So over on The Spearhead, the fellas are discussing pop star and self-professed feminist Lorde — no, really — and, well, I have some bad news for you all. Apparently we’re about to be taken over by Barbarian tribes. No, really — again. Blame Lorde, Lena Dunham, Lady Gaga, and of course Sex & the City. Among others.
According to a comment-cum-manifesto from The Other Jim, which won itself a couple of dozen upvotes from The Spearhead’s highly civilized readers, Lorde’s feminism
is merely symptomatic of the fact that we live in what can only be called, ‘The Fem-Centric Reality” … Where the culture of the West caters to female desires. Thus, it’s why we see movies, tv, books, music, etc. targeting women(with the govt. legally and economically empowering women eg Title IX, Lilly Ledbetter, etc.), but more importantly appealing to their innermost desires.
It’s why we’ve seen the popularity of such things like ‘Sex & the City’, ’50 Shades of Grey’, ‘Rom-Com’ movies and shows, ‘Girls’, ‘Dancing With the Stars’, ‘The Bachelor/ette’, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, ‘Grrll-Power’ Heroines like Jennifer Lawrence in the ‘Hunger Games’, ABC News, the ‘War on Women’, etc. All of it catering to the fleeting whims and desires of women. Thus, we all live in ‘Chick-World’. *
So, the ‘Fem-Centric Reality’ is the dominant cultural force in the West right now. Of course, it won’t last, nothing ever does, but the price it will exact from Western Civilization will likely help in usher in a cultural, if not civilizational collapse as the Barbarian tribes surrounding the West see the weakness the Fem-Centric Reality engenders and are patiently waiting to take over a weaker civilization.
So there’s that.
Jim ends with this, well, intriguing theory about trans women:
* It’s also why we’re seeing more MTF transsexuals in the public eye, IMO due to a form of Stockholm Syndrome whereby some men aren’t merely sympathizing with the hostage takers(women & the FemCentric Reality), they’re trying to become the hostage takers(women) and be at the center of the FemCentric Reality where the benefits are quite generous.
Fellas: just make sure to get your transition in before the barbarians take over, if you want to enjoy the lady benefits while you still can!
If Buttercup doesn’t show up for a few days, in this case it’s fair to assume something terrible happened.
Um, there’s no such thing as Title IX where Lorde grew up. Also, just down the road from where she lives is where that whole Roast Busters (google it iif you like, I’m not describing it here – big fat trigger warning!) thing was happening for two years and the police did nothing.
Some Fem Centric Reality, that one.
I always assumed it was just because, if anyone knows two Johns and he’s one of them, he’s bound to be the less interesting one.
Yeah, all those benefits that transwomen can claim from society on the basis of their MTF status. /sarcasm
This one was otherwise rather funny. Oh, and “we all live in a chick-world” makes me want to go listen to “We All Live in a Pokemon World”… I’m sure that song has a much firmer grasp on reality than the man-ifesto up there.
Maybe we’re all Barbie girls, in a Barbie world…
@myeyestheyburn
If it was just a typo then don’t worry about this, but in case you didn’t know, many trans women abhor the term “transwoman” because it connotes the idea that our gender is somehow different from that of cis women. Just saying.
Lena Dunham? She couldn’t lead a rebellion against the patriarchy out of a paper bag! If they want to be scared of a woman in pop culture, the should cower in fear of her majesty Queen Bey. Gah – it’s like they didn’t even listen to Beyonce!
I got as far as “let’s take a short trip to Tumblr” in the HP article & stopped. Yeah, laddie, all the greatest investigative journalists did their research on Tumblr! /rollseyes
@katz, actually I prefer “untouchable girls”: http://youtu.be/ULLnrJsA6CY
There’s some 80s kiwiana for you. 🙂
flightofdragon:
Welcome! I only recently delurked myself. [Here](http://artistryforfeminismandkittens.wordpress.com/the-official-man-boobz-complimentary-welcome-package/) is the Official Man Boobz Complimentary Welcome Package! Plenty of good info there.
If that hyperlink should fail, I will feel fairly incompetent.
Well, now doubly so. One of Argenti’s comments in there explains how to do those correctly.
Wow, this is quite interesting. He thinks women shouldn’t be a target demographic for fiction of any kind…or have any kind of government protections.
It’s as if they think women aren’t even people.
This gave me a big ah-ha moment, it makes a lot of sense, kudos.
Ally S – no, it wasn’t a typo, I was unaware that it is considered problematic. I apologise for being ignorant and especially to anyone I might have hurt by that.
