Yesterday Warren Farrell – the intellectual grandfather of the Men’s Rights movement, the man who single-handedly came up with probably half of the terrible arguments that are endlessly rehashed daily in the manosphere – went to Reddit and proclaimed “ask me anything!”
And so we, and a lot of other people, did. And he even answered a couple of the questions I posted here yesterday – though as I sort of suspected he pointedly ignored the questions about his incest research. Still, there were so many astounding things said in that discussion, both by Farrell himself and by his various supporters, that it’s going to take a couple of posts to get to them all.
Let’s just start with the ass question, shall we? Because there was nothing quite so astounding in that whole sprawling thread, or at least the portion of it that I managed to read, as “Dr.” Farrell’s – he has a PhD in political science –answer to the ass question.
![DoloresCruz1982 86 points 22 hours ago (174|87) Why is a woman's butt on the cover of a book about problems faced by males in our society? permalink save report give gold reply [–]warrenfarrell [S] 2 points 20 hours ago (184|182) i assume you're referring to the profile of a woman's rear on the new ebook edition of The Myth of Male Power. first, that was my choice--i don't want to put that off on the publisher! i chose that to illustrate that the heterosexual man's attraction to the naked body of a beautiful woman takes the power out of our upper brain and transports it into our lower brain. every heterosexual male knows this. and the sooner men confront the powerlessness of being a prisoner to this instinct, we may earn less money to pay for women's drinks, dinners and diamonds, but we'll have more control over our lives, and therefor more real power. it's in women's interests for me to confront this. many heterosexual women feel imprisoned by men's inability to be attracted to women who are more beautiful internally even if their rear is not perfect.](https://i0.wp.com/www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/warrenbutt.png?resize=528%2C398&ssl=1)
That’s right. Warren Farrell literally believes that heterosexual men are powerless in the face of SEXY FEMALE BUTTS. They are BUTT HYPNOTIZED by women’s shapely buttocks, virtual prisoners to the power of DAT ASS.
Not only that, but they are slaves as well, forced to earn more money than women so that they can “pay for women’s drinks, dinners and diamonds.” Who knew that the wage gap was caused by the ass crack?
We like big butts, and we cannot lie. But that way tyranny, I espy.
Only if men can free themselves from the TYRANNY OF THE BUTT they can “have more control over [their] lives, and therefor [sic] more real power.”
But who will write the new Declaration of Independence from the tyranny of Queen Ass?
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for horny dudes to get rid of the boners which those ladies have caused with their smokin hot dumpers and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the babies who have got back requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation, and that is, ladies we can’t think straight if we’re looking at DAT ASS all the time.
Oh, but “Dr.” Farrell is worried about the ladies, too. I mean, he said so:
it’s in women’s interests for me to confront this. many heterosexual women feel imprisoned by men’s inability to be attracted to women who are more beautiful internally even if their rear is not perfect.
Yes, you’re beautiful on the inside to m….holy crap did you see the ass on HER!?
Now, this isn’t entirely new. As I’ve noted before, Farrell makes a version of this argument in his book, talking about secretaries manipulating their bosses with their “miniskirt power, cleavage power, and flirtation power,” [p. 21] describing “female beauty” as “the world’s most potent drug,” [p. 85], and arguing that “many men feel ‘under the influence’ the moment they see a beautiful woman.” [p. 320]
But these, er, arguments weren’t the central focus of his rambling treatise. Now, at the age of 70, by not only putting a naked ass on the cover of his book, but also by defending it in such ludicrously overblown terms, he’s decided to put this unsolicited update from his penis at the center of his argument about the alleged powerlessness of men.
Yep, the closest thing that the Men’s Rights movement has to an intellectual heavyweight seems to think that the most pressing issue facing men today is how sad and mad and confused they feel because they can’t immediately have sex with every hot piece of ass that walks by (and, presumably, the women attached to these asses).
It’s really hard to find a better symbol of the sexual entitlement – and sexual resentment – that lies at the heart of the Men’s Rights movement than this.
