I’ve learned a lot about myself in the process of writing this blog. For example, this week, I learned that I’m a “vile, subhuman thing” who “like licking sh*t of feminist’s shoes” and “just wants every man cuckolded.” Also, I have some interesting and specific tastes in porn that even I was unaware of.
I learned all of these things from the always reliable purveyors of accurate and unbiased information in the Men’s Rights subreddit, in a thread ostensibly devoted to my coverage of the recent events in Toronto, but which ended up being more devoted to my various alleged failings and my alleged preferences in the porn realm.
Let’s take a look!
Here’s a man who is evidently also a pig suggesting that I am a man who is also a slug:
But ThePigmanAgain was too late! For I was able to steal EIGHTEEN WHOLE TRAFFICS from the Men’s Rights subreddit that day before the moderators removed this thread from the subreddit, lest any more unwary Men’s Rightsers wander into my evil internet lair where they might find writing critical of the men’s rights movement and its farcical attempts at activism.
Evidently Alisdair isn’t one of those who actually clicked on the link to my post in the thread, because he apparently believes that my post was a do-it-yourself guide to cuckolding other men, or perhaps a guide to getting cuckolded. I’m not sure..
And then there’s JayBopara, a MHRA warrior who seems a bit obsessed with what he for some reason believes are my preferences, porn-wise:
These comments of his raise a few questions for me.
1) Where exactly is he allegedly reading about my alleged preferences in porn? The MakeStuffUpAboutDavidFutrelleWiki?
2) What on earth is “mangina porn,” anyway?
Asked this very question in the thread itself, Jay has this answer:
Ah.
Dude, hate to break it to you, but I’m pretty sure that you’re the only person in the universe who calls that “mangina porn.”
Also, despite the similarities in the first three letters of the words, and the involvement of women in each, there is no real connection between “feminism” and “femdom.” One is a social and political movement; the other is a kink.
Anyway, this is how the HUMAN RIGHTS MOVEMENT FOR MEN AND BOYS OF THE 21ST CENTURY deals with its critics.
Well, its male critics anyway. It treats its female critics much, much worse.
Well… this is kind of weird. In the manga the main couple is almost the only one not having sex.
Yey, If memory serves yet another combined character: Tsukushi’s female best friend and the womanizer’s childhood “girl next door”. … Or they blew something way out of proportion.
He doesn’t end up with either of them.
He misses an important appointment with the girl next door because of his “whoring ways”… after which she leaves him for good. And he has a one night stand with the female best friend after which they part amicably. But really, that’s it.
It’s also an “in” for the argument that ‘I only get so angry because I love you so much’. Which is bullshit squared.
Anger is never a sign of love. It might be a consequence of strong feelings , which just might have their origin in love. (Think parents reacting to a child who’s been “missing”, but really lost track of time playing in trees or whatever. Relief once they’re found might be followed by anger at the child being so thoughtless.)
But a person who feels or displays anger is showing anger, not love. Someone who thinks that anger is the right way to show strong feelings has at least a limited emotional vocabulary, at worst a propensity to be angry and then to look for ways to excuse that anger.
I yelled at my step-son the other day because when I was picking him up from school he was running across the street willy-nilly. He’s supposed to cross the street where there is a crossing guard and walk down the street to the car. He was later than usual coming to the car and then I saw him running across the street – he had been to the other side for no apparent reason. And there was a car coming. So I asked him “why did you do that?” And he said “I just felt like it.” So I kinda went off on him. I yelled “the reason I’m yelling is because you scared the crap out of me!” And then I calmed down and apologized for yelling.
Maybe I have limited emotional vocabulary. But, ya know, I’m human. And humans get angry sometimes.
I just re-read that last bit and I didn’t mean it to sound as snarky as it did. I do yell too much. It’s something I’m working on.
The problem that we were discussing was people who think that outbursts of anger and constant fighting are signs that a romantic relationship is super awesome and meant to be. As in, this means your relationship is better than one in which people get along well, and the fighting means you have a crush on each other, like when a boys pulls a girl’s pigtails to get her attention in kindergarden. Not the occasional emotional outburst because you were scared that your kid was about to get themselves killed.
I do think that it’s usually a good idea to try talking rather than yelling if you can when communicating with children, but yelling at kids because they gave you a fright is really not the same issue as “he calls her stupid and ugly and she calls him spoiled and selfish and they never stop fighting, so it must be true love”.
@CassandraSays. Right, I gotcha. Sorry to turn it into an “all about me” thing.
I feel like the “it’s because I love you” thing is one of those lies that seems to work so well because it contains a nugget of truth. I think people do tend to have stronger feelings when they involve someone we care about. But it’s completely twisted to excuse/justify abusive and bullying behavior that isn’t really love at all.
I love how they assume that male feminists are feminists because they want to get some pussy. It’s like they can’t imagine why men would have any interest in the rights of women…except as a vehicle for getting laid. It kind of seems like projection, in a way, seeing as that’s the only reason why they would interact with a woman.
So Cassandra kinda already said it, but having an asshole father…
The difference is your kid getting yelled at for risking his life isn’t going to wonder if this time doing homework with the TV on will get him screamed at, or if being three minutes past curfew will result in a screaming fit or a “oh, there you are”…yelling cuz you’re afraid for his life is consistent, abusive assholery often isn’t.
