You’ll all be glad to hear that Paul Elam has returned to normal. Well, normal for him.
After several days of doing his best impression of someone who isn’t a rage-filled attention misogynist, he’s back to his old woman-bashing self. You’ll also be happy to learn that he’s found a brand new woman to hate: Time reporter Jessica Roy, who is apparently quite stinky.
I’ve heard rumors that most females are stinky, actually.
Roy, who is covering the conference for Time, hasn’t even published her account yet. Her crimes so far? She tweeted some appalling quotes from some of the talks at the conference and made clear that she was not having a good time amongst the assembled assholes human rights activists. A selection:
https://twitter.com/JessicaKRoy/status/482600517839777792
https://twitter.com/JessicaKRoy/status/482908761338572800
https://twitter.com/JessicaKRoy/status/483254279348555776
https://twitter.com/JessicaKRoy/status/482657796916146176
Oh, and she tweeted a photo showing the backs of a bunch of dudes’ heads at the conference:
As a result of these dastardly crimes against manhumanity, Elam has declared Roy to be:
- a “low rent hack”
- “a SWJ in all her hateful glory”
- “a liar and a bigot [who]will be exposed”
- a practitioner of “journalistic scumtardery”
Elam also boasts that whatever she writes about the conference — like all the negative coverage his conference has and will be getting from what he calls the “shallow, clueless and uniformed ideological hacks” of the mainstream media — will drive “more people away from places like TIME and into palaces [sic] like AVFM.” He also thanks Roy “for the donations that will hit AVFM” from new people recruited to the cause by her writings.
It’s rather revealing that he seems to think the true success of AVFM’s “activism” is measured not by what he and his followers are able to do for men and boys — but by how much money he can pull in. An unknown percentage of which goes directly to him.
Interesting that Adam Serwer, who’s already published a snarky piece about the conference for MSNBC, has not gotten similar treatment. Nor have any of the other male journalists who’ve written critically about the conference.
Wonder why that could be?
Anyway, here’s some more of the press coverage of the conference:
First International Conference on Men’s Issues: Day 2, by Arthur Goldwag, Hatewatch
Goldwag continues his coverage, concluding that
[T]he weekend wasn’t an unalloyed hate fest, though there was plenty of rancor, contempt, defensiveness, and anti-feminism on display. Some of the female speakers were the least restrained in that respect, especially on the contentious issues of domestic violence and sexual coercion and modern women’s infuriating desire to determine their own destinies. Many of the speakers signaled that they were chafing a little under Paul Elam’s no trash-talking rule.
It will be interesting to see how much bridge-building A Voice for Men engages in from here on out … .
Well, I think we already have an answer to this question.
Neavling, no fan of MRAs, summed up what he saw as the central message of the conference:
The “vast majority” of college women lie about being raped. Men are violent because of their mothers. Feminists are plotting to dominate men.
One thing was ringingly clear among attendees at the first-annual International Conference on Men’s Issues in St. Clair Shores this weekend: Women are becoming an increasing threat and something must be done to stop them.
In addition to highlighting some of the low points of the conference, Neavling also puts the conference in a larger perspective by pointing out some of the more noxious writings of Elam and of the conference’s PR genius Janet Bloomfield.
Drawing heavily on Adam Serwer’s account of the conference, Tbobb concludes:
Yup, the first International Conference on Men’s Issues rolled into Veterans of Foreign Wars Bruce Post 1146 in St. Clair, Michigan, this weekend and over ONE HUNDRED attendees, from all walks of life — if by ‘all walks of life’ you mean: ‘middle-aged divorced white guys with anger management issues’ — came together in brotherhood to address the source of all of the pain and suffering and existential angst that afflicts MANkind.
Resolved: Women are to blame.
