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.
A kindred spirit!
I thought the sock was mainly used as a receptacle, not a protective sleeve? Either way, I can’t imagine rinsing it out and wearing it again. Unless you’re a vile sexpatriate living in a depressing flat in Poland with only three socks to your name. Maybe Kleenex and pliable underage Eastern European girls are hard to come by there.
Wow, that was a terrible accidental pun. Sorry.
I do that too, and I’m only a D cup!
What makes you think he bothers to rinse them?
Lover, said slow with a really long L on it. Llllllllllllllover.
Or maybe partner, but admittedly that’s Srs Bsns. My godfather’s* daughter just got lesbian-married to her partner in, like, Maryland after Living In Woo Hoo** for a long time.
Congratulations, by the way, on Meeting Someone. May everybody find such happiness as they desire.
* An atheist, so more of an honorary position.
** Definitely lots more fun and way less judgmental than Living In Sin.
Finally, the babbies went to the park on Sunday. Also it’s exhausting being so cute all the damn time. I rearranged the album so it shows photos with most recently uploaded first.
There is a freestanding version.
In a later book, Sam starts extemporizing from the text, to the point where Young Sam has heard Daddy say “He says Buggrit Millennium Hand and Shrimp! That’s Foul Ole Ron! That is not my cow!” so often that Young Sam says “Buglit!” within earshot of Sybil … so Sam sticks to the text after that.
Wow another MRA page has posted a link to your blog…..go figure https://www.facebook.com/UN.WHO.AmnestyiInternational.Shamed?fref=ts
Yay bras! I love bra talk!
I used to find bras really uncomfortable until I learned about the various types of bra-construction and boob shapes. It’s so hard to find real talk about breasts on the internet. On the internet, all boobs are round and perky and upward-facing if you know what I mean and my breasts have never been any of those things so basically I just tried bras on at random, the uglier and more-covering the better because clearly the best I can hope for is to hide them, right?
Anyway I found some blogs that talk frankly about what sorts of bras fit what sorts of breasts without judgement or shame or assuming the only types of breasts worth talking about are the kinds found on fashion models and have used that to find some really cute and comfy bras in my size (38 GG or H). My favorite such blog is brasihate.blogspot.com.
My favorite bra brand is Cleo, they have a really great size range and their bras are all cute and colorful and they give me a really good shape. I wasn’t aware my girls could look like that anymore.
Anyway, yay bras.
Don’t know if anyone has mentioned this, but as far as sketches making fun of (certain kinds of) feminists go, Portlandia’s book store owners Toni and Candace clearly fit the bill. And I’m pretty sure Carrie Brownstein is herself a feminist.
Good point!
I think most people learn to tune out their bra, just like we do with the rest of our clothing. It’ll probably feel weird at first, since you’re not used to wearing them, but I imagine it’ll become normal.
OTOH, if your breasts stay smaller and all you need is nipple coverage, those tank tops with the built-in “shelf bra” are handy. I can even get away with them (or so I like to think), and I’m a C-D cup.
o.O
deniseeliza, does that brand have a lot of hard to find sizes? I’m a 34 or 36 G and it’s so hard to find bras in my size. Most large cup sizes are 38 band size and above.
I sincerely hope no trolls are reading us talk about our breasts!
deniseeliza: Thank you for posting that! I just learned a lot about which bras were best for my shape.
@weirwoodtreehugger
Bra discussions are a Man Boobz tradition for a reason: they either scare away trolls because it’s a “womanly” topic or they just make trolls too bored to want to stick around. So talk about bras and breasts to your hearts content! =P
Yeah they do. Most of their styles are available in bands 28-38 and up to J cup: http://www.panache-lingerie.com/en/products/list/cleo-by-panache
TW: blood and messiness.
What does it say about me that the first thing that popped into my head is a mass protest in the form of hundreds of menstruating women going to parliament WITHOUT their pads and tampons, and bleeding all over every available chair? Would human blood stains be treated the same as, I dunno, lipstick smears?
If not enough women are menstruating on the same day, I guess they could fake it. In fact, get that blue water they use for maxi pad commercials, and get everybody involved. No chair left un-blue-died.
With regards to bras,
I personally have always fit a store size, more or less, which is a miracle in and of itself, provided I go with the same few stores. However, some of my other friends, those who are differently shaped or breast feeding or exercising or whatever, swear by going to a smaller lingerie shop and getting fitted. That doesn’t appeal to me as much because I feel weird when people get all touchy-feely, but it’s someone who actually specialises in sizing and selling these things.
