are of pivotal importance as they will finally create absolute equality between the sexes – something women and feminists claim to support. As such I cannot see and will not accept any rejection of this basic human right of man.
Well, get to work on it, dude! As a man with a superior man brain I’m sure you’ll be able to have both of those invented by dinnertime.
Tze Tze then regurgitates some notes he wrote down while reading Warren Farrell — or while listening to some other MRA regurgitate their Warren Farrell notes — demanding
The undisputed right of any man to opt out of traditional male gender roles in very much the same way women have done. If women reject their role as sex objects then men should equally have the right to break their shackles and no longer act as status objects, as disposable instruments for the advancement of the Feminine Imperative.
Go for it, dude. Be as unsuccessful as you damn well please.
Every man should have the right to live his life the way he choses and *nobody* should have the right to shame him for his individual decisions. If a man doesn’t want to marry or start a family with a western woman (or any woman) that is his *own* prerogative and nobody has the right to judge him for that.
Dude, do whatever the hell you want. I would actually prefer it if you didn’t marry or start a family; you’d clearly be a terrible husband and/or father. Just don’t delude yourself by pretending that the women of the world actually give a shit about what you do.
Tze Tze moves on to the most important issue of all: the right to tell rape jokes in a crowded theater.
Either the complete abolition of all P.C. suppression instruments with regards to women’s sensitivities and their concomitant mob hysteria every time a man makes a “sexist” joke *or* the expansion of these same strict standards to include men as well. Basically, if it is not acceptable to make sexist jokes about women or portray them in less than flattering fashion in movies etc. the same applies for men as well.
Do you actually think it’s against the law to “to make sexist jokes about women or portray them in less than flattering fashion in movies etc?” Have you ever seen a movie?
So either stop demonizing men or allow men to likewise demonize women. Anything else is gross hypocrisy.
Well, you’ve declared women to be intrinsically inimical to democracy already, so apparently you were allowed to demonize women all along.
NOTE: In case any of you were wondering about the reference to Anthony Zarat above, he was an MRA who used to hang around these parts, and who had a rather dramatic proposal to solve all our pesky man-woman problems. This little video will explain:
Artificial wombs- okay. Let’s say we get all the myriad niggling little details (like what a uterus actually does during a pregnancy) sorted. *poof* Never mind the science, we’ll deal with that later. Because I have a few questions for these yahoos.
Whatcha gonna put in those artificial wombs?
Right now, if you are a man who wants to borrow space for the purposes of gestating an offspring there’s options. Surrogacy, as mentioned above. Turkey baster and a cooperative friend is another. You could even be in a relationship and choose to become parents.
Granted you still have to interact with a woman, but- and this is a small detail but, really- what are you going for with artificial wombs?
I don’t want to get all ‘how is babby formed?’ but don’t they still need some genetic input from a woman? Even if you start the process in a test tube, you still need an egg to fertilize. Without a fertilized egg an artificial womb is just a highly technical over-priced crockpot.
It can’t just be wanting to have kids without getting any girl cooties on you, right? Because there’s ways to have kids right now even if you aren’t in a relationship. Hey- what about adoption?
What men’s rights issue does inventing artificial wombs solve? Are you asking for the ability to carry and sustain a pregnancy in your own body or are we talking some stand-alone tech you could keep in the garage and show off to your buddies like a new stereo? “I went with the brushed steel case and the optional blinky lights. But don’t use the generic nutrient packs, they’re crap. I buy this super-duper extra nutrient solution online. Be sure to go for express shipping, though.”
GUISE THEY’RE ON 2 US!!1
I completely agree with everyone here who said that these are GOOD things… But I am the only one who imagines he wants to have a womb implanted in himself so he could get pregnant and give birth so he could do the one thing he can’t do that a (cis) woman can? Because that’s seriously what I thought he meant when I read that.
Also, what wordsp1nner said about male birth control. That one pill they were/are experimenting with (that they claim was taken off the market by jealous feminists) made men sterile, plus a bunch of other side-effects (just like female birth control. It drives me crazy that these people don’t realize that the pill isn’t a perfect miracle drug). The fact that the people making this drug want all these kinks worked out shows that they actually CARE about men’s health.
I don’t see any of these MRAs lining up as guinea pigs for male pill tests … which, if sterility were the only unwanted effect, is a pity, because nobody deserves to have one of these jackasses for a father.
They probably won’t be happy until it doesn’t take any genetic input from a woman. Just nobody tell ’em about parthenogenesis – oh the misandry!!!!
Noooooo kittehserf, just GIVE IT TO THEM! THEY WANT IT NOOOOW!!!
About female-only health care:
People with uteruses (who are mostly, but not all women) have health care needs in the healthiest years of their lives that people without uteruses (mostly men) will never have: pregnancy, childbirth, and the regulation of the equipment down there, which I think is further proof of my DD (drunk designer) hypothesis. This cost directly leads to the continuation of the human race, including the male half.
