Is there something about Men’s Rights Activists that renders them utterly incapable of designing posters that aren’t embarrassingly ugly and offputting?
Posters designed by MRAs are so routinely godawful it’s hard not to wonder if there is something inherent about them or their ideas that prevents them from seeing what a complete mess they’re making when they put together something like the poster above, which I recently found amongst a whole collection of similarly terrible posters at the website What Men Are Saying About Women.
In the case of Christian J, the WMASAW poster-designer, there is clearly something more than bad ideas at work here, but I do think the bad ideas of the Men’s Rights movement are a large part of the reason why MRAs can’t design posters to save their lives. Their posters are muddled messes because their ideology is a muddled mess.
Effective political posters are effective in large part because they convey a clear message in an arresting way. But the Men’s Rights movement doesn’t have a clear message. In some cases that’s because MRAs are trying to disguise their misogyny in order to try to appeal to a wider audience. It’s hard to get away with direct expressions of hate if you want to treat you as the “human rights movement” you keep insisting you are.
But in many other cases — as is the case with most of the posters featured in Christian J’s collection — MRA posters are muddled because their peculiar logic really only makes sense to those who already hate women to begin with. Who else would agree with the “argument” of this poster, which seems to be that we shouldn’t give respect to women because some women get drunk and other women … pose with silly expressions on their faces for stock photos?
Meanwhile, in this antifeminist poster, Christian J. offers little more than free-associational word salad, mixing accusations against feminists (“Hating Men is part of the agenda”) with simple assertions cataloging his own dislike of them (“no one likes a feminist”).
He also has posters attacking feminists Gloria Steinem and Hanna Rosin; tellingly, neither of them offer any specific evidence of wrongdoing on the part of either one. I wonder is Christian has read anything Rosin has written beyond the title to her book “The End of Men.”
And if you haven’t yet gotten your full dose of hate, he’s got a few posters attacking Lena Dunham for being … fat. And because Vogue did some rather minimal photoshopping to the pictures of her it ran in a recent profile.
And, well, I don’t even know what this is supposed to be.
Frankly, the more widely spread these posters are, the better. Because their ugliness reveals a lot about the ugly ideology of the MRA that made them.
Imagine being a stock photo model and seeing your face pop up everywhere, including dubiously-researched articles and hideous amateur poster “art”. They probably only get paid like a hundred bucks and some silly pics for their portfolios of them making faces or having huge emotions while eating or whatever.
LOL, that would have outed you as a Canadian even if it wasn’t obvious from your nym. 🙂 I used to like them as a child, but now find them too sweet. However, I do think they were a necessary step on my path to liking custard.
MRAs: if life gives you lemons, make sure all your posters have a lot of yellow in them. And just suck the lemons and complain about how life is unfair, and lemons are really really sour, and how womenz should come along, get sugar and water, and make the lemonade because otherwise MISANDRY! but keep sucking the lemons.
Exactly. How often is this pose adopted to do the I’m-so-rational-and-above-it-all-and-you’re-just-emotional bullshit? It’s a control thing, trying to push people’s buttons, and it says a great deal about the choice these types have made to have an empathy bypass.
Kiwi girl – taking that further, these MRAs have probably been given oranges, but insist that they’re lemons so they’ll have something to whine about.
From the word salad one: “friendly female courts.” Doesn’t sound so bad. Friendly male courts would be fine too. I mean, it’s friendly! Unless he meant “female friendly” courts. Which again, the problem is???? If a court was unfriendly to a gender, well then I could see the problem – which in essence describes their whole gripe. Nothing bad is actually being done to men, but friendly female courts? The horror! “elevating” women? The horror! “Feminists in the White House”? The horror! “Feminism and lesbianism” the horror! “Divorce” the horror! Seriously most of the shit on that poster is a non problem.
tinyorc, revenge of the Dunning-Kruger effect. Those who are the most incompetent themselves are also the least able to judge the competency of others, so all the manospherians actually think these posters are totally rad!
It’s looking increasingly likely that Hilary Clinton will run for president, cruise through the Democratic primary and, since Chris Christie fell to scandal and the republicans have nothing else, win the general election
I’m preparing myself already for the terrifying onslaught of misogyny this will bring. President Obama’s election has brought the racists out of the woodwork after all.
