So this is … interesting. Last night, Saturday Night Live did a sketch, featuring guest host Lena Dunham, about Men’s Rights Activists. Alas, it wasn’t actually funny, or particularly on the mark, and it was kind of, sort of, maybe, a little bit racist (well, ok, a lot), but it did at least give a pretty good impression of what people in the real world think of the MRAs we know and loathe so well. I can’t embed it here, so go take a look at it on Hulu.
The folks in the Men’s Rights subreddit are up in arms about it, and have started not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, but six threads on the subject. (There may be more; that’s all I noticed.) Well, it’s not often they get this much attention, so I guess their excitement is understandable.
Given that the sketch was actually pretty crappy in a lot of ways, the MRAs did have some legitimate complaints to make against it — like the fact that the women in the sketch mocked the MRA character for being an unattractive loser. But naturally the Men’s Rights Redditors managed to undercut even this perfectly reasonable criticism by attacking the women in the sketch for being uggos. (Oh, misogynists, why do you hate Lena Dunham so much?) Here’s a rather delightfully ironic snippet of the discussion:
![SNL manages to misinterpret MRA arguments, shame man who are less physically attractive than others by implying they are somehow lesser, says that all MRAs are only MRAs because of bad love experiences, and accuse the MRHM of being pro-life, which is a blatant lie. (hulu.com) submitted 7 hours ago by Feminists_Are_Jelly 29 comments share source save hide give gold report hide all child comments sorted by: hot navigate by: submitter | moderator | friend | admin | IAmA | images | popular | new you are viewing a single comment's thread. view the rest of the comments → [–]MockingDead 16 points 6 hours ago (27|11) A bunch of unattractive unfunny women impugning a man for being not an apex male. permalink save source save give gold hide child comments [–]ugly_duck 5 points 5 hours ago (16|11) A bunch of unattractive unfunny women impugning a man for being not an apex male. Imagine if the genders were reversed. permalink save source save parent give gold [–]Grubnar 6 points 4 hours ago (12|6) I am trying ... and I can't. Men are not usually judged by their attractiveness, but by their wealth.](https://i0.wp.com/www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/ironymrastyle.png?resize=536%2C556&ssl=1)
Indeed, I’ve rarely seen irony so thick as in the outraged comments of MRAs in these threads. Here’s another angry Redditor:
Heavens! Sexism and shaming! MRAs NEVER engage in either of those things!
Oh, wait. That’s pretty much the entire basis of their movement.
Ruwanimo, you say you can’t imagine how it would look if the genders were reversed? You don’t have to imagine. All you have to do is go to the Men’s Rights subreddit, or A Voice for Men, or any other prominent (or not-so-prominent) Men’s Rights site. Or you could read through the Man Boobz archives. Ta da! Literally hundreds — make that thousands — of examples of MRAs directing “flagrant sexism and shaming” at women. (Also note: this shaming is directed at women, not only at feminists, whereas the SNL skit directed its shaming only at MRAs, not at men in general.)
You’re welcome!
The AgainstMensRights subreddit is also all over this thing, though they’ve limited themselves to four threads — here, here, here and here, which is where I found that first discussion I screenshotted.
The misters will use any excuse to work themselves up. I think they’d last maybe half a day as women.
SNL is dead. Long live SNL.
