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For A Voice for Men, and its Edmonton offshoot, terrifying women is a form of “human rights activism.”

Men's Rights Edmonton activist at work
Men’s Rights Edmonton activist at work

So the self-described “human rights activists” at A Voice for Men have found three more women to harass. Here’s the story, which for many of you will have a depressingly familiar ring:

Members of Men’s Rights Edmonton, a small group that is for all intents and purposes a local chapter of A Voice for Men, has been putting up pictures targeting Lise Gotell, the chair of women’s and gender studies at the University of Alberta. The pictures, which seem inspired by “Wanted” posters of yore, feature a large portrait of Gotell and the caption:

Theft isn’t black. Bank fraud isn’t Jewish. And rape isn’t male.

“Just because you’re paid to demonize men doesn’t mean rape is gendered. Don’t be that bigot.

Gotell’s crime? She was involved in what appears to have been a remarkably effective rape awareness campaign focusing on date rape and featuring the slogan “Don’t Be That Guy.”

A Voice for Men took exception to the campaign because, even thought it did deal with the male victims of rape, it didn’t devote equal time to the problem of evil, false-accusing “girls.” No, really. Men’s Rights Edmonton Activists put up “satirical” versions of the campaign’s posters with the slogan “Don’t Be that Girl.” Now, MR-E and AVFM, at least according to the “argument” advanced on their new poster, seem to be upset that the campaign didn’t devote equal time to the problem of female rapists.  [Note: this paragraph has been corrected; see note at end of piece.]

Gotell spoke out against the posters, and now Men’s Rights Edmonton and AVFM are doing their best to smear her as a “bigot.” Because she doesn’t believe that women are responsible for half of all rapes.

Since this is not actually true — more on this in a later post — it’s hard to see how this makes her a bigot.

As a rule, I don’t support tearing down the posters of one’s ideological enemies. Free speech and all that. But these posters are different: they’re slanderous personal attacks designed to harass an individual. Were they posted in my neighborhood I would tear them down.

And evidently that’s what some people in Edmonton have been doing.

Indeed, one recent night, several members of Men’s Rights Edmonton claim to have caught two women doing just that. While they don’t seem to have video footage of the women tearing down the posters, the MRAs filmed themselves following the women down the street and angrily confronting them for this alleged crime.

They posted the video to YouTube, and AVFM posted it as well, under the typically overheated title “Men’s Rights Edmonton confronts fascists.” They screencapped images of both women from the video and announced their intention to uncover their personal information:

MR-E would like to know the names of these two women so that charges of destruction of property can be laid against them. Also, the world should know the identities of those who seek to silence and censor messages advocating for human rights.

Of course, this is ridiculous. Tearing down a poster that was almost certainly posted illegally in the first place isn’t “destruction of property.” No one is going to be prosecuted for this. The police have better things to do.

But of course that’s not the real intent here. The real intent here is to scare the shit out of these women and other feminists by exposing them to harassment online — like the woman labeled “Big Red” and countless other women who have been targeted by AVFM and other MRAs (sometimes completely erroneously).

AVFM’s Paul Elam gave the game away with an “editor’s note” added to the post:

[A] woman who vandalizes man’s property and then flips him off when he confronts her about it on a dark street at night only acts in this manner because she is certain she has absolutely nothing to fear. Feminists terrified of MHRAs? My ass.

Elam could not have made it any clearer: the main point of this kind of “activism” — which has become AVFM’s bread and butter — is all about intimidating women, not helping men.

AVFM, where terrifying individual women is “human rights activism.”

Here’s the appropriate response to that:

edmontonfingerPN

CORRECTION/CLARIFICATION: I rewrote the paragraph starting with “A Voice for Men took exception,” which confused AVRM/MR-E’s current objection to Gotell’s views with its original “argument” against the “Don’t Be That Guy” campaign.

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Jason
Jason
11 years ago

“The MRM say that we cannot control ourselves, that if we’re gonna rape, then we’re gonna rape no matter what, because rapists are slavering beasts, so it’s up to women to stay indoors and hide from us all their lives.”

Feminists say the same thing, they just change the bit at the end so that women can go wherever they want and WE have to stay indoors to not rape them. And you’re wrong about the MRM. I started out with vaguely feminist beliefs, like most people in our culture. I became an MRA when I heard people, for the very first time, speaking about my deepest worries without laughing at them or dismissing them.

greendaywantsavatars
greendaywantsavatars
11 years ago

(More common than you’d think.)

Citation needed! Come on, man, how about those anonymous surveys?

hellkell
hellkell
11 years ago

Alice: he didn’t mean we don’t have to worry about being raped, he’s calling us unfuckable.

cloudiah
11 years ago

I hope everyone clicked on this NOPE, because it involves a corgi’s adorable butt. CORGIS!

Alice Sanguinaria
11 years ago

katz – Thanks. Someone had to do it, it was too good to pass up. 😛

katz
11 years ago

Kind of like a woman who hits a man over and over and over and over and over, and when he finally hits her back she calls the cops and gets him thrown in jail. (More common than you’d think.)

In the imaginary backwards land where Jason dwells, certainly.

We actually have footage of that fight.

