So why are so many white dudes so desperate for an excuse to use the n-word? Consider this white dude, who recently posted this bit of, er, wisdom in the Men’s Rights subreddit:
Is this going to become a new slogan for the Men’s Rights movement? It certainly seems to be popular amongst Men’s Rights Redditors, sporting a couple of dozen upvotes and no criticism (at least at the time I wrote this) from other MRAs. (There were a few critical comments from opponents of the Men’s Rights movement, however.)
Bear in mind that the Men’s Rights subreddit is 86% white, which is a good deal whiter than the United States as a whole, and only 1.5% black, which is way less black, according to a recent survey of its members. I’m pretty sure none of the white dudes upvoting this little slogan have obtained the proper n-word privileges. (Note: The survey in question was spammed with a number of identical responses, BUT the percentages I’m giving are based on the survey data with all the spammed entries removed, thanks to the industrious Angelica Field; see here for details.)
It’s hardly surprising that black men haven’t exactly flocked to the Men’s Rights movement, given the overt racism of a significant number of MRAs and other Manospherians. And even those MRAs who aren’t so obvious about their racism tend to be dismissive of issues that disproportionately affect men of color: MRAs almost never talk about the drug war that has put so many black men behind bars (two thirds of all those in prison for drug offenses are people of color. mostly men), nor have they ever attempted to organize or even offer any real support to campaigns against prison rape (60% of all prisoners are people of color).
This slogan isn’t likely to help the Men’s Rights movement with what the politicians like to call “minority outreach.” It might help reach a different sort of audience, however — an audience already quite fond of the n-word. When I did a Google search for the phrase “men are the new niggers,” the first result was a discussion on the Vanguard News Network Forum. I won’t link to it, because the Vanguard News Network is a virulently antisemitic, white supremacist website that the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as “gutturally racist.” The site’s motto: “No Jews. Just Right.”
Of course, the notion of describing men as “the new nigger” didn’t originate with white supremacists. It was clearly inspired, in a backwards way, by the John Lennon song “Woman is the Nigger of the World,” a feminist attack on misogynistic hypocrisy. While Lennon wrote the lyrics, the titular phrase originated with Yoko Ono, who deliberately used the racial slur in what was evidently an attempt to shock people into recognizing the ways in which women, like black people, were dispossessed.
It was a bad idea. Even though Ono and Lennon didn’t mean to reinforce racism by using the slur, it’s not a word that they had any cultural right to appropriate for their own purposes; not only that, but Ono’s slogan seems to implicitly define all “niggers” as men and to ignore black women, who don’t need John or Yoko to remind them that many people already see them as “niggers.” In the end the title ended up undercutting the message of the song. It can’t listen to it; it makes me cringe.
But glancing over the lyrics again, which aside from the title are essentially about the hypocritical messages sent to women by sexist society, one line in particular stands out to me, because it so deftly captures a certain kind of sexism — and even though it was written years before Warren Farrell first started going on about “disposable men,” it also captures pretty well the MRA tendency to view gender relations upside down:
While putting her down, we pretend that she’s above us
Yep, that’s what the Men’s Rights movement does, all day, every day.
And it’s that kind of delusional thinking that leads some of them to conclude not only that they are the “new niggers,” but also that using the n-word is somehow an appropriate thing for their almost all-white movement to do.
There are some folks who argue that “non-trans” is an acceptable alternative to “cis”, but they are missing the point behind “cis”. Classifying cis people as non-trans only leads to a dichotomy that legitimizes narratives about trans people being aberrant. Calling non-trans people cis helps to engender social justice discourses that are by nature critical of classifications that contribute to such a dichotomy; in using the word “cis”, cis people are categorized in a fashion that doesn’t simultaneously contribute to the idea that trans people are doomed to be social deviants.
I hope that actually made sense. X_X It’s time for me to go to sleep.
And the MRM just got even worse than I ever thought possible. Again.
Sorry for the double post. I guess I didn’t catch the blockquote monster as fast as I thought.
