Sworebytheprecious, a regular in the AgainstMensRights subreddit, is trying to raise money so she can get to Detroit to report on that A Voice for Men conference you might have heard about. And you can help!
Here’s her pitch, from her GoFundMe page:
Lissie (akaSworebythePrecious) wants to get to Detroit to report on the convention held by A Voice for Men and Paul Elam. She also wants to start up a website for Project Dark Horse. Who wants to help?
Our goal is $1000. We’ll be posting receipts. We want to rent a car, get a room, and get a plane ticket. I also want to talk to some of the protesters who were bothered last Saturday.
So far she’s raised a little over $200, but I’m sure we can help her raise a lot more than that. If she goes over $1000, the money will go to charity or to help build a website for Project Dark Horse, dedicated to exposing the bullshit of the Men’s Rights movement in general and AVFM in particular. More details on Dark Horse here, and on her fundraiser here on the GoFundMe page.
I don’t actually think they’d have the power to completely ban her; the vfw halls are semi-public spaces run with public money. The rules on being able to keep people out are actually somewhat sticky. And if she could manage to get press credentials, they’d be really fucked.
But in the larger scheme, yes, someone should definitely be there to film and record what these hateful asshats are doing, if only so they can’t pretend to not be hateful asshats.
Sworebytheprecious, please take very good care of yourself during this quest. Hope everything goes well. Donated the little bit I could. Good luck 🙂
If Elam had any sense, he’d use this opportunity to show people that the conference and his organization are legit and try to get some good publicity out of it anyway (“See, we let an evil woman in and nothing bad happened!”). Since he doesn’t have any sense, he’s going to try to intimidate Sworebytheprecious.
Question: Do you feel comfortable attending this event alone, Lissie? I would feel very threatened. I’m super impressed.
I will be there, I have already gotten together a group of about 25 people to protest! I think the actual topics covered will be quite boring, in reality. You have to understand in the scheme of things, the MRA really is trying to paint feminists as bad guys. Literally everything from their honey badger sitdown to the guest speakers is an attempt to paint a radically different picture to the public than reality. I too originally came to learn about the MRA from genuine concerns about boys issues, and if you came to the picture recently, it would appear they are all lovers and just trying to do what is right from the world. Then, a feminist friend linked me to all the articles they cleaned up, and i found myself learning more and more of the rottenness that is Ellam and his borderline con artist practices. Even though. i do not label myself a feminist, any rational person when faced with truths of this magnitude would fight the group doing it. Anyone else who plans on being there, feel free to send me a message, my facebook is Shane Waters Detroit Michigan, im working on a neon sign project with the words “begging for [rape]” Ellam, with the intention of protesting using Ellams own words. I think a public reading of the neon sign article, and the aquit guilty rapists article would expose many to the crackpottery more than anything else will. The best way to destroy the MRA is to use their own words, anyone who still supports such drivel is crazier than Esmays rape denial.
I’ll donate once I get to a proper computer.
So the idea is that we (as in AMR) kind of want to have someone there to take notes. That’s pretty much it. MRAs are notorious for calling for “free speech”, so hopefully she won’t actually be kicked out or anything. I’m personally crossing my fingers that she’ll be let in.
Also, swore, lots of love and hope you stay safe!
I love that the notable names in anti-feminism keep telling Lissie she’ll be disappointed and everybody will be perfectly civil to her.
You can’t put that much venomous loathing for women together in one space and then tell everyone to be on their best behaviour because one of your detractors is present. Some of the poison will leak out anyway. It’s like a Tea Party rally – their idea of “toning it down” still looks pretty damn aggressive and bigoted to a reasonable person.
strivingally – I think this exchange in AMR demonstrates this perfectly:
Seriously, if MRAs hurt swore, they’d blame her for leading them on. But taking precautions because you know you’re going into a pit of vipers is misandry of the highest order.
Yes, thank you, because the commenters on this site dedicated to mocking the MRM had no idea what they were about.
Hey Argenti, do you still accept horses for ableist comments?
welp, i took the time to get press credentials for when i’m actually gonna be on the floor, but i don’t know if they’ll actually let me in or not. It’s a NPPA pass so i’d just be recording and taking pictures, not asking questions, editorializing, or interfering as per membership standards when i am within the conference bounds. Judgy asked via Twitter if i had one to get in as press, so i paid and registered as a professional courtesy, since it seemed like a reasonable request for her to make of me. i didn’t expect to be let in but it never hurts to try. i read the rules and realized this would mean at least two pieces: one multimedia based piece not editorialized for any specific goal, and one made in the spirit of the project. i believe i am able to separate the two and still remain faithful to both. then Judgy rescinded her offer.
i mean, i get not letting me in. that’s fair: they are allowed to restrict who’s in their private event, no questions asked. but why ask and offer it if you don’t intend to follow through after i tried to meet you halfway? that’s just mean-spirited and trite.
because i got the credentials and i’ve already reported elsewhere in a journalistic manner that i believe AVfM LLC and Paul Elam are likely accepting funds illegally, i am ethically bound not to financially support them (not that i would anyways) in either my capacity as a journalist OR as a private citizen. in other words i couldn’t buy a ticket even if i wanted to anymore. this could probably be stretched, but i’d like to stay on the far side just to be safe. but we’ll see what happens. maybe they’ll soften their stance.