Shadow
Shadow
11 years ago

I find it so adorably naive that he thinks the powerful are not prone to crime. What’s next, trickle-down economy FTW?

Marie
Marie
11 years ago

@jason

I hate to burst your bubble, bub, but you didn’t start out reasonably.

ind of like a woman who hits a man over and over and over and over and over, and when he finally hits her back she calls the cops and gets him thrown in jail. (More common than you’d think.)

Cute. He’s starting with the abuse apologia.

How come this is always mra’s retort. It’s not like any of us are going to think she’s not the badguy for hitting him, it’s just their straw scenario. This would make me barf in my mouth left if women of color weren’t already arrested for self defence

hellkell
hellkell
11 years ago

I started out with vaguely feminist beliefs, like most people in our culture

Citation SORELY needed.

Fade
11 years ago

Feminists say the same thing, they just change the bit at the end so that women can go wherever they want and WE have to stay indoors to not rape them,

I cannot believe you are comparing RAPING SOMEONE to someone BEING RAPED!

Hint: You can go outside, just DON’T RAPE ANYBODY. it is not that much of a feat.

Alice Sanguinaria
11 years ago

hellkell – I know that was the other implication, in which case I have a lot of Skype transcripts that I want to show him.

But the “oh, you people never have to worry about rape, ever” makes me furious.

Marie
Marie
11 years ago

@jason

Feminists say the same thing, they just change the bit at the end so that women can go wherever they want and WE have to stay indoors to not rape them.

Um, you need to lock yourself indoors to not rape? wtf. Cuz I’m pretty sure what feminist say is ‘don’t rape’ (along with a bunch of other stuff, but this isn’t the advanced course here.)

Jason
Jason
11 years ago

Alice, that’s called mental illness. Most rapists are people the victim actually knows, remember? (You feminists are always parading that one about because women shouldn’t trust any men in their lives – but you still have to hide from stranger rapists whenever you leave the house apparently.) Men are more likely than women to be victims of violence, we just aren’t scared of it all the time. The phrase “grow a pair” references male organs for a reason.

Alice Sanguinaria
11 years ago

Also, Jason, really, not raping people isn’t that hard. I do it every single day. And so do all of my male friends.

The fact that you’re implying that it’s ZOMG SO HARD makes it seem as if you really DO think that a man’s natural inclination is to rape.

Jason
Jason
11 years ago

“not raping people isn’t that hard. I do it every single day. And so do all of my male friends.”

Exactly! Neither do I or any of my male friends. So why do we constantly have to be told not to rape? Men can stop rape, don’t be that guy…

hellkell
hellkell
11 years ago

Jason, if you’re this charming in public, I’m surprised you’re not more scared of violence.

katz
11 years ago

For some reason my “lock all men indoors” initiative had trouble getting enough signatures.

Marie
Marie
11 years ago

@jason

Alice, that’s called mental illness

FUCK NO shithead. I have a mental illness and I have never raped anyone. Take your ableism and shove it up your ass. You don’t get to shove off crime on the mentally ill because you don’t want to own up to the fact that some men, neurotypical or no, ARE FUCKING RAPISTS.

Go fuck yourself.

(You feminists are always parading that one about because women shouldn’t trust any men in their lives – but you still have to hide from stranger rapists whenever you leave the house apparently.)

Because men tell us that if we get raped its our fault. ‘boys will be boys’ ‘you were leading him on’ ‘dressed like that, what were you expecting’ ‘you don’t want to ruin his life over a little misunderstanding do you?’

fuck off forever.

The phrase “grow a pair” references male organs for a reason.

because cismen are obsessed over their on genetalia?

Alice Sanguinaria
11 years ago

Jason – Dude. That’s not mental illness. That’s reality. It’s called “taking precautions”, which, in case you forgot, is one of the things you MRAs and rape apologists really like to harp on about. “If female didn’t do [thing], she won’t get raped!” Remember?

Please don’t mansplain “female being scared that she might get raped” to a female that ACTUALLY lives in a society where rape apologia is abound.

hellkell
hellkell
11 years ago

Jason: if you and your friends are fine, why do you even care? It’s not about you.

Marie
Marie
11 years ago

@jason

Exactly! Neither do I or any of my male friends

Lord. right after we just had the talk about how one in twenty men are rapists.

hellkell
hellkell
11 years ago

Marie: I know. And I honestly think anyone who’s this het up about being told not to rape has probably done some very sketchy shit in their time.

cloudiah
11 years ago

Men are more likely than women to be victims of violence, we just aren’t scared of it all the time. The phrase “grow a pair” references male organs for a reason

How dare you call me a misogynist!

Alice Sanguinaria
11 years ago

Jason – Because there are men out there, who, like you, want to apologize for rape.

Because there are men who think that not raping someone means that you should be rewarded with sex.

Because most rapes are committed by men towards women.

Because there’s a lot of people who don’t understand consent.

Because the “don’t be that guy” campaign was aimed at people who didn’t understand consent and who might have raped someone without knowing that what they did was wrong, and not at men who aren’t assholes like you who DO know what words mean and what consent means.

Jason
Jason
11 years ago

Well, hellkell, it’s targeted right at me, as a man…

“Don’t be that black guy.” Oh, you’re not a mugger? Well, then, why do you care? It’s not about you.

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