Yesterday, we looked at 6 memes from A Voice for Men’s “meme team” and decoded what they really meant. Today, some memes from AVFM’s Pinterest page that are a bit harder to decode, because they really make no sense at all. I’ll do my best to try to sort them out.
1) TALK TO THE HAND
What might it mean? “Ha ha girls talk too much, well joke’s on you because I’m GOING MY OWN WAY and later I’ll go home and make a poster about how I imagined I might I totally really did put that bitch in her place.”
I mean, that is what this poster is saying, right? It’s illustrating the notion that men and women should listen to one another by depicting a dude just up and leaving because he’s tired of listening?
How exactly does this advance any “men’s rights” other than the right of men to act like petulant children?
2) BREAKING BADDIE
What might it mean? Well, the quote itself makes sense. What doesn’t make as much sense is why alleged “human rights activists” would want to publicly identify themselves with a rage-filled amoral meth-maker and murderer who fucks up the lives of everyone around him through his own pigheadedness. I mean, Walter White is not really a good person, when you come right down to it. That made for great television, but as a role model for a “civil rights” movement, no so much.
3) VENUS MAN TRAP
What might it mean? That the person making it is very, very confused about a lot of things. This one starts off with ridiculously simplistic — and provably incorrect — premises. Men’s attitudes towards marriage haven’t undergone a 180 degree turn since the start of feminism; they weren’t that rosy(as it were) in the prefeminist world, and they aren’t so negative now.
But it’s that final statement that the real puzzler. Feminists aren’t blaming “patriarchy” for men not wanting to get married. That’s completely backwards. Marriage began as a patriarchal institution and is still steeped in patriarchal symbolism. The only thing that this poster makes clear is that the people behind it don’t know anything about feminism, patriarchy, or marriage.
4) HAVE A KNIFE DAY
What might it mean? That the person making the poster has a very vivid imagination. Once again, the folks at AVFM picture their feminist enemies as violent oppressors. This has zero basis in reality, but makes it all that much easier to justify their antifeminist hatred. The projection is strong here.
5) SUCK IT UP, BUTTERCUP
What might it mean? That AVFM’s antifeminists don’t realize that feminists aren’t actually interested in chivalrous providers?
6) WHO’S THE PIG NOW?
What might it mean? That AVFM meme-maker “John Galt” — clever name, huh? — hates women, fat men, and good graphic design.
7) DUH NUH NUH NUH NUH NUH NUH NUH BATMAN
What might this mean? That AVFM meme-maker “John Galt” not only thinks he’s an Ayn Randian ubermensch; he also thinks he’s Batman.
Is Christopher Nolan’s Batman really the best role model for an alleged “civil rights” movement? I mean, I suppose he’s a step up from Walter White, but, seriously dudes, maybe try to model yourself on people who don’t solve problems with violence?
8) STUPID PATRIARCHY TRICKS
What might it mean? I have no idea. Seriously, what the hell?
Anybody ever read The Secret Life of Walter Mitty? The original Thurber short story? It’s a really good illustration of how men considered marriage to be a bed of roses before feminism ruined the whole thing.
And they think Walter White’s a hero to look up to? Of course they do.
Er, before feminism, marriage was commonly seen as women “trapping” men.
Sparky, yeah, resentment against young women trying to “catch” husbands, not to mention resentment against wives, was utterly commonplace. And it’s not like you have to be as old or older than I am to know that. It’s all over both the pop and “high” cultures of the time.
* Young women were commonly seen as failures if they didn’t marry, so they were damned if they did and damned if they didn’t.
How much do you want to bet that these guys are the fans of Breaking Bad who completely miss the point of the show and root for Walter White, no matter what he does, and completely hate Skyler for not being supportive enough of him?
What’s really funny about them using Batman is that, for many modern writers of him, the whole point of Batman is that he does more harm than good: It’s implied that the only reason villains like the Joker and the Riddler exist is because of Batman.
AVFM: We’re going to accidentally create mass murderers.
Augg, I don’t consider those two as accidents.
Regarding the pre-feminism view of marriage, I read a ‘humorous’ description of courtship written decades ago – “a man chases a woman until she catches him”. The more I hear about this sort of thing, the more I appreciate the parents I got. It’s clear to me that the MRA crowd has a tragically warped view of human interaction.
The one about chivalrous providers is particularly annoying. How in the nine netherhells is that even remotely a feminist perspective? They could have said ‘vibrant enhancers’ and it wouldn’t be any more meaningless.
That logo, the bloody M in a bloody circle seems very familiar but I can’t seem to puzzle out why.
But he brings in lots of money! How can she not be grateful? Doesn’t she know he’s the hero of the story because he’s so BADASS!?
Tangentially related, someone trolling Jezebel the other day was arguing that because Mad Men has a lot of female fans that must mean women like to be treated badly. Because the show is and sexist.
Just one more thing misogynists are bad at. Getting the point of well written TV shows. These must be the same people who think Lolita is a life guide.