Oh, and by the way, my new book is still available for purchase. So far I have sold no copies. Which might have something to do with the $1000 price tag, and also the fact that I haven’t actually written it. But you’ve got to admit the cover is pretty good.
In case you needed a clearer explanation of the power of women’s bodacious hineys, one Redditor by the name of Doldenberg has scienced things up for us and provided us all this useful graph. First, his brief explanation:
Being a brave Alpha from TRP, I have found the solution to the evident misandrist oppression of men by cute butt owners meaning owners of cute butts, not cute owners of butts, or butt owners of cute, or…, that is, ranking butts on an objective BMV (butt market value) scale. I’ve made the data up in my head, but it seems plausible. According to this data, the butt loses BMV when having sat on to many objects, while it’s cuteness only works as a limiting factor. I have made a handy graph[1] with supporting data and sources to explain my theory.
This whole “Men can’t control themselves at all bkuz of teh evil wimminz smexyniss!” argument sounds very… Misandrist, for lack of a better word.
So, their guru is arguing men are basically as distractable as the average pre-schooler, and about as ethical as a greedy squirrel.
Men are helpless to resist butts. Men will do foolish and/or dangerous things because butts. Men cannot think rationally if there is a nice butt in their line of sight because their brains seize up.
Imagine the howls from the MRAs if a woman said that on reddit.
I believe this is what’s known as the Man Card. You know, the same as can be revoked if you don’t own a Bushmaster rifle, or some other penis compensator — er, that is, Weapon Against Callipygian Female Oppression!
I’m a guy, a gay one, but guy nonetheless. My husband is also equipped with some truly awe-inspiring anatomy.
Shockingly, I have generally been able to keep my focus on stuff, unless he’s giving me the Cruise of Death. I highly doubt Mr. Farrell is getting the Cruise of Death from strange women at work or on the street.
So if he really believes all that nonsense he said, wouldn’t him putting a naked woman’s ass on the cover of his ebook be a rather cynical ploy by him to exploit his fellow manocrats and their helplessness before the power of the almighty ass?
Seems to me that Farrell has mistaken a mechanism women use for coping and survival in an endemically sexist world for actual power. I bet when he watches that old Twilight Zone episode where Billy Mumy is a boy with godlike powers, he sees the cringing supplication of the townsfolk as domination and manipulation of the poor helpless boy who had nothing except ALL OF THE POWER.
Yeah… Now, I admit, I am not an “ass man”. I find breasts much more attractive than butts. But still, when I see a women with a nice pair, I don’t suddenly lose all control. I seem to be able to still function just fine. Hell, more than fine, as I have a college degree and got great grades at school. So I kind of doubt Farrell actually knows what he is talking about here. Though, that isn’t exactly news to anyone here, I am sure. XD
When I read, “lower brain”, I thought of this.
Meanwhile, in other news of oppressive female body parts, we have Ms. Stiviano’s Magical Vagina. So powerful that it got Donald Sterling to suddenly start spouting racist shit on cue!
I draw upon the gestalt consciousness of my fellow Mammotheers!
I’ve been digging through my crap and found old love letters from my rapist, one of which in particular involved a lot of the ideas expressed, used in a really sick and twisted way. I was considering using these letters for posts online as an example of abusive behavior and manipulation and what it looks like in practice.
Does anyone think that might be helpful or interesting?
@LBT Post them with all the trigger warnings and your comments. I would be interested in reading what you have to say about them. Context will really help too.
@LBT; If you’re comfortable with publishing them, I do think they would be interesting and relevant. It seems to me like rapists’ excuses and self justification draw a lot on common misogynist themes taken to their logical extreme.
Hit-and-run posting of a video of a hamster eating tiny burritos:
Literally the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard…men are HYPNOTIZED by female asses?
I mean, I’m sure the MRA’s would just explain how I just don’t get it, and can’t possibly understand, after all, I’m just a stupid faggot, not a ‘real’ man. But what the fucking fuck?
I mean if I see a good looking guy, I’m not going to deny that my interest would certainly influence my thinking…especially if he’s REALLY good looking, but I’m pretty sure that I’m still in full control of my actions. I’m not going to let him manipulate me (unless of course I decide that the deal works out in my favor too, lol) simply because I want to sleep with him…
Is it really any different for heterosexual men?