Snork Maiden, knowing that so many of these misogynist jerks align their views with those of white supremacists, I am 99.99% certain that by “barbarian” they mean “anyone who isn’t white”. Although maybe I’m just tired of the “stop the boats” nonsense going on in Australia right now and all the racism-that-apparently-isn’t-racism-because-we-must-preserve-white-Australian-culture that goes on with it.
AIT — don’t feel dumb, for one, I did specifically say that that way is perfectly functional, for two, I do that when feeling lazy XD
And congrats on giving out your first welcome package 🙂
@David Futrelle
“As for the barbarians, my guess is that he’s probably thinking of Muslims.”
I don’t know why aren’t they eager for an Islamic theocracy, considering their track record with women.
“”I propose to you: humanism. The idea that we should care for and respect one another equally because we are all humans has been around for centuries, long before feminism burst onto the scene and chained itself to the scene’s railings while trying to set itself on fire. There’s nothing misleading about the term humanism in the same way that there is about feminism. It doesn’t just try to break down the barrier between genders, but more importantly, the barrier between races, sexualities, social classes, and religions, which in their own ways are also some of the reasons total gender equality has not yet been reached.””
Translation: let’s all be gender/color/sexuality/class/religion-‘blind’ and pretend today’s inequalities do not exist! Wow, what a novel and amazing idea and not the same bullshit I’ve been hearing since I was born.
What a random list of what’s going to bring the downfall of civilization. I think my fave is ABC News.
Dudes, make up your mind. We’re either running reality or have hamsters in our heads. Which is it?
Tangentially related. The MRA standard talking point is that liberal ideals of equality lead to “barbarism.” Turns out that divorce rates are higher in conservative states
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/18/study-conservative-protestants-more-likely-to-divorce-raise-divorce-rates-for-neighbors/
Yippy skippy, let’s all just pretend the playing field is level and has been all along, and lo! it will just magically level itself. Brilliant! Why didn’t I think of that?
Oh yeah…because I’ve been hearing it for the last 20 years at least, and seen the failure of that mindset daily. “I’m not a feminist, I’m a humanist!” Good for you, dear. You’ve accomplished so much, just by saying that. I’m sure the world will right itself in a minute thanks to your blinding epiphany. Now fuck off.
Have you noticed how each one of those MRA’s is always talking about apocalypse coming just because women are free? This kind of misogyny is just awful, but it’s nothing new in fact it has been repeated many times throughout the centuries.
@aitasc – Thanks for the Welcome Package! I shall treasure it always.
Forgot to mention in my first comment, you all can call me Flight or Dragon, I don’t mind which! I will do my best to please the hivemind with kitten pictures and other displays of misandry. (Still reading up on the comments; these threads move quickly sometimes!)
Also I want to know who these barbarians at the gates of Rome the West are. Vandals? Visigoths? Ostrogoths? Industrial Goths? Who???
According to them it’s muslims or Chinese. Or any other patriarchal culture that inevitably is going to destroy the evil western matriarchies. And because also feminists unlike traditiinalists don’t reproduce like rabbits. Nevermind the fact that birthrates are falling all around the world, including in muslim countries like Iran, UAE, Tunisia who are already below replacement level. These guys just want to see the world burn so if it’s not gonna be muslims they’d hope for aliens.
It’s worth noting that I have seen most of these women/girls criticized for racism. Lorde’s song “Royals” is anti-consumerism but the consumerism she targets is strongly coded Black. This Your Fave is Problematic post details a lot of the racist stuff Llady Gaga has done. Lena Dunham is a category unto herself for racist “progressive” figures.
I guess my point is that the racist assbums over at the Spearhead have some things they could admire about these women, if only they weren’t so irritatingly female.
Thanks for understanding. I wasn’t personally offended or anything, but it’s important to know these things. I certainly didn’t think you intended to be anti-trans when you said “transwoman.”
Also, on a related note, terms like “MTF” and “FTM” are also problematic for a lot of trans people: “male-to-female” seems to imply that trans women are “former men”, “female-to-male” seems to imply that trans men are “former women”, and so on. Not everyone interprets those terms that way, and plenty of trans people use them as well, but it’s probably best to not use them because virtually no one will be bothered if you don’t use them.
Sorry, I don’t want to sound overbearing or judgmental in saying all of that. Sometimes I sound overly critical.
Woops! Thanks Auggziliary!
http://yourfaveisproblematic.tumblr.com/post/45739943624/lady-gaga