Oh, don’t worry; the conference got some positive press as well. From the husband of one of AVFM’s press conference panelists:
A kinder, gentler turn to the gender wars? by Glenn Harlan Reynolds, USA Today
Reynolds — the husband of sometime AVFM contributor “Dr. Helen,” whose bizarrely chipper reckoning of the conference we looked at yesterday — offered up a surreal account of the conference as a kind of cross-gender-love fest:
[T]he thing that struck me most about the gathering was the palpable lack of gender tension. Men and women at this conference seemed to be on the same page, and the same team, in a way that seems almost surprising in these gender-divided times. Maybe that’s because gender-talk, long a female domain, is also now about men. … As Farrell concluded in a Friday night dinner speech, the goal is “not a men’s movement, not a women’s movement, but a gender liberation movement.”
With men and women both talking and listening, it gave me some hope that perhaps we’ll see something new, and better, in the politics of gender.
Dude, you might want to read that post by Elam before you go all kumbaya on us.
Meanwhile, Sworebytheprecious reports that she was able to infiltrate a post-conference gathering of AVFMers in a hotel lobby and … actually talk to them for some time. At least until Dean Esmay showed up, recognized her, and got her tossed out.
i got the restaurant where they were celebrating and i even found myself sharing a dessert with a very nice redheaded gentleman who works for A Voice for Men, although i have not discovered in what capacity. i also found my way to the hotel where Elam and the inner circle were staying. at about midnight, i spent about two and a half hours talking with GirlWritesWhat, [Barbara] Kay, some guys i don’t know off the top of my head, and some other members. …
i was terrified. it never once stopped my commitment. i went as far as i could.
at about 2 30 am i was pulled away from a very enlightening conversation with Barbara Kay by hotel security and asked to leave. i was in the lobby of the [will add when convention is over]. to my knowledge i had done nothing illegal or caused any disruptions; i doubt my presence would have been welcome with the AVfM staff for long had i posed any real risk. i even allowed one man to take multiple pictures of me and i will describe that interaction in detail later. hotel security was very apologetic with me in any case. i believe Esmay was the instigator because he had been liaison between the table and the front desk. before i left, Esmay and Straughn let everyone know who i was and said “i was part of a hate group” and a journalist who worked for Futrelle. i denied these things, because i do not work for Futrelle. …
the security guard pressed. i left the hotel without incident and waited for my ride.
There’s a lot more to her post, and Swore promises that many more details will be forthcoming. She’s also going to be staying in Detroit for another week to talk to and report about activists there, and NEEDS MORE MONEY to cover her expenses (though not $25,000). Her gofundme is here.
And no, she doesn’t work for me, or with me. I gave her gofundme a signal boost at one point, and have exchanged some messages with her; that’s the extent of my connection with her. I only found out about her late-night confab when she Tweeted me about it today.
In the Men’s Rights subreddit, they’re worried that she’s going to falsely accuse some AVFMer of rape.
EDIT: Rewrote the big about Swore staying in Detroit because she’s still in need of cash to pay her expenses.
This jackass sounds like one of the morons on Raw Story, trotting out the same whine. He then made an even bigger fool of himself by not knowing who judgybitch was. 😀
kittehs – seriously? Ahahahahahahaha.
But, to be blunt, get a life…all of you. High-fiving over the collective stupidity at the AVFM Conference is almost as pathetic as attending the conference.
And chastising us is better than this how?
If, as you allege you believe, Its panels are nothing but attention-whores and AVFM staff, and the sessions are moderated by the other AVFM staff. The discussions revolve around fringe studies and false statistics perpetuated by AVFM. These people are intellectual gnats, attended by intellectual gnat larvae.
How did you come by the knowledge that Its panels are nothing but attention-whores and AVFM staff, and the sessions are moderated by the other AVFM staff. The discussions revolve around fringe studies and false statistics perpetuated by AVFM. These people are intellectual gnats, attended by intellectual gnat larvae.,
You must have spent your precious time watching the live stream. Way to show us, and them, up, eh?