Wow can’t believe some of the comments here by both men and women. These types of haters make it bad for everyone. I wonder if these women had sons or men had daughters if they would still be so hateful or ok with their poisonous disgusting stance on the rights or lack of involving the opposite sex. These women think they should have all the say on reproductive rights or parental rights simply because we give birth. Women have been giving birth since the beginning. I’ve given birth three times and still don’t feel I should be the only deciding factor. Women just like men have irresponsible sex resulting in unplanned pregnancies but feel they alone should be able to decide when the man should accept fatherhood but don’t want to be told themselves. They don’t want to be expected to carry a child for 9 mons should the father want the child but think we should expect a man to pay child support for their decision to keep a child upwards of 24 or more years. And men are trying to control women? Women want the right to decide whether a fetus is a baby or just a fetus all of course depending on her view of the situation. They also want to control the situation when the decision to end a relationship happens. Then they want to control the child’s time and demand the majority role in raising the child. The father is reduced to simply handing over his pay and seeing the child maybe one day a week and every other weekend. I’ve seen some men act shamefully as well but I see women manipulate and take full advantage of the courts bias in numbers that far outweigh men. The underhanded tactics I’ve seen used are bizarre. Then I see the men in here who’s actions only support some of these women and their assanine beliefs. The majority of women aren’t this hateful usually, neither are men. Feminists belong with chauvinists! Both positions equally idiotic and equally harmful to the normal psyche. If you truly believe in equality then family courts for one need to award equal custody with no child support awarded to either parent. Each parent providing for the child during their time with the child. Only if either parent chooses less involvement should support then be awarded based on the number of days one parents responsibility exceeds the other. The children can adapt very well to this arrangement because children see things as fair and square and now have equal time with each parent. It’s a very simple concept. Only women feel they have the right to dictate that this arrangement isn’t good for a child when in reality it isn’t good for their purse . Everyone knows their are parents who don’t want the responsibility but there are a lot of women now days taking that stance. Deadbeat doesn’t refer to just dads anymore. If you do think like these women and men, so disrespectful of the opposite sex, do the world a favor and DONT procreate please! We don’t need anymore developmentally challenged minds out there. That they involve themselves in activism is worse yet that they’re actually so confident they’re way is right they tell themselves they need to reach out and broaden the minds of others. Please until they find a cure for your particular affliction, keep your diseased mind and thought process to yourselves!!!! I have gay and lesbian friends and they’re not even this hateful of the opposite sex usually so I really have to wonder what is making these men and women so bitter? Good sex can do wonders so maybe these folks just need somebody to blow their hair back lol geez what sad sad people!!!
I saw the sketch myself…..yeah, I myself believe it really could have been done better, in general. And the accent(costume as well) certainly did come across as culturally insensitive, to be honest(though I’m sure that wasn’t the intent). “Bruce” at least, seemed slightly realistic, but was also a little too buffoonish as well(I’m assuming this word is OK, but please inform me if otherwise).
I mean, don’t get me wrong: I do think S.N.L. made an honest effort to lampoon these ass-backwards MRAs. It’s just that they fell short, and I think we can all agree there was quite a bit left to be desired. Just my two cents, really.
You know one more little bit of irony? MRAs whining about men being shamed for not being handsome over a sketch featuring actors. A not-handsome dude, in other words, who’s in mainstream US television. How many women manage that? (OT that’s one of the things I prefer about UK television: so much more variety in facial features and less of the beautiful-bland look.)
“They only go around yelling about “white-knighting” behind the safety of their monitors. They’re gigantic cowards in real life”
Are you saying that you prefer men to act out for real offline? (Stereo)typical female, not just feminist, no appreciation whatsoever — and disdainfully contemptuous even — for civilized (hetero)male restraint, but still hypocritically whining about it all the same even when men do the opposite and allow their ID to become unfettered.
Like kitteh I’m in a country that can’t watch it: Canuck Land and I feel the same way about it as she does. Meh. I’m not missing out. The truth is stranger than that skit I’m sure.
You know when you clean out an old jewelry box and the stuff you find from years ago gives you nice feelz? I found some old Emu and wild Cockatoo feathers from Oz. I also found an old love letter to me by an old beau named Joshua. He smoked way too much pot. I friendzoned him and he got all stalky (sitting under my 4th floor window for hours) so I used proxy violence (a 7’4″ bball player) to get rid of him. LOL
Oh and Paul Elam decided to cash in on the old MGTOW forum closing down. You should read the rules for it. My blog post about it is coming out tomorrow: here’s one of the guidelines:
then
Head, meet hard, wooden desk.
@Kitteh: Yep.
@House Mouse Queen: Sorry to hear about the stalker, btw. Virtual hugs, if you want them.
Also:
“The truth is stranger than that skit I’m sure.”