The downside of all of this being that gay men can be just as creepily objectifying toward other men as heterosexual men are toward women*. Which really kind of gets to me sometimes. Don’t get me wrong….most guys I know are great, but after a certain point, I’m just like “fuck this, I do not want to sleep with all…or most…or sometimes any of you. You do not know me, please leave me the fuck alone.” Or there’s that creepy extremely republican (srsly wtf?) guy on facebook who messages me with “Hey sexy” all the fucking time. Like wtf dude…we’ve never even met in person, and I’ve NEVER given you the slightest indication that I’m interested. What makes you think that’s a remotely acceptable way to greet me?
Sorry, that got way off topic. But sometimes…ew. So fucking annoying.
*Obviously since I am not a woman, this is based upon numerous 2nd hand accounts from women, as well as my own experiences and accounts of other gay men. I cannot say for sure that they are absolutely equivalent, so I’m approximating as best as I can.
RE: cloudiah
Showed it to my roomie, who’s a hamster fanatic. She adored it.
RE: opium4themasses
@LBT Post them with all the trigger warnings and your comments.
Oh yeah, I plan to put up ALL the warnings and put it behind a cut, both on LJ and tumblr. (Tumblr is a pain in the ass for posts of this length, but I’ve been getting a spike of activity there.)
RE: Children of the Broccoli
Sure. And I notice a lot of people are loath to be caught “airing their dirty laundry,” not wanting to get caught admitting personal involvement. Thankfully, I’m far enough beyond mine (it was almost a decade ago) that I feel pretty secure and won’t be using it for my own health.
@ LBT, it may be helpful. I’d check it out with a feeling of dread, though.
And what do we have to do to have objectification not be our fault? Detach our butts?
http://nick.mtvnimages.com/nick-assets/video/images/spongebob-squarepants/wet-painters-2.jpg
Yes, that does sound like a helpful, interesting ide–OMG THE WIDDLE HAMSTER ATE WIDDLE BURRITOS! SQUEEEEEEE!!!!
Ahem. Sorry. Carry on…
@David
I think this is the only occasion when use of “Hip-notized” is appropriate.
Brittersweet, then dudebros would complain that they were being unfairly deprived of butts to view. Rule #1, it’s always the woman’s fault. Rule #2, when in doubt, refer to Rule #1.
Also, I checked out WTF’s Wikipedia page. Oh, the neutrality. But they include a list of quotes which provide further perspective. Did you know that men are oppressed by being seen as ‘success objects’?
Okay, I’m getting to work on this post. Damn, I wish I had alcohol for this, but it’s probably just as well.
In nicer news, I have a zinester in Atlanta wanting to hawk my stuff down there! Wooo!
“they can’t immediately have sex with every hot piece of ass that walks by (and, presumably, the women attached to these asses.)”
I think you give them too much credit. Pretty sure the whole, complete women is irrelevant to these guys.
@LBT If you are going to feel bad by doing this, you don’t need to. I am interested, but if this is not going to help you, don’t do it. Maybe I am confused by your comment.
RE: opium4themasses
No, no, it’s okay! This is ancient history long since laid to rest, so I can take this on without too big a sanity drain. It’s headdesky, but not painful.
Ah, the power of female sexuality. The power to wheedle trinkets and favors from the people with real power by sucking up to them and looking pretty for their entertainment. Meh.
One thing that stood out to me in the Donald Sterling fracas, besides the mindboggling racism, is the way he talks to his girlfriend in the recordings. He sounds like an peevish parent scolding a child, not a man talking to an adult with whom he has a sexual relationship. It doesn’t sound like the gold-digger with the nice ass is the one in the position of power there.
Someone just posted this hilarious graphic on r/AMR with this also hilarious explanation:
David, your blog, your rules — but I think it’s funny enough to get incorporated into the post. XD
Oh, here’s the link to the comment:
http://np.reddit.com/r/againstmensrights/comments/24c83m/misters_decompress_after_warren_farrells_ama/ch6dh7y