So a fella on the Men’s Rights subreddit made this poster, which he’s planning to post in the vicinity of the Women’s Studies Department at his school, assuming he can find it.
Since I know that a lot of females read this blog, I thought I’d ask you all just which of these Unchecked Female Privileges (There’s Nothing “Benevolent” About Them) are your favorites. You can pick more than one! (I know how inherently greedy you feemales are.)
Has he missed any important ones?
Non-women are allowed to post in this thread as well, but only if they preface their comments with “If it may please the feemales, might I humbly suggest that … .”
Foxes. Mrmagnificent’s parents used to live in an old, well-established suburb near one of our beaches. There he is, mindlessly washing dishes at the sink, looks out the window and voila! A fox in the backyard.
It turns out that beachside suburbs are great for foxes. Lots of visitors for most of the year, lots of discarded food scraps lead to lots of healthy, well-fed scavengers. (Of course, they probably got well established originally back in the days when absolutely everybody had chooks in the backyard.)
My sister’s dog Laddie must fancy himself as a fox (pointy ears, red fur, bushy tail – fair enough) as he’s the Great Rabbit Hunter. Fortunately the local rabbits have figured out that going into the yard there is a bad idea.
If it may please the feemales, might I humbly suggest that you point out which of these you believe are factually inaccurate, instead of just calling the writer stupid?
I just posted about this on my blog. In summary, though, I find MRAs so frustrating because there are some important issues on that list:
More likely to have a teacher of your gender
Women’s shelters
Assumed primary parental figure /divorce& family court bias
More, better contraceptive options
Lower chance of committing suicide
Circumcision is illegal
Emotional encouragment/feelings given more inherent value
All of those are hugely important, and at least three are also feminist campaign issues. And yet. They just chuck “not avoided by strangers of the other gender” in there. It doesn’t invalidate how awesome those ideas are, but it’s a shame that the potential of men’s rights activism comes with so much wrong and creepiness.
If it may please the Alex, might I humbly suggest that you read the thread?
Try almost all of them, Alex.
What the fuck is with MRAs and male circumcision? I mean I’m a circumcised dude and I honestly don’t give two shits about not having a turtle neck nor do I really think having one would make my life any better or worse.
And after some quick fact-checking the claims about men being more likely to be depressed and/or suffering from mental illness are complete bullshit: http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2011/08/mental-illness.aspx http://www.nimh.nih.gov/statistics/SMI_AASR.shtml http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/help-information/mental-health-statistics/men-women/
The claims about men being more likely to suffer from substance abuse problems does appear to hold water at least…
Anonymous Contributor — yeah, they are right some of the time, problem is that it’s buried in so much shit no one takes them seriously, and they aren’t doing anything about those problems.
Also, you new? Have you gotten a welcome package?
I don’t know; I think people have a right to make cosmetic alterations to their bodies once they reach an age where they can meaningfully consent.
Infant/minor circumcision is a pretty gross violation of a minor’s rights, imo, since there is scant medical evidence in favor of it and the usual reason is “Because his dad is!” or “ew, foreskin!”
Different story if there is some medical reason for it, but usually there is not.
I also feel this way about ear-piercing, though circumcision is much, much more painful and invasive. That’s another thing– babies don’t really get adequate pain relief and have no way of communicating they need more pain relief, aside from crying… which babies do all the time anyway for no obvious reason sometimes.
That said, last I heard circumcision rates were dropping. But again, this is an issue feminists have talked about for some time– it was a bunch of self-described leftwing feminist hippies who convinced me to leave my first son intact, and (by default) the two following him, as well. My male OB was completely neutral about the topic, and my husband might have been slightly in favor, considering it “just what everyone is used to.”
as far as the teacher issue goes, have they ever thought about, y’know, PAYING teachers enough to attract guys to the field?! I live in North Carolina, which pays its teachers bottom of the barrel wages, and one of the ongoing apparent justifications for this is that “most of them are just earning a secondary paycheck.”
If you don’t think that’s a self-perpetuating gendered assumption, well…. !
Regarding ear piercing, if you’re going to did, age regardless, go to a proper piercing place and get it done with a needle. The guns are less sanitary and don’t pierce the tissue so much as crush it. /PSA
Going to get it done*
I have no idea what happened there. We’ll blame the fresh brownies I’m eating, k?
