Hey, everybody!
So you remember that post a couple of days ago, that one in which I quoted Jason Gregory’s most peculiar dating advice for angry men? You know, the one in which he suggested that men rebuff women who are interested in them with a long and rather nasty assortment of misogynistic insults? You know, like these:
Tell her that she isn’t interesting, that her soul is dog-shit and that she has nothing to offer other than boobs and booty, that she is a piece of shit and a total failure as a human being, that you don’t find her attractive and that she isn’t even good enough to be a cum-bucket.
And he went on like that for several more sentences. You can read the whole quote in my original piece, or in his original post on A Voice for Men.
Well, it turns out I totally misinterpreted Jason Gregory’s post, according to an unbiased and neutral outside observer named Jason Gregory, no relation to the original Jason Gregory, who’s written a post about it on his blog.
Hold on, I’m being told that this second Jason Gregory is in fact also the first Jason Gregory.
Anyway, according to Jason Gregory, even though Jason Gregory did explicitly tell men to “tell her … that her soul is dog-shit” he didn’t really mean to tell men to “tell her … that her soul is dog-shit.”
No, he only hypothetically meant this. He was just trying to suggest was how mean the ladies are when they turn down men.
What he was really trying to express, he now says, was that
men need to learn self-respect and to value their selves in totality—including the importance of valuing their sexuality.
Pretty weird how that came out in the original post as
Tell her that she isn’t interesting, that her soul is dog-shit and that she has nothing to offer other than boobs and booty, that she is a piece of shit and a total failure as a human being, that you don’t find her attractive and that she isn’t even good enough to be a cum-bucket.
But, he insists, his aim was really quite noble. As he explains now, he wasn’t just trying to stand up for the dignity of men — he was trying to protect women from having their inboxes filled with dick-pics.
I wrote that men should stop giving away cock like it’s worthless. Perhaps if men valued their sexuality, they’d be less inclined to inundate women with emails, messages, and pick-up lines. Perhaps if men actually valued their sexuality, the ladies at Jezebel wouldn’t be so inclined to complain about all the free-cock oppression. Perhaps if men actually valued their sexuality, men wouldn’t degrade themselves by harassing, begging, and inundating women with dick pics and pleas for their attention and affection.
Indeed, he went on to argue, it was not he who was the real misogynist, but me. J’Accuse!
This might seem a hard case to make, what with the whole “tell her … her soul is dog-shit” bit and numerous other remarks in his original post, like, for example, his description of women who actually enjoy sex:
You may be able to find a few coked-up girls who really get into it—the kind of girls who end up with sweaty hair, mascara, and cum dripping down their cheeks, but those girls usually have emotional disorders and are simply trying to bury their emotional problems in various sorts of drug induced escapes.
And who can forget his suggestion that men make their dates “pay for a juicy sirloin to replace all the jizzed-out protein” they cause to be jizzed out?
But apparently I am the true misogynist because I ran my post making fun of him during my pledge drive. Which makes me a “misogyny pimp.”
This is where the mocking of misogyny becomes misogyny. He doesn’t care about the women who bother to read his blog. Though he may have a few days in which he invites women and other commenters to share and cry about their troubles, any good pimp knows the importance of faking like he cares. Any good pimp knows how to manipulate the emotions of “his bitches.” …
[H]e doesn’t care about why men are sending dick pics and bombarding women with emails and messages through online dating services. He’s not looking for solutions to these problems. He’s not saying that men who do such things may lack self-respect because the value of male sexuality is often viewed as less-than-worthless in our culture.
Wait, what? I don’t care enough about men who harass women so I’m a misogynist?
Exploiting women is a form of misogyny … In this way, Boobz has more in common with an abusive pimp than he has with any heroic slayer of misogyny. Boobz is the misogyny that he mocks. Boobz is a misogyny-pimp.
QED, I guess. Apparently quoting misogynists, mocking misogynists, discussing misogyny, taking notice of misogyny in any way … makes one a misogynist. At least according to a guy who apparently thinks that the only women who really “get into” sex are “coked-up girls” with “emotional disorders” and “cum dripping down their cheeks.”
You’ll notice that last line in Jason’s quote links to a video; that link is from him. It’s a clip from the film Bad Santa. As Jason makes a point of mentioning several times, that’s where he got the “your soul is dog shit” line.
But if you watch the clip you’ll notice one thing about that line, in its original context in the film — it’s not surrounded by a paragraph full of vile misogynistic abuse. Nope, that stuff is all Jason Gregory.
Oh please, animated by Terry Gilliam 🙂 Or at least in his style.
Then it’d have to be narrated by John Cleese or Michael Palin.
No Tim Burton, though! He’d just throw lots of white paint and Danny Elfman on everything.
