Pity the poor Men’s Rights activists. The real civil rights movements that MRAs like to compare their, er, “struggle” to may have faced many obstacles that MRAs haven’t — from legal prohibitions on voting to fire bombings and assassinations — but at least they haven’t had a hard time explaining just what it was, and is, that they’re seeking redress for.
When Martin Luther King so famously dreamt of a world in which “my four little children will … not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character” he was not only speaking eloquently; he was expressing an idea that was, well, pretty easy to understand.
And that’s where the trouble comes for the MRAs. It’s a bit harder to explain your alleged anti-oppression movement to the general public when the people on whose behalf you’re fighting aren’t actually, you know, oppressed. So is it any wonder that MRAs have such a hard time explaining themselves to the public?
I mean, all the Suffragettes had to put on their posters was “Votes for Women.” MRAs are stuck. Men already have votes. They already have civil rights. Heck, men already run most companies and hold most political offices and control most of the world’s wealth.
And so MRA propaganda tends to be muddled, a weird mixture of misogyny and special pleading and stuff that just doesn’t make any sort of sense no matter how you slice it. In earlier posts we’ve looked at baffling and/or offensive posters from A Voice for Men and associated sites, as well as at some of the awful graphics that sometimes make their appearance on Reddit.
Today, a quick stroll through the MRA underground on deviantART.
The graphic at the top of the post is from someone calling himself awesomeninja; for his propaganda work, he specializes in somewhat baffling text-based graphics in basic colors. Apparently he has convinced himself that “feminazis use child-bearing all the time to defend their sexist views,” and feels it is necessary to respond to this in giant letters in several colors with a black background.
He is also responsible for this similarly befuddling contribution to political art:
Wait, is this a trick question?
Dude, have you actually met any Men’s Rights Activists?
Oh, wait, you are one. Oops.
But wait, there’s more:
Of course, awesomeninja isn’t the only one spreading the MRA message of love on deviantART. Here are a few other graphics I found by searching for “men’s rights” and related tags on the site.
This lovely “stamp” from loqutor, who has convinced himself he is “debunking an ages-old feminist myth” with it.
A meme from Userbruiser, who apparently thinks that if a woman has alcohol in her system, it’s ok to rape her:
This bizarre castration fantasy from the same lovely fellow:
This rant posted by themodsquad, who also enjoys jokes about pedophilia and bestiality.
There’s some question about whether or not themodsquad came up with that all by himself, but this uglier and worse-written sequel seems pretty authentic to me:
Is he a “real” MRA or just a troll? I don’t know, but he does seem to be an authentic misogynistic asshole attention-seeker, and I’ve seen virtually every “argument” in the first graphic rehashed many times on assorted MRA sites; it’s pretty much standard-issue “we hunted the mammoth to feed you.”
Let’s close with several graphics from an aspiring Man Going His Own Way. millenia89 is proud of his own reproductive organs:
But he doesn’t seem to think too highly of most of his fellow male-identified penis-havers. Indeed, he believes most of his fellow men are like lemmings marching off a cliff — except for a tiny percentage of MGTOW like the two tiny fellows at the bottom right of the graphic below.
I know it seems confusing, but trust me, the MGTOW in this picture aren’t the ones going over the cliff, really. They’re the ones facing the other direction, underneath that little MGTOW sign. No, not under the big MGTOW sign, under the little one. Just trust me on this one.
millenia89 is especially unimpressed with men who step in to “save a hoe,” like this fellow, whom he sees as a handy “personification” of the sort of “manipulated tool” who, I guess, apparently likes women enough to help them out. I’m not quite sure I get it. Apparently this picture is inherently hilarious because it’s a picture of a black guy with an odd smile in a weirdly inaccurate superman costume. Heck, even the font is wacky.
Millenia89 may not think much of most of his fellow men, but at least he doesn’t want to render them obsolete. Women, well, that’s another issue entirely, as this utopian paean to the glories of artificial wombs suggests:
So awesomeninja thinks that “pregnancy is no excuse for misandry.” Millenia89 evidently hopes that in the future there will be no excuse for pregnancy itself.
This is how the Men’s Rights movement tries to explain itself to the world.
And MRAs wonder why their little movement has the reputation it does.
—
I was inspired to check out deviantART’s MRA community by some of the commenters here. Check out the comments in the “Feminist anti-obedience school” thread starting here to see some homegrown parodies of awesomeninja’s graphic works.
Clicked the “awesomeninja” deviantart page link. One of his recent favorites is a panty shot of a VERY young anime girl. ~*~*~*~shocker~*~*~*~
@hatchetmaniac, Seriously, did you look at those posters? Give us one good reason we shouldn’t dismiss a “movement” that can’t understand the simplest aspect of crafting a decent message.