How is that fair to saddle all the cost of that–plus the hassle and the risk–on half the human race?
RE: baileyrenee
a bunch of other side-effects (just like female birth control. It drives me crazy that these people don’t realize that the pill isn’t a perfect miracle drug).
Oh god. I tried being on hormonal BC, back before I had surgery or T. I CLIMBED WALLS. It was maddening. I mean, I’ve now experienced all sorts of induced hormonal nasty, thanks to mucking around with testosterone, but that was waaaaay worse. Testosterone gone awry just made me rage-bomb, and could be insta-fixed by changing my dose. Estrogen/progesterone gone awry FUCKING HURT.
@LBT, UGH! I was on the pill for maybe a month in high school, my doctor just kinda said “hey, here’s some free birth control, see if you like it” (which was pretty cool of her). I hated it so goddamn much. It didn’t even make my skin nicer like everyone said it does.
That’s pretty telling if you hated it more than testosterone, yikes.
So in off topic:
I took the recs from people here and started watching Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. I have the dubbed version going because I’m spinning and need to look down. (Well, plying, which means I don’t have to look down all the time.)
RE: baileyrenee
Well, testosterone definitely had its own share of nasty effects, but I felt like I had more control over it. Like, BC, it was just, take X dose every day, and try to wait out the effects. With T… well, probably I shouldn’t have, but I experimented with my daily dose, and I could do so pretty easily, and find out what dose was personally right for us. If I wanted to go lower, I could, no problem. If I wanted higher, that wasn’t too tough either. It was a gel, so just meant extra pumps on my pump-bottle, and I learned to recognize the effects and how to adjust my dose.
On the whole, it was a much better experience, because I had that flexibility.
For those who were curious, my negative effects:
Testosterone: loss of ability to cry or eject emotions (if too high), rage and irritation (if too low)
Birth control: emotional instability, chest pain, (constant)
@ LBT, gotcha, that makes sense, and it looks like you had the same effects on BC I did too. The chest pain freaked me the fuck out. No thanks, pill.
Do/did you smoke by any chance? Because I did when I was on it and that’s why I thought it was so crappy for me… smoking on the pill is baaaaaad…
**Part of the reason I thought it was so crappy, anyway. I don’t smoke anymore but still wouldn’t take it again after that.
Slightly OT, but TzeTze’s vision of government reminds me of something I overheard the other day: A gentleman’s theory on how the US government could be made more efficient if it was run like Reddit’s comment section. Oh, but he did clarify that it would have to be a more sophisticated version of Reddit’s comment section.
Hey, all you have to do is restrict Reddit registrations to people who’ve made lasting contributions to Western culture, and we’ve got something.
GAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Andrew – just closing down so much of Reddit would be a win! 😀
“But I am the only one who imagines he wants to have a womb implanted in himself so he could get pregnant and give birth so he could do the one thing he can’t do that a (cis) woman can? Because that’s seriously what I thought he meant when I read that.”
No. Well, sort of. But my first thought was how many trans* women who want to be mothers would be fucking thrilled by that.
Pecunium — fuck the cops, what about EMS and doctors and firefighters and shit? Oh I’m sorry ma’am, you’ll just have to bleed out on the floor, you can only see a female doctor and you know the female medical schools just don’t produce that many doctors… (sound familiar? It should)
Would the MRAs be offended if I told them that radfem Shulamith Firestone beat them to the punch on artificial wombs decades ago?
https://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=shulamith+firestone+artificial+womb&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
Even if Reddit was your favorite place in the universe, I don’t see how anyone could think it was well-designed.
@Alice: Wow. Thanks for introducing me to the wonderful world of MRA “literature.” I’m a bit of a connoisseur of awful writing, and The Red Pill is positively vintage. When people write goofy self-insert agitprop like that, do you think that they believe they’re going to change anyone’s mind, or are they aware that it’s all masturbation?
Don’t forget we’re reading through The Red Pill.here and here.
According to Amazon, customers who read the Red Pill also were interested in this one. Should I be surprised?
http://www.amazon.com/Feeling-Good-Experts-Stress-free-ebook/dp/B00DJW19X8/ref=sr_1_17?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375937323&sr=1-17&keywords=mood+therapy
Thanks for the links, Katz. I wasn’t aware that some of you were so brave.
::rolls eyes::
Pity none of the Red Pillers seem to be getting any benefit from it.
Unless of course they made the mistake of reading RP and needed some sort of brain bleach afterward …
I’d be a lot more willing to consider having kids if I didn’t have to incubate and give birth to them. Bring on the artificial wombs!
(This marks example # 6587984531354135465465465 of MRAs having no fucking clue what feminists do not in fact find alarming/threatening/oh no our power is being stolen and we’re melting like the witch from the Wizard of Oz.)