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After all of the depressing stuff from recent days, here’s something a little lighter: A heartwarming story of misogynist gullibility, and yet another reminder that the evil feminazi double standards that the manospherians think they’re fighting exist only in their own fevered imaginations.
So last night, as a result of a rather nasty contretemps in the comments here, I was going through some old comments, and I discovered that one recently banned troll has a little blog of his own. Curious, I went and checked it out, and discovered that the obnoxious fellow, one “Ronnie Libra,” fancies himself a “dating coach.” And he’d just posted a rant defending pickup artists from accusations of being the creepy, manipulative predators that we know a lot of them are.
Here was his defense:
Pickup Artists are widely considered people who use tactics and techniques to try and “manipulate” members of the opposite sex into bed. Predatory, manipulative, rape culture, creepy…
Where else have we seen that before?
Popular Women’s Magazines perhaps?
As proof of this matriarchal manipulation, he posted the covers of three women’s magazines, adorned with pictures of sexy celebs and covered with headlines promising women guidance on how best to enslave men with their sexy sexiness.
But let’s look at some of these Mainstream Articles in these Popular women’s magazines.
Article Titles like:
Get Men to do your bidding without being a Nag
Get in his head and in his bed!
Christina Hendricks: How she chased her man and got him!
How to disappear without a trace.
The Sex position that will Put a Ring on your Finger.
Football and poker will improve your relationship. Find out how!
And a whole host of ways to manipulate men through sex.
It took me literally 3 minutes to pull of 3 random women’s magazine covers without even skimming for what the content of the covers would be. …
Am I complaining? Am I saying there’s something wrong with all of this? NOPE! As a matter of fact, I am very far from the hypocritical crowd out there spouting out how men learning tactics and techniques or even just improving their lives inside and out is somehow creepy, misogynistic, women hating, rape culture. If that were the case than women have been rapey, men hating, creepsters since before I was born.
No. Men and women trying to become more attractive to the opposite sex is AWESOME! … Women and Men are playing the same game, and the fact is, the WOMEN have been making the rules for a long time. …
[T]his double standard that what is great for women to do is evil for men to do just needs to be put to rest.
There’s just one teensy problem with Ronnie’s argument: two of the three magazine covers that Ronnie used to prove his point were obvious, ridiculous fakes. Here they are:
Yep. Apparently Ronnie thinks that Vogue runs cover stories on “The Lost Art of the Handjob,” and that InStyle is obsessed with telling women not to cut their hair because guys like women’s hair long.
You may notice that in addition to being festooned with headlines that sound like they were written not by sneaky sexually manipulative women but rather by a committee of horny dudes, these covers also feature a url on them: coolmaterial.com.
Using the sophisticated internet research technique of typing this url into my browser and, upon reaching the site in question, typing the words “women’s magazines” into the search box, I discovered that these covers were taken from a couple of “humor” features imagining what women’s magazines would look like … if they were written by men.
The basic joke behind them all: how can we convince these silly women to bend over backwards and forwards to please men sexually, while making them think they’re empowering themselves? Hell, there’s even a freaking sandwich joke on that fake InStyle cover.
And seriously, Ronnie, the NAME OF THE IMAGE FILE for the ScarJo cover, the image you posted on your blog and that I’ve reposted here, is if_men_wrote_womens_magazines_00.jpg. How did that not tip you off?
It’s true that women’s magazines do offer sex tips– shocking, I know — and, heck, I even found a handjob how-to in Vogue’s downmarket rival Glamour. But how is that in any way comparable to the manipulative and pedatory techniques favored by so many PUAs? Offering advice on how to please your partner in bed is about as innocuous as providing recipes for delicious food that people will enjoy eating. It’s nothing like the creepy gaslighting and routine boundary-violation regularly recommended by PUAs. Dread Game, anyone?
It’s also true that a couple of the headlines that Ronnie quotes are taken from the one real cover he posted, that of the May 2012 issue of the UK edition of Cosmopolitan. But tellingly, one of these quotes is actually a misquote. Cosmo wasn’t offering sneaky women advice on “how to disappear without a trace” – presumably with a briefcase full of pilfered cash and a vial of some poor man’s sperm. The actual headline?
Cosmo investigates: How can a woman disappear without a trace?
Yes, that’s right: it was an investigative report about a woman’s disappearance. I couldn’t find the piece itself on the Cosmopolitan UK website, which only puts limited stuff from its print editions online, though I found a more recent news story there about a missing woman who has been in the news a good deal in the UK. The American edition of Cosmo has also run investigative reports on missing women.
I’m not quite sure how Ronnie managed to get the headline so wrong. It’s written in big letters on the cover. Maybe he was distracted by cover girl Christina Hendricks’ cleavage? But it’s a revealing little slip nonetheless, transforming a story about a woman missing and possibly murdered into how-to guide to female deception.
More proof that these guys see just what they want to see – even if what they’re seeing is a joke, or entirely a product of their own imagination
Note to Ronnie: If you’d like to defend yourself here. I’ll unban your and let your comments through, just so long as they stay withing my comment guidelines.
@cassandrakitty: Um. Yeah. Healthy!
@WWTH: I read once that, to avoid ruining a party, you should never discuss religion or politics or diets. People tend to get evangelical and, um, irrational about them all.
Sarah Ballantyne has a book out where she talks about the science behind why paleo can be helpful for some people’s health issues (she’s a biophysicist). I prefer her part of the interwebs over the “I told my wife to cook this way” parts.