My personal option is also to wear sundresses and halter tops with built-in bras. They tend to be more cottony and more comfortable, because support is built into the entire top, and as I’m pretty much a C-cup and I do work out my chest and back muscles, there isn’t much downward strain. I grew up with a mother who was anti-underwire and avoided those for the longest time and told me how horrible they were, but I found the wire only pokes me if I send my bras through the washer. Now I hand wash, and it’s comfortable all the way through. But my apartment provides those spinners for taking out excess water from laundry, so it’s easier to wash and dry them. I feel most comfortable with the wire because the ones without got all weirdly pointy-chaffy on the nipples.
TMI, probably. But I love the idea of making breasts boring for trolls.
Yeah, people with larger breasts should definitely get fitted at a specialty shop. Basically, if they tell you to add 4 or 5 inches to your band measurement, or they measure you above your boobs rather than below, they’re going to put you in the wrong size and you should run away!
Nordstrom is actually good for fittings if you don’t have a boutique, but their actual selection wasn’t very good. So I used them to verify my approximate size and then just order lots of bras off the internet based on blogger recommendations and return the ones that don’t fit. (Especially useful strategy if you have Amazon Prime as shipping both ways is covered)
By which I mean, they measure you above the boobs for the band size.
Believe me, it was suggested at the time! Or just mailing used pads and tampons to the relevant minister. Who was a man, of course.
I’m not caught up with the comments (and may just skip to the bra talk; looks like there’s a lot of trolls in the middle), but grumpycatisagirl, your “November 19” link is great!
Quackers:
because bras don’t come off eventually when you have sex with the dude
Well, if you’re in a PG-13 movie, the woman keeps her bra on (and the other naughty bits are either off-camera or covered by a sheet). If it happens in the movies it must be true!
Wouldn’t that mean one has to keep a bra on whenever the dude’s around? Otherwise he might see unsupported breasts, and that would be unsupportable! 😛
I wrote about bras on my blog a while ago.
kittehserf, the seam-on-nipple thing doesn’t bother me for whatever reason. I read that the purpose of the seam-on-nipple thing is make your nipples less visible through clothing.
I usually wear underwire, seamed, non-molded cup bras; I feel like they give better support than molded cup. A lot of them have a couple layers of sheer fabric for the cups (often the top layer of fabric has lace), which I like in hot weather because it allows sweat from the bottom half of my breast to evaporate.
Ally:
I agree with emilygoddess that if you like loose clothing you might like the built-in bras (shelf bras) that many camisoles have. You might also like bralet/bralette/leisure bras, which are kinda similar but without the camisole part. They’re not great for bounce control IME, but depending on what size you end up with you might not need much bounce control.
Different sensitivities in different bits, I guess! 🙂 I hate seams rubbing anywhere; I have bike shorts to stop thigh chafing and I have to wear them inside out because the seams scratch far too much.
I quite like moulded cups, but I’ve ripped the underwires out of all my bras. They’re too irritating – not on the torso, but against the arm, especially when I’m knitting, f’rex. Cassandrakitty’s suggested the bra types might be too deep for my torso, which could well be the case, but they’re okay sans wires.
There are times I feel like getting a singlet and just chopping it off halfway. It’d provide the opacity (the only reason I wear any bra-ish stuff in summer) without the wretched band around my ribs, and for that I wouldn’t care about the support issue!
Seconding the recommendation for brasihate. Like any other type of clothing, if you can find a blogger whose body shape resembles yours, and see what they like, that can be helpful, but even if they don’t just seeing the specific reasons why something didn’t work for a particular person discussed can help too. Like, high waisted jeans, I hate them. Was having a hard time explaining why until I talked to a friend who, like me, has long legs and a shorter torso, proportionally speaking, and it turned out that we both hate high waisted pants, because on us the high waist sits much too high, which feels weird. Proportions are everything in terms of how clothes fit! Something can be technically the correct size and still not fit well at all because the shape is all wrong.
On the small band/large cup topic, my favorite brand is Freya, but if you want to see most of the brands that specialize in small to medium band/large cup sizes collected together, check out these sites.
http://www.bravissimo.com/
http://www.brastop.com/
Also, WTF is with the “measure around your ribcage and then add 4-5 inches to get your band size” idea? The bra band will sit directly on your ribcage in that area, so if you add 4-5 inches you’ll end up with a bra band that’s much too loose, which means the shoulder straps will be carrying most of the weight of your breasts, which is definitely not ideal, and will be uncomfortable if you’re busty because big boobs are heavy. Can you imagine doing that with any other item of clothing? Like, oh yeah, to decide what size of jeans to buy measure your waist and then add 5 inches, then buy that size. That’ll work great.
Buttercup:
OK, a receptacle would make sense, if you want to contain the semen and aren’t familiar with condoms and don’t mind wasting some cheap socks.
Actually, I meant “sleeve” as in something that contributes to stimulation, rather than something that protects from chafeing. By the way, (and inevitable TMI), a tight-fitting condom can be used for the latter purpose, as well as a receptacle. I haven’t tried using condoms or anything else as a sleeve (/TMI).
😀