OK, this has nothing to do with the post but I need some advice. My doctor says he thinks I’m bipolar and I’m in a hypomanic state. I’ve been so agitated lately and I’ve been losing my temper a lot at work. Tonight I had to do the shift alone and I had to lock the door three times to go to the back and scream and stab the empty boxes with a knife, my thoughts are going a mile a minute and it feels like there are thousand sof voices screaming in my head and I just want them to be quiet. My mind is feels like it is breaking into three pieces–one filled with thoughts clamouring for attention, one normal, and a film strip of thoughts behind my eyes racingpast so I can’t see it. The only thing that glues my mind back together is drinking but I hate drinking a lot. I’m scared to call the doctor I’ve been seeing because I’m afraid he’s going to think that I’m evil because of the thoughts in my head and lock me away, and then my parents will find out and be disappointed and ashamed. It’s almost 3am here and all I want to do is go to bed but something Is preventing me. I don’t know what to do. I don’t trust my own mind.
My only experience is with depression, canuck. When I’m in that state my mind tells me things that aren’t true; e.g., I’m worthless, there’s no hope, etc.
Did your doctor prescribe anything for you? I’m quite certain he won’t think you’re evil. Bipolar disorder is an illness and it’s not your fault.
I’m sorry you’re having such a rough time right now. Hugs if you want them.
canuck – Were you able to get to sleep eventually? Call your doctor right away. Thoughts themselves aren’t evil, but it’s critical that you get help before you act on them. In the meantime, is there anything besides drink that helps you calm down and focus? Exercise or meditation? Talking to a trusted friend? Writing in a journal?
Re: the OP, one giant clue that you aren’t actually an oppressed group is a lack of seriously derogatory slurs for your race. Honky, gringo, goy, and cracker just don’t carry the same weight of sheer offensiveness as terms like n*gger, spic, wop, and kike (which, just typing those makes me squirm uncomfortably in a way that “redneck” doesn’t).
It’s interesting that many derogatory terms for whites revolve around trying to cross ethnic lines (primarily, who they sleep with): weeaboo, rice chaser, bean dipper, night rider, cocoa puff. It’s the language of race betrayal. Even though they’re supposed to be insults directed at whites, they degrade other races by treating them as an aberration, an excursion.
Same thing with men – there just aren’t any truly heinous, derogatory slurs that apply only to men. “D*ck” comes close, but that applies more to behavior, and some men see it as a badge of flattery.
I just can’t imagine being so privileged and bored that you have to borrow slurs from other groups. It smacks of Marie Antoinette.
Oh drat, my comment got stuck in moderation. 🙁
Whenever TERFs or the like start complaining about “cis”, I always bring up Cisjordan and Transjordan. Like, it’s an actual prefix and is actually non-trans the same way “hetero” is not “homo”. One TERF thought is was supposed to be a slur derivative of “syph” or “cyst”. FFS, learn etymology. Whenever I bring up Cisjordan, though, they always seem to conveniently ignore it. Obviously, accusing trans women and cis women (myself) alike of being “men” just for disagreeing with their transphobia is better than learning what words actually mean.
Hugs if they’re wanted, canuck. I hope you were able to get some sleep, and I hope you do call your doctor.
@LBT, thanks for that book recommendation! I just bought her first Lainie Price novel (Darkness and the Devil Behind Me) because I insist on reading series in order even when it doesn’t really matter. 😉 Those books have really great reviews and sound interesting! 🙂
Alex, good example. For me, it was Cisalpine Gaul. Any cis person who gets twisted over being referred to as cis has had an easy row to hoe. It’s not pejorative, just descriptive.
@Ally S
Could you please explain why this is? Not to be an asshole, but since I’m not a trans woman myself, I can’t make sense of this any which way I look at it. In fact, if I had seen it anywhere else, I probably would have written it off as trolling.
@auntie alias
To be fair, I don’t think people accused of rape should be named in the paper, because I don’t think that ANYONE should be named in public until found guilty in a court of law. Amazing that the MRA types that I know don’t get upset when all the local heroin addicts (almost exclusively young, white men) get their photos published in the paper for their alleged stealing. Amazing that.
