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 assassinationsย — 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.ย 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.ย 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 ofย “manipulated tool” who, I guess, apparently likes women enough to help them out.ย 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.
Kittehs:
Oh ok! I thought I was talking to a local. In that case, here’s some better info, just did a quick google search and it IS in jodaviess county! Here’s the website: http://www.safehavenforpets.org/
It’s in the town of Elizabeth, but I think there are offshoots in neighboring Wisconsin and Iowa. Good luck! And G’day mate! (Har har. Ok, that was bad.)
Yep. Oh, the giant cosmic unfairness of the fact that an entire gender doesn’t think they exist to serve you! Someone should make a poster about this.
Imagine the outrage these guys must’ve felt when Mummy stopped making their lunches, wiping their arses, and so on.
Oh, wait, no need to imagine it, that’s the stage they’re at right now.
@Cassandrasays
I’ve never made an MRA poster before, but here’s my best shot
@fade
that’s great XD
Got ’em in a nutshell, Fade! ๐
Dang, Nitram! I’m going to have to get my guy on board with the warm washcloth. Much better!
I am pleased to see my drive by post about cereal has promoted discussion.
I saw that snarky-but-actualy-totally-great poster too (the erection =/= consent one, on imgur. I saw it on imgur anyway). It’s funny how the poster thought it was such a controversy, when really, if that’s the kind of poster those idiots made in the first place pretty much nobody would be upset. Actually, it’s more pathetic and sad than funny, since the OP probably didn’t even give a shit about anyone getting raped and just wanted to burn some feminists.
I’m 35 and my mother doesn’t come over to do my laundry any more. Misandry!
There’s no food in my fridge, in my apartment that I live in that’s in a different city to where my mother lives. Why is she slacking off and not filling up the fridge for me? Misandry!
This morning I had to tie my own shoelaces. Misandry again.
@fade
Now THAT is a great poster!
Even more stupid is that most feminists are probably the people least likely to say an erection means consent. At least, I’d hope so, and if they did say that, they’d get called out on it.by other feminists.
What MRAs really mean is that erection = his choice, never anyone else’s. (I say “his” advisedly, because it’s not like MRAs are supportive of trans* women.)
Cassandra – there was food in the fridge, but it’s all moldy and Mom didn’t tell me it’s no good to eat, and she didn’t come over to clean it out! Misandry!
Ah, yes Kitteh, valid correction.
I just read through the whole thread, and Iโm still wondering who craves cereal after sex. I thought the traditional after-intercourse ritual was having a cigarette, not a bowl of Lucky Charms.
People always used to say that my dad was a cereal monogamist…
I think you’re right kittehserf, once you understand things like “kissing doesn’t mean you’re getting laid tonight,” I don’t see why “a boner doesn’t mean you’re getting laid tonight” is a bizarre concept.
Oooh, those cookie medals are just the thing, kittehs!
Additionally, it is actually the case that Dr. Husbutt never wants cereal. Not after sex, not for breakfast, never. He condescends every morning to eat a bit of that fiber stuff that tastes like cardboard and twigs had a baby, but that’s more out of a desire to be, er, regular than it is from a desire to actually eat cereal.
That said, post-sex cookies are totally a thing in our household. Or ice cream, if it’s hot and we actually have some in the freezer. But not in bed. That just sounds like a recipe for sadness and/or being itchy from crumbs.
Also, please excuse that that comment’s roughly an hour late. I was getting that “This comment cannot be posted” business again D:
@dustydeste
no, not the ‘this comment cannot be posted’ D:
um, I’m not contributing much now cuz I’m ansty and weird feeling, so tell me if yall want me to go somewhere else til I think clearer.
*antsy, not ansty
OT: I hate when news sites close commenting.
I commented on that metro news article that was shared somewhere in the “Don’t be that bigot” poster article. Got a reply telling me that the law in no less than the entire world defines rape as “a MAN having sex with a someone against their will!” (not a man, but a MAN), that, despite the legal definition of drunk, a single glass of alcohol is always enough to qualify, and that the man is always the rapist, even if he’s the one who’s too drunk to consent… and I can’t waste my time attempting to educate this wilfully ignorant moron. Rargh.
Anyway, back on topic…
Hah! I like how it comes through with the red, white & blue colours… get that patriotism vibe going. “Loyal [insert nationality here]’s hate women. Do your part – hate women today!” *newsreel music*
You think THAT’s bad!? Yesterday, I had to sew a rip in my shoe up! It was nothing major structurally, but the bit that tore held one of the eyelets in place, so I couldn’t tie my laces properly at all… it was horrifying!
#wallo’text!
angsty?
Marie, nobody wants you to go away! ::smh::
Ansty’s a good word. Sounds like a brand in search of a product, or a relative of Etsy, maybe. ๐
@sittiekitty
Antsy! That’s what I meant to spell. I can spell. Most of the time.
@kittehs
yay. ๐ Idk why I just feel like I’m being overbearing today ๐
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@ Marie
Would funny and/or cute things help? I realize that my funny or cute may not be other people’s, but Cute Overload is always a good place to start.
http://cuteoverload.com/