I know this is a really US centered post so sorry to everyone who isn’t American. This has just been on my mind lately.
I’d rather be partial towards a side actually committed to recognizing and countering oppression than a side that is focused purely on invalidating people’s experiences and obscuring the reality of oppression. I’m not ever going to debate something like “Should women be treated as fully human?”, “Are white people the purest and most moral race?”, “Are mentally ill people automatically worthless, horrible people who don’t deserve rights?” because any other answer besides “yes” only supports power structures.
Woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle, the original saying, is somehow so much pithier and, you know, available for quoting than:
bicicle (I’m gonna assume an icicle that goes both ways) needs a fish (aaaaand we’ve reversed object and sentient being, which isn’t terribly surprising from these dorks) like a woman needs a man. I mean, dude, what the fuck, even?
Crap, let me rephrase the last sentence in my previous comment:
“Friendly female courts” makes me think of a beautiful courtyard with a fountain in the middle and lots of women sitting around enjoying the sun and talking or reading or whatever.
Works for me!
And BON BONS. You forgot the bon bons, kitteh!
@ Kittehs
I’ve actually experienced courtyards like that (in Saudi), but I suspect that might be rather more sun than you were hoping for.
I saw some pretty courtyards in Dubai and Al-Ayn, but not many. The UAE is still a land of scorching hot deserts, gimmicky shopping malls and look-at-how-flashy-I-am skyscrapers.
Cassandra, I was thinking of those sort of courtyards – maybe the sort once seen in Spain (though even that’s more sun than I would fancy). 😀
::slaps forehead:: Ally, you’re so right, how could I forget the bon-bons?
To make up for that, I’ll move the scene to evening, when it’s dark enough to be lit with Scented Fucking Candles.
Probably because most of the buildings are really new? The older buildings in Saudi are super pretty (and built to maximize every scrap of breeze).
This is the sort of courtyard I’m thinking of, but with more seats and bon-bons.
And kitties, naturally. Think of the fun they’d have dibbling their little paws in the fountains (no not catching the fish, Argenti!)
If you want a pretty courtyard with bonus kitties then the Levant would be perfect for you (if it was the coldest year in living memory). Alternatively, maybe Japan? Lots of pretty courtyards with water included in the design, and Buddhist temples and cats go together like pie and ice cream.
In my experience what seems to happen with d00dz like this is that after many years of education and practice designers make things look easy. MRA decides it is easy. For them the message is what matters so not only is it easy because their ego is invested in it being easy but they sure do get the message across to themselves.
One of the most basic questions is does anyone besides you know what this is about? The answer is, sadly, no.
@cassandrakitty
Yeah, in Dubai, Al-Ain and Abu Dhabi many of the buildings are new and flashy. You only need to look at the Burj al-Arab, the Burj Dubai or any of Dubai’s and Abu Dhabi’s various shopping malls. Other places are all right, but with the exception of Sharjah none of them are very interesting or ideal for living. I can’t imagine anyone who would want to live in Ra’s al-Khaymah.
The original phrase had me thinking of Islamic architecture and the idea of women’s quarters, but hey, any pretty courtyard with kitties, comfortable furniture, shade and a fountain sounds good for the Friendly Female Court. Maybe we should incorporate one into the design of Manboobz Castle, though it’d be a Friendly Anyone Court.
Tons of (very silly, IMO) rich people have bought houses on that artificial island thingy they’re building in Dubai, though. That has to be one of the better illustrations of the fact that money can’t buy taste in recent memory, because that thing is tacky as hell.
@ kittehs
I’d also have suggested Thailand (so many cats! cats everywhere!), but again, not the most Kittehs-friendly climate.
LOL most of the prettiest places are going to be in not Kittehs-friendly climates, because they’re built for cool breezes and the like. The courtyards in the places I’d most like to be aren’t generally pretty or made for sitting in. Difficulties, difficulties!
Mind you this courtyard in Languedoc is pretty. Still gets pretty hot there, but nothing to compare with Thailand or S.A.
That island’s a dubious prospect sea-level wise too, isn’t it?
Thank you Bodsy for your work and I loved everyone elses contributions. I have to lol tho. I have zero education in graphic arts and yet I can still produce something somewhat decent in Photoshop or The GIMP.