@canuck
Not a dr., not an expert, but bipolar runs in my family, so here’s my experience;
a. I wouldn’t worry about your thoughts, they’re part of your illness, not you. Whatever they are, trust me, your dr. has heard much worse. If you’re worried about hurting others, as long as your thoughts are upsetting to you, then you’re pretty unlikely to act on them. Remember, this is part of your illness, not part of *you*.
b. It sounds like your mania is getting worse, and it *could* progress into full-blown psychosis. Getting treatment sooner rather than later is better. I don’t know where in the world you are, but I’ve found local state-run crisis centers to be helpful when I’ve been in crisis myself.
c. You need mood stabilizers; I’m going to risk being obnoxious in order to remind you that drugs and alcohol will make things worse in the long run. Stimulants, in particular, coke and meth, can/will cause psychosis to develop even without any organic disease present. So taking them while manic is bad news.
Since being found guilty of rape in a court of law is a pretty damn rare, I’d like to know who to avoid.
Canuck – call your doctor and don’t worry about anyone’s reaction. I do recommend working with a psychiatrist as opposed to a GP. I was undiagnosed for years and getting the right mix of med was a lifesaver
Since being brought to trial for rape is pretty rare, I’m going to avoid relying on newspaper articles to tell me whom to avoid. Instead, I’m going to avoid any guy that seems to think that boundaries exist to be broken.
I understand your sentiments, but after a lot of thought, I’ve decided that reporting people accused of any crime before they are found guilty of any crime does more harm than good. What are your feelings on plastering the local alleged drug-dealers photos in the paper?
I don’t have a problem with it.
Then again, I’ve never seen mugshots in the regular paper.
canuck_with_pluck: I don’t have any experience with bipolar, but I do know you’re not evil because you’re thoughts are racing, and I don’t think you’re doctor will think so at all. What acrannymint said, call your doctor and see if you can get a referral for a psychiatrist.
Hugs, contact or non-contact, if you want them.
@MEZ Got to disagree with you here. In the UK, we have court-enforced anonimity for rape and sexual assault victims. There is no such anonimity for the accused and one of the key reasons is that rape/sexual assault is usually not a one-off crime. When it is reported that someone has been accused/charged with a sexual crime, it encourages other victims to come forwards.
Max Clifford (an infamous UK publicist) has just been convicted of 8 sexual assaults. The majority of his victims only came forwards and reported their assaults to the police after it had been reported he had been arrested.
Of equal importance id the reverse – if the wrong person is arrested for and/or charged with a crime, the publicity may enable someone with vital evidence to come forwards (with an alibi, as a witness, with knowledge of the real culprit).
As the saying goes, justice should not just be done but should be seen to be done. How is this possible if noone knows who has been charged with what?.
MEZ, publicizing the names of people charged with crimes is a way to enhance public safety until the cases can be dealt with in court. Like hellkell said, I want to know who to avoid.
However flawed any system of justice, the cost of “outing” alleged criminals who have not been proven guilty does, especially in the context of sexual violence, a lot more harm than good. It is not up to any individual or “society” (outside the justice system) to condemn a person based on unproven assumptions, however “logical” and “true” they may appear. The harm one might cause to a potentially innocent person’s existence by vigilante nonsense like that, is unfathomable.
There is NO way to be certain about allegations, however plausible they seem to an outsider, outside of due process. There are REASONS why people do not get convicted or why cases don’t even make it to trial, and it’s a seriously damnable thing to assume it’s okay for those who in fact were wrongly accused to be acceptable collateral damage in the act of publicly outing alleged offenders.
One cannot in the name of justice ignore the basic principles of justice itself.
Angelica: there’s very little evidence that a.) false accusations are a common thing, and b.) that if we’re talking about rapists, their lives are ruined by being accused.
Even convicted rapists are often able to move on without a whole lot of harm.
Admitted rapists too.
Roman Polanski comes to mind.