Alice, yeah, it was a hoot! 😀
kitteh: forgot to say happy birthday, so happy birthday for yesterday.
Had a rough time over the weekend, managed to lose myself in Civ 5.
I think we should all be grateful to mrderp for taking time out of his otherwise jaw-droppingly productive and important day to make that post. I would imagine that straight afterwards he went back to oil painting with one hand and writing profound philosophical treatises with the other, while simultaneously mountain biking and practicing mixed martial arts (a feat only possible due to an ingenious and highly innovative contraption of his own design). Then he’s going to go and troll some MRA on a forum, but that’s totally different because he knows the guy personally. In real life!
It makes me happy that just by being a woman they obviously can’t use as an object that women in general cause them to shake in their boots. Sometimes I think about how when I was little, I thought it was so absurd and horrific all the oppression of the past, and thought we were in some magical clearance of hate, like it didn’t happen anymore. Bubble bursted the first time a pedophile harassed me at age 9.
It’s mind boggling to think kids of the future, only 40 years from now, will look at our current time as this pivitol, heated and passion filled time for progress and equality. And how they will say “we’ve come so far.”
Good luck, kids of the future. I can’t imagine what challenges they’ll face, but I hope they remember how much the oppressor hates, and fears, the oppressed. Hope it gives them the same elated feeling I get, when I’m just so fed up with it all. I give a man I’ve never met and will never meet a run for his power complex. If I don’t feel like I’m in an amazing time to be alive, damn.
pallygirl, thanks! 🙂
kiki, LOL! Nice to see you post again.
Does every longwinded ‘ur doin feminism wrong’ poster think they’re the first? That with their clever wordsmithing they’ll finally bring feminism crashing down?
@mrderp
Yawn…sure dude…I shall all be chastised properly by your post. Most grateful you took time away from the pages of The False Subtlety of the Four Syllogistic Figures Proved to impart on the peons some of your wisdom. Now you can go back to writing poetry on the napkins of some trendy coffee shop with your dog-eared copy of Walt Whitman “Leaves of grass” tucked in plain sight in your canvas satchel. You have done your civic duty.
Seriously, I think the point of blogs like this escape sourpusses like you. I doubt Rabelais was part of your curriculum, hence, I am more inclined to pity you than anything else.
For my book: all you’ll find is laughter:
That’s all the glory my heart is after,
Seeing how sorrow eats you, defeats you.
I’d rather write about laughing than crying,
For laughter makes men human, and courageous.”
François Rabelais
OK wait. The writer of that USA Today article was married to one of the panelists?? I was wondering about that article since someone posted it in the other thread. Now it makes sooo much sense. Mystery solved. Thanks!
Typical: knock poor mrderp down by understating his achievements. Although I have no doubt that this 21st-century successor to Gandhi and MLK will rise above this petty sniping.
I’m so scared of the mra.
My ex is a member. He almost killed me. I’ve been strangled, smothered, punched, knocked unconscious, covered in blood. He was charged with felony battery x4. He then stalked me, assaulted me and raped me. Rearrested.
He wants to take my children away to punish me. They are just little.
Please let the judges see how evil these men are. Please god do not give kids to batterers.
I can’t go on every day
It’s rather revealing that he seems to think the true success of AVFM’s “activism” is measured not by what he and his followers are able to do for men and boys — but by how much money he can pull in. An unknown percentage of which goes directly to him ‘
Go figure it confirmed all my rants against Elam on the other thread. I was right on the money so to speak no pun intended. Elam already has a new campaign on avfm asking for what……….more money?
This monster Elam is freaking getting wealthy and lives an opulent lifestyle from his constant and I mean constant and relentless pleas from his disciples and other gullible people for money and these bozo’s donate to feed his affluence.
Also what I commented on the other thread is his cutthroat bullying and teasing to any writers/journalists who disagree with his viewpoints. Elam runs avfm like it is a corporation and he is a cut throat entrepreneur who will try to tear down and bully opposition just like he did to this Time reporter and darkhorseswore . He possessed in trying to see his corporation grow and get his avfm brand marketed to vulnerable people out there.