FTR, the one and only time I’m okay with spanking is if they were doing something that risked serious injury (unless, of course, yelling gets the point across) — I’m fine with conditioning kids that trying to eat bleach or running in the street results in a sore backside, cuz it’s a better lesson than it resulting in getting hit by a car. And I really hope I’m not about to start the spanking debate >.<
No worries, I just figured it might be confusing if you missed the earlier part of the (rather long) conversation.
“Because I love you” can totally go either way. For example, trying to talk your kid out of marrying someone who you can clearly see is covered in giant red flags? Understandable, though you do have to know when to back off. Trying to talk your kid into taking a virginity pledge and handing Dad her symbolic vagina in a box with a key? Um, no, I don’t care how much you love her, that’s not OK. Trying to talk your girlfriend/wife out of taking a cool new job/going out for drinks with her friends/going on vacation without you because it’s too “dangerous” or “beyond her capabilities”? That’s “I say these things because I love you” used as an excuse to be a controlling, abusive asshole.
@ Argenti
The one and only time I was spanked as a kid was when I went off to play at a friend’s house, didn’t tell my parents where I was going, and didn’t get back till about midnight. I was about 7 or so? My parents were absolutely terrified, and while I still think a calm explanation of why what I’d done would have sufficed, I can’t say I really blame them for freaking out. Though, again, seeing how scared they were was a far more effective deterrent against doing it again than either the spanking or the yelling.
Yeah I figure it depends on the kid, their age, etc. Like, when my cousin’ solidest was maybe 2 or 3 she chomped on her mother’s leg. My cousin, in that “ow that hurt!” tone, came out with “we do not bite mommy!”, worked like a charm (and, since smart ass pecunium had to ask, no, she did not just bite someone else)
*cousin’s oldest
And having talked that girl out of bringing home a free kitten cuz it’d make grandma mad and we don’t want to make grandma mad now do we? Yeah, she’s the sort lecturing works like a charm on (she’s also gotta be about 13 now and any of these PUA assholes…*screams*)
THIS.
It’s like… there’s this idea that normally, when you hang out with other people, you understand each other perfectly and have everything in common, so when you find someone with whom you have nothing in common that’s really rare and interesting and exceptional, and you’ll fall madly in love. And staying completely disconnected from each other is what keeps things interesting.
And I just don’t get it. Isn’t it really commonplace and happens constantly that you meet people with whom you have nothing in common? Isn’t the super awesome thing to meet someone who does understand you? I guess you can say me and husband had a pretty “passionate” love affair in that we became a couple and then started planning our wedding after only a few months, completely convinced that we’d met our soulmate and were made for each other. But that’s because we so absolutely clicked – we discovered that we thought alike, felt alike, liked the same stuff and basically had everything in common.
I get really bored around people who I have nothing in common with. What is there to talk about? It’s awkward, and dull. I mean, I can always make conversation if I have to, but it’s effort, and it’s so much more fun when the conversation flows effortlessly.
The first conversation I had with Mr C lasted about 7 hours – we were initially just going to have a cup of coffee together, but we were having so much fun talking that coffee turned into dinner and dinner turned into drinks and now, more than 15 years later, we still haven’t run out of things to talk about.
Yeah, I’m the same with BoyFantastic. We’re eerily similar. And we live together and both work from home and share all our friends and put on gigs together in our spare time. Some people ask us if we get sick of each other but honestly, we don’t. Why would we? He’s my best bud and I enjoy his company. Even when we’ve been working right next to each other all day, cooked dinner together and then stayed up chatting, we can still end up rambling away to each other until the wee small hours. The idea of having to share a house with a man who hated everything I liked so much so that even watching TV becomes a debate… doesn’t appeal.
No, but I think I need to.
There are multiple versions (having boy bands parody romance dramas is kind of a thing), but I think this was the first.
They did Princess Hours too, if you’ve seen that one.
O_O
Count me among the “wft?” reactions to that. I’ve never heard that trope. Also in hating talking to people I’ve nothing in common with; boring and I don’t know what to say, since I’m not that good at faking interest in things.
When Louis and I are at Home we’re always doing stuff together, or just hanging out in the house, or talking. We like being together whether we’re talking or not. We’ve picked up hobbies from each other, when they weren’t already the same ones. I started knitting on this side entirely as a result of the relationship. (Speaking of which, the great striped jacket is finished – links are on the September open thread.)
It makes me wonder what else they do for fun, you know? Do they make a habit of seeking out situations where they’ll be bored or annoyed?
Oh, wait, I think I just figured out where this trope intersects with the MRM.
It mostly amuses me, but it’s also annoying. Like, hey, I’ve been openly doing this feminism thing for two years and I’ve been single the whole time (just haven’t met someone I clicked with since my ex)… do they think I wouldn’t have noticed that my plan was failing if that was it? Or do they assume that I’ve deluded myself into thinking I’m rolling around in Labialand right now?
Seconding the recommendation for Kushiel’s Legacy. I’ve only read Kushiel’s Dart (the first one) so far, but I loved it. The main character is into pain and submission, but it’s really clear that’s about her and not some “all women secretly want this” thing. And most of the other characters still respect her even if they don’t understand it! She’s a strong female character with a nuanced personality and complex motivations! There’s espionage and political intrigue! There’s queer people! It was also just really cool to read a novel with a badass masochist for a protagonist.