I have long wondered about him taking funds for living expenses and what the IRS might think about that. Thanks for doing this, I hope the IRS crawls up his ass so far they’ll get stuck in his throat if he coughs.
RE: marci
Hmm, I’m next door to Michigan…maybe I should think about taking a road trip.
I found out that I’m less than a five hour bus ride from Detroit myself, and the tickets are only like $35. I’m not sure if I’d be more or less likely to get my ass kicked at a MRA con… if it even happens. And no way I could afford that fucking $250 ticket. (Which is totally highway robbery.)
Wow, Shane has the splaining virus pretty bad. I appreciate the effort in terms of protesting and all but damn, dude, maybe try not assuming that the women who’ve been tracking this group that you just found out about for years are idiots.
Seriously. We have collectively a significant number of decades of organizing/activist experience here.
Dark Horse, otoh, you’re awesome. Will you be meeting up with anyone there? I wouldn’t trust this lot not to try to physically harm you, so I’m hoping you have some local contacts just in case you need them.
The faffing about with the media is just part 35345435 of “Judgy Bitch wouldn’t recognize professional behavior if it bit her on the ass”. Which is kind of sad, because she does seem to be the closest thing to a media-savvy organizer they have.
@ cloudiah
He’s right not to call himself a feminist, that’s for sure.
I hope Shane learns to spell Elam’s name before making a neon sign. That shit ain’t cheap.
600 bucks in two days. I’m proud of the gynocracy right now.
hellkell, I think he was just referring to the specific quote Elam made about some women having a neon sign telling men to rape them over their heads? That said, I would hope that his protest strategy doesn’t involve any written words, because the spelling and grammar in his comment are kinda atrocious. I had a difficult time following.
Even better, though, he could maybe stop being a patronizing twit and cease bragging about how he’s totes not a feminist over here (but we should all listen to his grand wisdoms and be super grateful that he’s lending his manly manful protective protestings to our cause, since us poor wimminz clearly don’t have the manbrains or mancourage or manpower to do it ourselves)
thanks everyone! steps to ensure my safety are being taken. thanks for all the wonderful offers of assistance. we have a/v set and we’re good for lodging and the like. looks like i have a bit of work to do, eh? but this has gone far and above my expectations. Elam got 33k in a number of days, and though my aims are much more modest, i like to think the goal is much better. now to concoct a ploy to blame my 20k in student loans on misandry… oh wait, that was my own mistake. no dice :p
i think maybe be were being a bit unfair to Shane. he’s trying, which is more than most do, and anyone can show up. although a small group was more of what i had in mind originally, because i don’t know how a protest would work in with what i’m aiming to do. sometimes big draws just drown everyone in noise. i intended a more personal touch.
Shane is trying to what?
He’s trying to see women as people, but no so much that he’d call himself a feminist?
He’s trying not to be sexist, but then failing by talking to us like we’re the one’s who are new?
He’s realized something is wrong and he’s going out of his way to try to do something to make it right. That is commendable. But he’s not going to ever be much of an ally if we coddle him and treat him like he’s too special a snowflake to get called out. He’s doing more than most? Really? He’s going to one protest and that’s more than most people do for feminist causes? That’s not more than I’ve done. It’s not more than alot of women I’ve known have done. When we screw up intersectionality, I want us to get called out fast before we can do real but unintentional damage. He wants to help and that’s great. If he really wants to help, he needs to pay attention because these criticisms are valid and taking them to heart would help Shane do what he says he wants to do.
He stepped on some toes. I think you can see why. I don’t think it’s unfair to let him know. After all, how else is he going to do better if no one tells him he’s making mistakes?
I once referred to a person as “oriental” and got my ass handed to me in front of a group of people I barely knew. It was humiliating. I thought the guy who called me out was such a jerk. I wasn’t trying to be racist! I didn’t know any better!
Then I realized that I had been the rude one and that he had saved me from making an ass of myself ever again. I’m glad he did. I don’t want to be an ignorant racist who feels entitled to say insulting shit to people, even accidentally.
Shane can hang in there and try to do better, or he can decide we’re big meanies and ignore us. But, if he comes at us like that again, he’s going to be corrected again.
I’m very confused. Dean Esmay rolled out the welcome mat on your GoFundMe page and JB overruled him?
…and to be fair, I am a big meanie. I’m a meanie, meanie jelly beanie.