His main mission is to see avfm become a big corporation (a hateful one that is) and he is relentless in trying to recruit people. I realize the cult reference to avfm may be extreme and not appropriate but traits are there. The charismatic leader and his gullible disciples who do not see his true colors. The leader is always asking for money for the group but it really funds his opulence.
Is Elam dangerous? or avfm is just an internet fad who we should not even worry about.
I think probably it is healthy to keep a watch on avfm. Most of the manosphere blogs usually fall by the wayside and do not even last so it is no big deal.
But Elam and a voice for men have a lot of money and he is going to keep on asking for money Elam is a good salesman and was a shrewd, crafty skills to fool the public, and he has a shrewd way of organizing things and motivating a bunch of people to work for him.. Once a group has a lot of money to work with, they become more of a pain in the butt to smear and hopefully they will just fall by the wayside. But these guys seem like the only mra group that has lasted.
Better uses. Such as, lending an ear or eye to the endeavors of 200 guys who couldn’t get laid last week and are threatening to change the world in hopes of getting laid next week. Hmm.
I think about this sometimes, when I can’t find better uses for my time… I think as a movement, men’s rights is not going to go far. It does the most damage to individuals – people who come across sites like AVFM and already have some misogynist leanings. Then they find a bunch of “statistics” and discourse that confirms their suspicions. Then they learn to bond over hating, harassing, and doxxing women. In this way it is pretty dangerous, but not because they’re going to achieve anything politically.
@kiki – LOL. Ingenious takedown, much like mrderp’s motion machine 🙂
The AVfM article is true to form, from what I have watched of the conference (which is quite a lot, actually–call me a glutton for punishment):
A tiny fraction of the piece is positive (the first paragraph only) and the rest is spent decrying “the enemy.” As ever, AVfM and the MRM are not about positive change or change at all, but rather pointing fingers and laying blame on women.
In the same Twitter exchange about the conference, Roy also talked with a male journalist (from Salon, I believe) who had the same opinion of the goings-on. I don’t see Elam targeting him, or as any number of you have pointed out, any other male journalists who have written the already published articles reporting the same impression.
I really hope the Time piece reflects Elam’s article. It proves, at least to me, exactly why the MRM is so toxic.
Sorry to post off topic, but eh.
Hobby Lobby just won their Supreme Court case. This sucks, obviously, in the large picture. My fiancé is also employed by Hobby Lobby and we were planning on getting insurance together through the company when we get married in a few months.
…I really don’t know what to do now.
@Alex M
another problem is that once the FBI or any other Law enforcement starts going after them for their almost constant harassment of women they’ll use it as proof that the government has been taken over by the feminist cabal (and not the more realistic scenario that their movement is full of criminals)
My understanding of the hobby lobby decision is that it only applies to “closely held” companies
its still shit (and i’m assuming that shitbag scalia pulled something out of his ass again) and i can only hope the SCOTUS has some openings on it as soon as possible
Ugh. Fuck SCOTUS. Especially Scalia.
Although this does help make the case that we should just have Medicare for all and get rid of employer based insurance.
@A Wolverine
“Closely held” can apply to roughly 90% of all companies in America today, depending on the strictness of the definition.
Wal-mart, for example, is closely held.
By the by, this essentially means that, corporations being people, corporations having a conscience clause, there is essentially no limit on what they can claim.
Jehovah’s Witnesses have a problem with blood transfusions. Can we make them pay for it? Apparently not.
This is odious bullshit on every level.
I bet if a company decides to deny a single male employee coverage for ED treatments because unmarried people shouldn’t be having sex anyway, the decision will be reversed. Of course it’s usually only women who get policed in such a way so I doubt it will happen.
It’s so lovely living in a gynocracy. s/