CORRECTION: THIS NOTE WAS NOT FROM THE OFFICIAL “WOMEN AGAINST FEMINISM” PAGE; IT WAS FROM A COPYCAT SITE. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO IGNORE IT OR AT LEAST TO LAUGH AT IT FOR THE CORRECT REASON. SORRY!
Just posted this on Confused Cats Against Feminism, but it was too good not to post here as well:
So I just got this curiously impersonal email from the admin at Women Against Feminism. (Gosh! Could it be a form letter?)
Hi David Futrelle,
I wanted to say thanks for writing the article about Women Against Feminism.
Whilst it’s clear that we don’t agree on all points, hearing both sides of the argument will get more people thinking about what they believe in and which set of points they feel aligned with more closely.
This can only be a positive step forward, not only for women, but for society as a whole.
To help get more people thinking about what they really believe, I was wondering if you could make add a link to our new website in your article?
We’re trying to create a centrally located hub where the discussion about Women and Feminism can flourish, with everyone getting a chance to share their opinions, and we believe that a website is the best place to do it.
Would you be able to help facilitate that conversation by adding a link to the site?
The URL is http://womenagainstfeminism.com
Once again, thanks for furthering the discussion about women and feminism through your article. Even though we don’t agree on all the same points, we really appreciate getting these concepts heard and empowering people to make up their own mind.
Many thanks,
[name and email redacted]
So I wrote back:
There already is a central hub for this discussion: http://confusedcatsagainstfeminism.tumblr.com/
Could you redirect all of your traffic there? Thanks!
Carodwen Nightwillow: What the hell makes you think feminism has done something wrong? What exactly has feminism done to drive people away? What horrible things are radicals doing in feminsim’s name?
And are you actually trying to say that feminists can’t criticize other women? That women can’t be stupid? We’re calling their stupid because they are stupid. “I’m against feminism because I don’t want to grow out my underarm hair” is in no way, shape or form an intelligent or rational criticism of feminism.
Who said that? Cause, I haven’t heard anyone here make that argument. And I haven’t seen it on the Confised Cat tumblr, either.
What? What laws? And I thought the radicals were bad. None of this makes a bit of sense.
No, actually, a tumbr mocking anti-feminist women for saying things like, “I’m not a feminist because feminists are mean and ugly and hate men and I’m pretty and like to cook,” is exactly the way to handle the situation.
Huh, curious. There’s a place in Seal Beach called Beachwood BBQ that has portobello mushroom fries, which are quite good (they have a lot of unusual dishes along with their basically excellent brisket and pulled pork, including a wild mushroom stew bedded on blue cheese grits and a lamb burger that has *strawberries* on it– and that’s a better mix than you might think at first glance!).
Carodwen, misogyny refers to a hatred of women as a whole, simply for the fact that they are women. It does not mean that criticizing any woman is misogyny. Showing dislike for a woman or disagreeing with a group of women based on their opinions and ideologies != misogyny.
Concern trolls are always deeply concerned when they see instances of women, particularly feminists, going round acting like people. It is a violation of the “global accords governing the fair use of women”.
Meh, 3/10. Classic mistake: Failing to wait long enough to convince anyone that you actually changed your mind.
Well, thanks, Carodwen, I certainly shall enjoy my feminism here.
I have learned all I need to know.
I think you might have meant to say “I have found something I can point to and insist that it proves the conclusions I had already reached before entering this conversation.”
I think that is a pretty common concern troll tactic. Say your say and then flounce.
@Carodwen Nightwillow
With half of the human population being female, 17k followers of undetermined gender and a bunch of people whose only way of generating an income is uploading photos of themselves holding sings is barely a drop in the bucket.
Plus it’s not like finding literature on feminism is challenging.
What’s more, posting images of cats claiming to not care for feminism can hardly count as a personal attack.
Concern trolls like that make me want to somehow make them take courses on the suffragette movement, from at least Wollenstonecraft to the present, and for the final exam I’d like the concern trolls to put in order the arguments of those who denounced the movement from that day to this. If they managed to put the same statement repeated ad naseum without distinguishing characteristics in order then they are good enough at detecting tone to tone troll.
If not then I’d hope that the demonstration that the arguments against feminism haven’t changed in that whole time would help them realize that pointing out the tone of the discussion won’t move an anti- one way or the other… but then I’m a hopeless optimist!
drats “out in order” should have been “put in date order”
and with that I’m giving up on typing for the rest of the afternoon… stupid finters… durr… finGers!
Carodwen, do you know what “trolling” means? That site may not be the original WAF, but I doubt someone went to all the effort to set it up and stock it with photos just to troll David.
As for your tl;dr: mocking women for their opinions is not misogyny. Feminism doesn’t mean supporting everything that every woman does, ever, and I don’t know why you idiots keep pretending it does.
I love how you think this is new.
Ew GTFO my religion.
“Blessed Be
Ew GTFO my religion.”
I think I’ll stay just to get on your nerves 🙂 BLESSED BE!
Shit, guys! Did you know David is fat?!
AHAHAHAHAHA oh my god. Never change, JB!
We didn’t even invent it – that honor goes to the Belgians. Do they have Speculoos where you live?
Maybe they “didn’t answer anything” because they couldn’t find a question under all that barely-readable spew? For example, this sentence, which I can’t even parse.
Kinda like how Ally just denounced the women who were shitting on conservative women? Which I also would have done except I just got here?
Carodwen, feel free to address any of the actual points being made.
Couldn’t stick the flounce…
What’s the standard deduction for failure to stick the flounce? 1 point? 2?
@emilygoddesa
I have not heard of Speculoos but it will be my life’s work to learn more about them and how I can put them into my belly.
Yep, two point deduction. Also, “blessed be?” Are we in the Handmaid’s Tale?
Katz, what? Lots of Pagans and Wiccans sign off with “blessed be”. It’s also a thing we actually say in rituals and other gatherings.
Katz — it’s a fairly standard way of wishing someone well among pagans of various stripes. As a horrid analogy, picture Sunshine Mary saying what Carodwen did and ending it with, idk, “God Bless” or something.
Emilygoddess — I’m with you, she can GTFO, wtf, ending her spewing with a smilie would be less offensive >.<
I’m very sorry, I actually didn’t know that!
I figured it was an innocent mistake. Yay for learning new things!
Yay!