LOL kittehserf! I’ve been typing HTML for years and years and years. And years. And it got me! I think a hearty, piping hot bowl of Malt-O-Meal is in order.
So, in addition to their many other failures to comprehend reality, MRAs have never heard of Rice Krispies.
Or oatmeal, evidently. Or cornflakes.
Porridge and honey!
nom nom nom
Maybe they just want all men to eat All-Bran out of a deep concern for their colonic health.
I have to admit, a nice bowl of hot oatmeal with a pat of butter and some real maple syrup is starting to sound mighty tasty.
Maybe they want all men to be as full of shit as they are.
That sounds unsafe.
*BOOM*
It’d make a really ugly explosion.
BTW speaking of oatmeal, the Trader Joe’s pecan pumpkin instant oatmeal is pretty good. You know, for your after-sex needs.
(If anyone actually tries this I suspect that the sweetness will make them nauseous.)
Kittehserf,
Have you heard of Safe Haven in Illinois? (I think it’s in joe Daviess county). They helped me find a home for a half starved stray kitty in my backyard and even paid for all his medical care. I think they have deals with local vets. Depending on where you are in IL, it may be too far from you, not sure. Hey there fellow Midwesterner! *fist bump*
I think it probably was an MRA one… the title read like it was intended to piss off feminists. Sad, really, they’re too busy projecting their oppositional bullshit onto us to just consider that, hey, that’s actually the right message.
“Everybody poops… AND IT NEEDS TO STOP!!”
…I still want to know how men on the phone are like having sex with a woman who won’t get you cereal afterwards. It’s really starting to bug me, like hearing a joke without the punch line.
kittehserf: “Maybe they want all men to be as full of shit as they are.
CassandraSays: “That sounds unsafe.”
Dr. Kellogg would prescribe a nice enema….
Kittehserf,
FYI, I also gave them a donation, I think 60 bucks, since that was what they charged when one of their cats would get adopted. That was back in 2006.
Men on the phone are like having sex with a woman who won’t get you cereal afterwards, because they give you a tired, satisfied feeling, but leave you with a faint gnawing feeling in your stomach.
Hell, I’m not even sure what “men on the phone” is supposed to mean. Is it “For men, being on the phone is like X?” Or “For women, being on the phone with a man is like X?” Or are we talking about phone sex?
…If someone were very very brave, they could ask him…
@cassandra says:
“True oppression is when random women won’t give you sandwiches and blowjobs on demand. Everything else is just whining.”
Don’t forget the cereal after sex thing. I mean, it’s SO easy. Why are women so unreasonably oppressive? It’s not like he wants a 6 course meal. Check your privilege, gals!
(/sarcasm, in case it’s not obvious)
I do love how the cereal bit has a double meaning. I’m pretty sure he meant “It’s only cereal, it’s not that hard to get” to mean “so do my bidding and get it for me, wimminz,” but it’s got the far more obvious meaning “so just get it yourself because you are a grown-up and don’t need someone else to do simple tasks for you.”
Werterrier,
“Yeah, I found that a little odd. I mean, a couple of paper towels? Definitely”
Ok, you went there. I was resisting mentioning how nice it is when hubby brings me a warm washcloth after the deed. Tmi time!
Nitram – thanks for that info! I’m not in Illinois, my gf is, and I’ll pass that name on to her. (I’m in Australia.)
Speaking of cats (and other things) in needs of homes…I know of two cats, a couch, and a mattress that need rehoming. The cats are my mother’s friend’s, the other two pecunium tried dumping off on me and it’s obviously up to him whether they’re up for grabs in general. All New England area, and I can get details on the kitties if desired.
Pecunium — I asked around at the shop, no takers.
Such a good illustration that they see other people serving/subordinate to them as fair and actual equality as unfair. Regular people realize that when they’re lying together comfy in bed and don’t want to get up, the other person is comfy too, and it’s not fair to expect them to get up and do something for you. But for these guys, other people exist for the purpose of doing things for them when they don’t feel like it.
Also a good illustration of how much of MRA “issues” are obviously single events that happened to someone and pissed him off.
Men on the phone are like having sex with a woman who won’t get you cereal afterwards……because I suppose it’s a disappointing experience? Not going the extra mile? I’m sure he’s making some stereotypical reference to men not being able to talk on the phone well, like it’s not their strong suit, like women who are expert yappers on phones or something.
I’m quite the poster tonight! I’ll give it a rest now. 🙂