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.
Ahoy, Viscaria! Knitting question (cos more interesting than Christine) – do you ever use hem weights in knitted clothes? Are they even still available?
I actually had to look hem weights up, because I hadn’t heard of them before and it wasn’t sure if maybe I had used them and just didn’t know what they were XD but no, I’ve never used them. I haven’t done much clothing knitting though.
I’m heading to bed 🙂 have a nice night.
Kitteh: Tas has that big of a literacy problem? Wow. I guess because I stayed at the home of two university profs I didn’t see the other side of life there. I remember first hearing the derogatory word Bogan. I was totally confused. What is a bogan? Is it the equivalent of say, junkie?
Oh and to the two trolls: you’re boring. try harder.
“Who wrote Dante’s Inferno?” “November 19th.”
“Can you fax me the original?” “I will on November 19th.”
“Did that hurt?” “November 19th!”
Why yes, Christine, I find it eminently reasonable that the person whose body is the one that will be going through the pregnancy, the one who is taking on all the medical and physical risks, should have the final say in the matter. I so find it eminently reasonable that safe, effective and affordable methods of birth control be available to all.
I find it morally reprehensible that you seem to think that a person should be forced to undergo pregnancy and birth. I also find it morally reprehensible that you think men should be able to abandon their already-born children.
No, seriously, fuck off, you slimeball.
Know what, Christine? We’re confident because we are right. And we’re not going anywhere, not as long as there are morally reprehensible slimeballs like you on the planet.
No, seriously, fuck off.
“I guess “don’t act like an angry manchild anywhere” isn’t an option?”
Get out of your ivory tower, in case you’ve noticed, the menchildren are still the ones running a majority of the world right now. ex. Putin in Russia.
— “To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.” – Winston Churchill
My tower is made of wood, actually. Ivory isn’t very earthquake-safe.
Ivory tower? Huh?
So that’s a no, then?
My tower is woven out of the huge gobs of fur my cat Darrow sheds. He seriously sheds enough to make a whole new cat each week.
So, Putin makes it is impossible for men to refrain from acting like angry manchildren?
gotta love the scum somehow defending this skit. no leg to stand on and they bash away at MRA’s.
Fuck yall, you are a bunch of sheep meeping at each other seeing who can meep the loudest.
@Patrick: And you sir, are a whiny ass-backwards troll. How about them apples? =)
I loled cos I’m twelve
We are resplendent with trolls today!
Um, Patrick? Sheep say baah. Roadrunners say meep. Come back when you’ve graduated from preschool and have learned your animal noises.
Patrick, so what you’re telling us is that you can’t read?
WWTH:
I know, right? It’s like they all picked today to crawl out if the woodwork.
Patrick: Sheep don’t meep, they go baaaa. I think you’re thinking of the Roadrunner. Also, prove it.
The clip was obnoxious and racist and just not funny at all. They missed a golden opportunity to really lampoon their movement. Hell, they could have plucked MRA talking points from this very blog.
Hard chairs
Penguins
Scented candles
Places in Canada where feminists run wild in the streets and kill men
SCUM Manifesto
The possibilities are endless.
About the roadrunner:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beep,_beep_(sound)#cite_note-1
Some say the muppet Beaker goes “meep meep” but to my ears I it sounds like he goes “mi mi.”
Meep with me, friends. Meep!
Anyone up for a round of That’s Not My Cow?
Naah, I’d rather play That’s My Horse.
Patrick’s thought process:
Feminists are bad.
Feminists make fun of MRAs.
“Make fun of” includes any critique of MRAs at all.
All people who make fun of MRAs are feminists.
All feminists agree with each other. SHEEPLE!!!!
Therefore I do not need to read a feminist blog post or its comments to actually determine what is going on there before asserting that I know what is going on there.
FEMINISTS ARE WOMEN AND WOMEN SCARE ME PLEASE STOP SCARING ME
Christine, I agree with you that the parents should share custody, assuming both parents are capable. not so much on all that other crap you said.