Regarding ad blockers, ad block plus allows you to turn it off on specific websites. Once it’s installed the logo will appear somewhere in the top or bottom of the screen depending on the browser. Left click on it and it will give you the option of disabling it on the site you are on.
@ Thebewilderness: It’s similar to the anarchy symbol, which is a red A in a circle. Maybe that’s what it reminds you of?
Doesn’t really surprise me that MRA memes are incomprehensible. I mean, most MRA screeds are about as coherent as Timecube, so it makes sense that they would show a similar level of ridiculousness in their memes. XD
Not quite AVFM, but stormfront definitely:
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/white-homicide-worldwide
Flies generally don’t see venus flytraps as different from flowers. That’s kinda how the flytrap works.
…
Speaking as a manboobz commenter, I often feel the urge to analyze and explain some weird manosphere ideas, just like David did in this and previous post. It makes me feel helpful, since people so often express bafflement at those ideas. It helps my own understanding of what passes for thought in manosphere. It feeds my pedantry, since sometimes I honestly think people here misrepresent some manosphere ideas – not that they’re sensible anyway.
I rarely post my thoughts here, because it makes me feel kinda splainy and like I’m missing the point of conversation. BTW, what do you even call this particular type of ‘splaining? I think “knightsplaining” would be apt, as an ironic reference to “white knights”, since the manospherians would totally say I’m a white knight helpfully ‘splaining their ideas.
I don’t know if I’m making any sense. Maybe I’m really concerned that this kind of analysis might have an element of mansplaining, since people here, and women particularly, might actually know manospherians better than I (a socially inexperienced feminist guy) do.
That logo bears more than a passing resemblance to the V for Vendetta logo too:
VforVendetta
Well, if these guys think they’re carrying on some kind of anarchist vendetta that will change the world to accommodate their demands, they can just keep dreamin’. Most people are gonna take one look at all that, decide that it’s nothing but ridiculous crackpottery, and keep walking.
And, like I said on the other thread, that Gothic script around the smeary M just looks like something a masculist neo-Nazi would think was cool. Definitely counterproductive, since most people (and especially those who know a thing or two about fonts) would find it at best unattractive and hard to read. Worse, it’s laden with unwholesome connotations from Germany in the 1930s-45.
@auggziliary
and could see their wives and children sold. Or worse. *shudders*
I hate to defend Germany at that time and Hitler in particular, but he was against such nonsense and made Germany join the rest of the Western world in losing the old script. That was stuff he outlawed.
Plus the font doesn’t look like old German font, more like English vampire gothic mumbojumbo
#4: People not agreeing with you (they might even call you names) about your stupid opinions is similar to being threatened with physical violence. How can we have free speech if people are allowed to judge and express their disapproval of my important opinions?
Uh, my dad was was born in Germany in 1933, and was 12 when the war ended. Not only did they NOT lose those old scripts, they used them for printing children’s school texts. And propaganda posters. And worse, they prided themselves on them as a kind of nationalistic patrimony.
yeah, disagreeing is totally holding a knife at someone’s throat.
So, the names under the logos are whever created the meme? If these are meant to go viral, that might be confusing. I know, I know, confusing is what MRA posters do, but still.
My theory about #1 is that the man she’s not listening to is supposed to be the viewer, and the man behind her is either the distraction or incidental. It makes a little more sense that way.
Definitely agree with the others who noticed that the woman being called a pig doesn’t even have a face. What even is the point of that decision, “artistically”? And let’s not forget about the fat-shaming (because no woman would actually find a fat man sexy).
@Children of the broccoli: I find it hilarious that AVFM uses anarchist imagery, yet some of the most important members of that movement, like Jello Biafra, would think they are complete idiots. XD
I’m back. Hi Cloudiah! :waves back:
I’m actually pretty good these days. Finally got my own place filled with lovely Ikea couches and a whole counter kept clear for cooking or making bread. ^_^
Entschuldigung was ich g’sat habe was von mir von anders gs’agt.
Entschuldigung ich geh weg.
I still can’t get over #4… Alright, I get the knife bit, and it’s the woman threatening the man, but why the hell is there shaving cream? Is the woman going all Annie Wilkes and doing the guy’s shaving for him in a really twisted way? I think the poster maker just saw stock footage somewhere, saw the knife, and said “subtext of the image reinforcing the explicit message, what’s that?” Cause while the text is talking about women threatening men into silence, the subtext is about men being coddled by over-controlling women in an abusive and life-threatening way.
#5 is another example of this. “The More you Know” is about short, informative facts, not about combative language. If the text were something like “Equality means no more chivalrous providers,” then at least the tone would be consistent.
Also, for #8, a stock photo of one woman acting confused is great for representing the two-sidedness of the text. How about text along the line of “Feminism was supposed to make me free to live the life I choose./Why can’t I choose to be a wife?”
Every time you peel back a layer on these things, you find a whole new layer of “wtf is going on.” I’m not even a literary guy or a graphic artist and even I can see why these things don’t work (even beyond the fact that the message is the converse of reality).