I can’t help but agree: having seen some of this stuff myself, it really *IS* stranger.
HouseMouseQueen – eww to creepy stalker, yay for getting rid of him and yay for feathers! 🙂
I found some stuff I was looking for today, too – not in a jewellery box, though. I was trying to track down Mum’s and my birth certificates, which I’ll need to have for claiming benefits and so on. They’d disappeared from the file we’d kept them in for years. Well, I found them, after much chucking around and shredding of paper (Maddie loved that bit) and, bonus, found $90 in greenbacks left over from my last trip to the US! That’s really good, it means I don’t have to pull money out straight away when I go. Our poor dollar is nowhere near as good against the US one as it was three years ago.
They should have come to us for better material.
I guess “don’t act like an angry manchild anywhere” isn’t an option?
Like your extended nym, Cinzia La Strega!
They really should. We’d have done much better scripts. Hell, we’ve got better scripts on hand, they could have just read any number of threads.
Imagine someone shouting SPINSTERS! on Saturday Night Live.
Here’s something I find much more interesting and amusing than the SNL skit. Anyone ever heard of Richard Herring (I hadn’t ’til just now.)
http://www.richardherring.com/warmingup/9312/saturday_8th_march_2014.html
I hadn’t heard of him, but I like that piece.
One’s tempted to say “Every fucking day of the year” in answer to that question, but of course that just riles up the poor menz fee-fees even more.
Thanks steve.
Kitteh, you collect feathers too? Which ones do you have? You must have really good ones from living in Oz. I visited Tas for 3 months in 2003. Oh and good on ya for finding that cash. Wow 90 bucks! If I’m not mistaken even the Canadian dollar is worth more than the US. Well, it was for a time.
I really do miss Oz. You’re so lucky to live there. I climbed this mountain in Tas and drank sweet water from the streams. OMG it was awesome. Best water I ever tasted.
That’s quite the teal deer you’ve got there Christine! I’m not sure what you’re arguing. You gave birth three times therefore men shouldn’t have to pay child support? I’m not following the train of logic.
Child support laws are there for the benefit of the child/ren. Not their mothers. Somebody has to pay for the children’s upbringing. It’s either going to be the parents or the state. Since budgets are finite, obviously the parents are going to be expected to provide as much as they can financially.
@grumpycat
Loved that piece!
@ Christine
Paragraph breaks are your friend.
I know, kittehserf and house mouse queen, it’s awesome!
I LOLed especially here:
Oh my, just looked up at that wall of text that just appeared . . . .
Were we even talking about any of the things “Christine” raised, or is zie just pasting some copypasta?
I mean, that was weird.
House Mouse Queen – no, I don’t collect feathers, I was yay’ing for you finding those ones and having happy memories.
Tas is beautiful, isn’t it? I visited once a few years ago. Didn’t go far; I stayed in Hobart and had a ferry trip round to Port Arthur. They’ve got real problems there, though. The illiteracy rate is nearly half all adults. That’s really scary.
We’re better off here than in the US, that’s for sure. The rotten thing is that the whole rancid right-wingery is here, too. Our government’s reactionary, racist, homophobic, sexist, you name it. They’re also determined to undermine unions and working people, doing by stealth what got them thrown out of office in 2007 when they tried it openly.
Hey, Christine-troll: paragraph breaks are your friends. If you want anyone to read your rantings, try not making them a wall o’ text.
Better yet, save yourself the effort and piss off with your misogynist nonsense.
I was so confused; my eyes were glazing over. o_o
I LOLed at that too. Especially since Nov. 19 is Mr K’s BiL’s birthday. 🙂
Christine, as a person who can be pregnant, you have the right to seek the opinions or advice if anyone you choose about your decision to keep or to abort a pregnancy. If you want to consult your husband about it, you are absolutely welcome to. However, the decision of whether or not to allow a pregnancy to continue in your body ultimately belongs to you, as the owner of that body. No one has a right to overrule you on your own medical decisions. By the same token, you do not have a right to tell other people who they should have to talk to before they make their own medical decisions.