^ What Argenti said. BoyFantastic’s sister just took his niece to get hers done and, despite our recommendations, took her to a hair accessories shop that does it with a gun because she didn’t want to take her to a piercing studio. Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, what would we know about piercings? BFs only had 10 and I’ve only had 60.
Sorry this makes me ranty apparently.
mm brownies!
yeah, I’m pretty sure I got the gun. Mom took me to the counter at JCPenney’s or somewhere like that when I was five. Luckily no problems. Maybe it’s because I was so young, but the holes NEVER close, not even if I go years without wearing earrings. (I am allergic to cheap ones and too po’ to buy gold. Plus I’m not much of an accessorizer, anyway.)
I think piercing studios seem too “edgy” for a lot of people to consider taking their kids. Which is a shame, ’cause I am sure they do a better, cleaner job than Claire’s.
RE: Anon
Enh, I’m an uncut guy and the idea of anyone trying to perform cosmetic surgery on me without my consent makes me D: Some guys may be less okay with it than you are.
Anonymous Contributor – all I can say is, thank Ceiling Cat I wasn’t drinking anything when I read “turtle neck”.
😀
LBT, welcome back, glad the trip’s going well!
Ah yes, ear-piercing guns. I got my ears pierced in the 80s. Would have been okay except 1) being studs, it was too easy for the holes to get infected (which they did), and 2) the person doing it put the wrong stud in the gun for one; it wasn’t long enough to connect and she couldn’t get the flamin’ gun off my ear. That would have made an impressive earring, but way to heavy for my liking. Elbow-length lobes aren’t my thing at all.
I’ve had my ears done twice in the past, and both times I had to stop wearing earrings and let the holes close because I kept getting infections. I figured it was because I was young and irresponsible and didn’t keep them clean enough. I was well into adulthood when I had my navel done, and despite following the care instructions meticulously, I still got an infection. Turns out I’m mildly allergic to metals. I can wear them on the outside, but not under the skin.
The piercing guy said if I wanted it done again, to get a titanium or niobium stud instead of surgical steel. I might get my ears done again that way, but have to wait until I get a job.
That’s interesting, MordisthJ – my first ear-piercings were fine, once the initial infection healed (an antibiotic ointment on sleepers fixed it) but when I had a second pair done higher on the ear, years later, they just would not heal. Not an infection as such, just raw all the time.
We got our ears pierced at Claire’s by gun at the age of seven or so, and had no ill effects. Have let them heal up since, since nobody really cares about them anymore.
My first set was as a kid, infected, let them close. Come teenage years I was allowed to get them done again — with the gun, no issues besides discovering I’m the one freak on the planet allergic to gold. My cartilage was a needle and healing hurt way more than the piercing itself, but again, no issues.
I wasn’t trying to shame anyone who had them done with the gun, just a little PSA that the needle is much better.
I think I’m getting a second set next month when I have money, I have 2g holes and want ~8g above them, and it’s like $20 at the place I had my cartilage done at. Gotta see if I still have my smaller tapers, and if I can get a larger gauge needle in the first place so I don’t have to fight with that first gauge (though I guess I could do that one with a yarn needle, maybe…I doubt I have the earrings I used the first time, and I did it stupidly, cuz 15~)
My initial piercings would still open if I tried; they’ve never closed over. I don’t bother, though, ‘cos I’d need very long earrings to show under my hair, and I don’t see any I like, or that are light enough not to hurt, around at present.
Gah. I just remembered the stomach-turning sensation when a hook goes into the ear instead of through the hole. Not painful but full of squick!
I tried to stretch my lobes really sensibly but found that I could only get to 5mm (google sez that’s 4g), and with both lobes if I tried to get them to six they split. I kept them open to heal at 2mm (12g) but keep forgetting to start again. I want to go to 8mm (0g) because there’s some really awesome Rosie The Riveter plugs that I MUST HAVE. I’m hoping it was a problem with the 6mm taper I used instead of my ears :/
By the way, the gauge system is ridiculous. I know the metric system is for pinkos but seriously, it just makes sense.
Yeah, it’s weird, our ears have closed over, but the old sites will still spurt goo or something when picked at. Euuurgh.