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:
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.
Awww, now I just look like a crazy person ranting into a room of people talking about MMOs…
I used to play EVE… still really tempted to pick up a month’s subscription and get back into it – my main character’s a pretty decent miner, so I can pull off the ftp route if I put enough time into it…. which is the problem… do I have that much free time I wonders?
EVE is actually a part of why I’m as much of a feminist as I am now. Being non-binary, I don’t really feel that need to represent my biological gender in games and generally play with female characters, including in MMOs, which normally hasn’t been a huge issue because I’m usually a soloist, but it’s pretty difficult to successful on your own in EVE. So I had a lot of interactions with people and didn’t feel the need to point out that, while my avatar has noticable breasts, my own body does not, and I think the fact that I’m capable of building a female bodyshape for my characters that wouldn’t require a back brace lead them to just believe that I was a woman… soooo…. a surprising number of dick pics, actually, which is the positive end of the wedge. Holy fuck. It’s funny how experiencing a thing personally can help you understand it a little better, isn’t it?
@Alice
Haha that’s what fade did XD I just bought shit.
as far as I remember there wasn’t a requirement to use it, it was just a place you brought bones to get more xp per bone. A little out of the way though.
@athywren
crazy person? O_o
I don’t know anything about EVE so sadly I can’t videogame bond with you over it 😛 But wow dick pics 🙁 I’ve never gotten those while gaming before. Not that people could send any pictures on runescape, and it’s the only multiplayer game I’ve done much.
Italics fail….
I wonder how much of Jason’s problem is simply about mistaking criticism of specific men for criticism of ALL men? I think that’s been the overall pattern of his idiocy, overall. When people make fun of him, he whines about the anti-male slurs.
But it’s opposite for women, apparently. “Bitch” and “mangina” are totally okay, but “loser” and “creep” are horrible anti-male slurs. Also, if a particular woman does something bad, ALL women are responsible for the bad things she did. But it’s never fair to characterize all the ‘moderate’ MRAs by the extremist ones, right?
Other atheists hide their face in shame upon learning that they share a religious affiliation with these people (myself included). I bet he likes Thunderf00t and Justin Vacula too. I know of few people more ‘dogmatic’ than this reactionary anti-feminist wing of atheists. It’s essentially an article of faith that cis straight white dudes are horribly oppressed by the evil PC matriarchy among these people.
Marie – I might have heard of it, but I don’t really know about it. But damn it, what if it made leveling prayer easier?!
Athywren – I’ve played a few MMOs and I’ve never gotten dick pics.
Then again, to be fair, I played Runescape and Maplestory, and you can’t really submit URLs through those very easily.
But ewww, unsolicited dick picks? *shudder*
Blarf… sorry. Awful shorthand is awful… and… I keep wanting to rationalise it away. :
I’m sorry, that wasn’t what I meant to say, and I’m not sure how to phrase it otherwise right now…. [brain-wracking interlude] tilting at windmills.
EVE is awesome, and it has a pretty decent email system, the UI is seriously awesome, as is the game. There’s email, a web browser, note pad, calculator and all kinds of stuff right there in the game… which sounds less cool now that I’ve written it out… there are pretty ships and lasers too (they go “pew!”). I don’t remember if the pictures were in the emails, or if I was sent something like imgur links but, either way, I dun wanna see that! I also don’t want the cheap come ons or the persistent insistence that I should be yours. And I especially don’t need your “help” to pick up my cargo, thank you very much. I have my own operation set up for that.
You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means
Relax, it was just a reminder 🙂
I’m a bit of a perfectionist… if not everything is right? EVERYTHING IS WRONG!!!!
On the one hand, I generally do a good job of whatever I’m doing, but… “He stumbled… HE STUMBLED!! OFF WITH HIS HEAD!!!!!!” *cough*
I’m totally rational, though…
Sorry, folks, I was off at physical therapy just now. To go off my last point…
“The only struggle most of these (male feminists) are genuinely concerned with is the struggle for the power gained through women’s approval.
“If that approval is expressed sexually, all the better. David Futrelle is little more than an unattractive Hugo Schwyzer with fewer opportunities to turn his pandering into panty-time. At the core, and I truly believe this, they are virtually the same man.”
-Paul Elam
is that quote supposed to prove anything?
Jason, Anyone who quotes Paul “Rage Boner” Elam uncritically is an unremitting asswaffle.
Awww dang I was hoping we scared him away by talking about runescape.
Maybe we should talk about bras?
Well…. you heard him, ladies. This cock won’t suck itself!
Seriously dude, you’re full of shit. I support gay rights because it is important, not because I want the approval, sexual or otherwise, of gay people. I support civil rights because it is important and, again, not because I want the approval of people of colour. Why would that suddenly change when the group in question is women?
I can’t find a bra that is good, because all of the ones with straps I’ve tried go across my trapezius, which is #1 pain site. I have a strapless bra, but it’s a cup side too small bought out of desperation
/fulfilling cloudiah’s suggestion of talking about bras. XD
@Fade, yes, it’s supposed to prove that he thinks Paul Elam is a reputable source. Oh dear.
re:bras
I just bought a great pink bra for 13 dollars a week ago! 😀
Just logged on to YouTube and saw a new GirlWritesWhat video… Apparently the Candian Associationj for Equality is having to pay $960 to the University of Toronto for police fees for an upcoming talk on men’s issues… Men at those events need police protection from mobs of feminists blocking the doors and interruptingthe talks by pulling the fire alarm. Just to bring it back to the topic of David’s original post… who is being “terrified” here, I wonder?
Read about the history of the civil rights movement and then tell me that people pulling fire alarms is terrorism. Dude, get a grip. Or as you were saying earlier, “grow a pair.”
You are such fragile little flowers!
Anyone who has known to been a)cite sources that b) are reliable have anything to say about this? B/c if it’s true, it’s shitty, but Jason hasn’t been mr integrity over here..
Let’s just ignore jason. He’s hitting OF levels of tedious.
Fade, it’s because they’re not an official student group, I think. My U. will also charge outside groups if/when they feel a scheduled event will require an additional police presence for crowd control, traffic control (LOL, not likely at a MRM event), etc.
So you’re defending their actions, Cloudiah? Pulling fire alarms, making noise to try and shut the event down, spitting at and assaulting police trying to clear the doors, shouting epithets in the faces of men trying to enter the hall peacefully… that’s acceptable behavior? David Futrelle hasn’t condemned it once, so I can only assume he supports it as well.
Frankly, I see little difference between the actions of the U of T protestors and George Wallace standing in the schoolhouse door. And I’d even argue it’s more intimidating than turning a camera on a couple of women caught destroying property.
Yes, Jason. I support that, especially if it pisses you delicate titty-babies off.
Go beat some other dead horse, moron.