Yeah, I read a blog post a few years ago saying that if you’re TRULY paleo, you can’t have smoothies, because cavemen didn’t have blenders. To which I responded BWAHAHAHAHAHA!
Oh dear. Rancid came back again? Asking the same questions he already asked because he didn’t comprehend the answers.
Just go away. Why would we waste time giving you any serious answers when you refuse to listen them?
Yes. Yes yes yes! I am all for anything that helps people feel more confident in social/romantic situations. I am not into anything that tells people they are entitled to other people’s bodies/attention, or positions people as targets who have little to no agency.
The thing is, though, a non-misogynistic book that taught men how to connect with women better and work through dating challenges wouldn’t be a pickup artist book. The clue as to why is in the term “pickup artist”.
There’s plenty people can learn to make socializing easier and more enjoyable.
Not you though, Rancid.
Never you.
When you enter a room, amiability exits.
Diet morality really creeps me out, as an ED guy in recovery. Eating is not a moral act, people. (Unless you come from a religion with dietary laws, I guess.) Certain foods are not ‘bad,’ and eating a ‘bad’ food does not make YOU ‘bad.’ It’s fuel, it’s sensory enjoyment. IT IS JUST FUCKING FOOD. Stop soapboxing and get over your damn self.
(And yes, I realize there are maybe a few very rare people who go out and torture endangered animals to death and eat them, but they are few and rare and for crying out loud, do you really think that’s what most diet folks are talking about?)
RE: WWTH
I’ve also seen people on the internet claim that fruit is unhealthy because the fructose in it is just as unhealthy as processed sugars in junk food.
OH MY GOD I HATE THIS. Part of my eating disorder was avoiding all “sugars,” and I actually had to be sat down by a nutritionist who said, “No, dude, stop it, you NEED fruit and carbs. It’s good for you. EAT YOUR GODDAMN FRUIT SANDWICH.” (I also avoided all meat and dairy because FAT. Is it any wonder I made myself sick?)
You know when a dog farts in a car with all the windows closed? I’m guessing it’s kind of like that when Rancid enters the room.
Rancad, if the advice does things like advise the nonrespecting of boundaries (like you keep doing), talk about game, suggest all women like certain things and doing those things is a path to their panties, that men are entitled to sex, or that women are really just neurochemical machines that a wise man can play, then it is a bad guide and oozes PUA idiocy.
So, yes, people can give advice without being disgusting.
Can you go away now, please?
Racnad is like the farting boxer dog from James Herriot’s books, only without the charm and good nature. Or silence.
I haven’t read this book
https://www.createspace.com/4020351
but the author’s tumblr is chock full of anti-misogyny and good sense, so that’s promising.
http://theconcealedweapon.tumblr.com/
The answer is still no. Go ask your mommy, we don’t want the job.
This. Diet evangelists say a lot of things that raise red flags for me. Even though I was fixated on calories and not good or bad foods , their thought processes are a lot like mine were. I don’t think orthorexia made it into the DSM V but in my humble opinion it should have.
Now, I’ve been gone a few days, but I’m POSITIVE everyone already linked racnad to shit like Dr. Nerdlove, Captain Awkward, and so on…
LBT: Someone might have, but if he can whine here, his fingers are not out of commission. He can Google.
I thought orthorexia was in the DSM V? I certainly hope so.
No that I can tell. They did add binge eating disorder though.
Orthorexia isn’t in the DSM-5, no.
“Is it possible to write a book or curriculum to help romantically challenged men that won’t be viewed as misogynistic pick up “artistry” by feminists?”
Hellkell’s response:
“The answer is still no. Go ask your mommy, we don’t want the job.”
Jesus Christ, I second that. The guys who come here insulting us and overlooking our personal experiences with disdain only to later guilt us for not giving concise tips on how to get laid boogles my mind.
Hey rancid nads, I’m looking at you!!!
I mean, come on, how many times can we say, “Treat women like humans.” The fact that we ever have to bring that up, even once, says volumes about the whining trolls.
Maybe he treats his mom like this too? By which I mean, follows her around nagging her to fix his relationship problems and do his laundry, and while she’s at it could she maybe go fill up his freezer with food too?
*giggle-snort**
Mom, my toenails are too long, why haven’t you cut them for me yet? Mom, I’m hungry, where’s dinner? Yes, I know that you live in another state, but – oh, look, a woman! Woman, I’m hungry, where’s my dinner?
Rancid should really read this and learn from it. I doubt that will happen though. http://www.shakesville.com/2014/05/on-geek-guys-elloit-rodger-think-pieces.html
Excellent find, weirwoodtreehugger!
I’m going to post some of it here:
“And one of the things I’m seeing over and over in these pieces, despite their ostensibly being about how acknowledging women’s humanity and agency is important, is a distinct failure to acknowledge women as anything but the sex class. That is, there is very little discussion about how straight men should and do have other reasons for interacting with women than trying to have sex with them.
I’m sure many of the men writing these pieces would argue that should be taken as read: Of course I believe that. As though it’s self-evident. But it is not self-evident to the many men who treat women precisely like this every day, and to the many women who are treated every day like we have no value beyond our willingness to fuck men. Or their desire to fuck us.
To truly and meaningfully challenge the dynamic of entitled misogyny, the men who write these pieces need to make explicit that women do not exist to be sex toys for men.”
A lot of those pieces basically read as guides to how to fake seeing women as people just barely convincingly enough to get them to have sex with you.