No, Burton doesn’t do much for me, either.
The thing with Burton is that all his stuff is exactly the same. There’s nothing wrong with having recognizable movie-making tics, but in his case it’s more like, wait, didn’t I already see this movie? Which is no fun.
I’m thinking of the few of his I’ve seen. I wouldn’t bother watching any of them again.
I think he’s gotten worse as time has gone on. I enjoyed Ed Wood, because there was a bit more substance under all the white face paint and Johnny Depp, plus I’m just a big ol’ Woodite, but it seems over time his sorta tics have kinda taken over till there’s nothing much left underneath.
It all just feels very pantomime at this point, which has never been something I enjoy. Plus I feel like relying on the same tricks over and over again is lazy.
Umm.. how about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillermo_del_Toro as director? He could direct paint drying and I would watch it.
/in a little voice
I actually quite liked Pacific Rim.
Haven’t seen Pacific Rim due to zero interest in mecha, but in general any movie project requiring interesting visuals could probably be improved by giving it to del Toro.
Thanks Falconer! They’re just too cute!
The nail in the coffin for Burton is that, not only do all his films have the same distinctive visual elements, but they’re all cribbed from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Look familiar?
@Kiwi Girl: PACIFIC RIM IS THE SHIZNIT. It teaches that in times of adversity the human race can come together and build giant robots to punch adversity in the face.
I could go on about PacRim for hours, but the big take-away is it’s all about cooperation and relationships and touchy-feely stuff like that.
@Argenti: Thanks a lot! They’re getting cuter every day.
@Katz: Well I guess this just proves that Johnny Depp is an immortal vampire that feeds on the psychic energies of people who think it’s cool and sexy to be depressed.
I enjoyed Pacific Rim a lot too, even though it was just a big doofy action movie. Hell, I even pulled a first and started writing crossover fic of it and one of my story series, focusing on disabled and deep stealth trans people in the giant robot brigade, trying to navigate their various needs while punching monsters. Good times!
Nope, sorry, Depp can’t be the patron saint of all goths until Peter Murphy kicks the bucket.
@LBT: At the very least, punching out Godzilla has got to be cathartic for some people.
It’s a big doofy action movie, but I think it’s a big doofy action movie with heart. I think the core of what sets it apart is the idea of two people working the giant robot, so it’s not just Shinji and his man-pain alone in his mecha which might also be his mother (I dunno, I haven’t actually watched Evangelion).
RE: Falconer
Yeah, like, it was definitely a doofy action movie with heart. Also, Idris Elba is classy and makes everything better.
…I own the novelization and read the stupid comics and took page upon page of notes so I could write fic easily. <.<
Mr C sometimes like mecha so we attempted Evangelion. Gave up pretty quickly though. I feel like it can’t be a coincidence that I’ve encountered multiple whiny angry misogynists whose favorite anime that was.
I’ve been told I should watch Evangelion, but every Gainax anime I’ve seen, I’ve been unable to get through just because I can never tell what the fuck is ever going on. Also apparently there’s rape in it, which is a big no for me.
I don’t need to watch something incoherent and rapey. I’ve got shit like Princess Jellyfish and Persona 4 to watch instead.
Apparently the guy behind Evangelion doesn’t know what it’s about. Death of the author, indeed.
… I need to finish playing Persona 4, but I took down my PS2 to set up my PS3, and now there’s Minecraft….
Although I’m not inclined to be too hard on Burton because I do think he’s technically skilled and originality isn’t everything. Nightmare Before Christmas is just a very well-executed movie, for instance.
RE: Falconer
My friends have been egging me to watch the anime version for ages, but I’m only just now watching it. Not gonna lie, they convinced me because of the fluffy tough guy who’s bi.
RE: katz
I have weird feelings about Nightmare Before Christmas. Like, the music is great, the visuals are great, it was a masterwork of stop-motion animation… but I actually don’t really like the story at all! So I watch it maybe once every year or two, but that’s all I need.
(Also, there’s nostalgia involved: my high school marching band performed the soundtrack my sophomore year, and we sucked, but it was GLORIOUS.)
@LBT: I am fond of the fluffy tough guy who’s bi. He beat up a whole biker gang because they were irritating his mother!
Also Chie-the-tomboy is awesome. I was kinda shipping her with Mr. Silent Protagonist.
Oh, also, I hear you on the marching band. I am not all that competitive, and it kind of irritated some of the other students who were all, WIN THE TROPHY OR BE A LOSER kind of thing.
Also, compulsory Christian prayer in a public school extracurricular. Not cool.
But my last year we did this rockin’ song called Malagueña which was a blast.
@katz
While Nightmare Before Christmas was co-written and produced by Burton, it was actually directed by Henry Selick.