A Voice for Men’s “social media director” Janet Bloomfield is proving to be quite the innovator in the world of public relations. You may recall her cheeky approach to publicizing the recent AVFM conference, which involved awarding herself “whore points” for calling critics of AVFM “whores.”
Now she’s moved on to straight-up libel, making up fake quotes in order to make feminist writer Jessica Valenti look bad, and then bragging about it on her blog.
This whole sordid episode began several days ago when Valenti, on vacation, decided to send a message to “all the misogynist whiners in my feed today” in the form of a photo of her on a beach wearing a t-shirt saying “I bathe in male tears.”
The AVFM social media attack squad seized on this at once, with Bloomfield telling her followers, wrongly, that the picture had been posted in response to a question about male suicide. When Valenti corrected her on this point, Bloomfield offered a half-assed apology (“My bad”).
Then Bloomfield, demonstrating just how insincere her apology had been, decided to up the ante, concocting four “quotes” from thin air and attributing them to Valenti.
[EDIT: JB’s Twitter account was suspended, so here’s a screenshot of the tweets; I’ll keep the original links up in case she’s ever unsuspended, though that seems unlikely.]
https://twitter.com/JudgyBitch1/status/495366752168329216
https://twitter.com/JudgyBitch1/status/495367262187302913
https://twitter.com/JudgyBitch1/status/495367996337295360
https://twitter.com/JudgyBitch1/status/495374177013346304
Naturally, as you’ll see if you follow any of these Tweets back to their original context on Twitter, many of Bloomfield’s fans assumed that these quotes were real.
Needless to say, some responded to Bloomfield’s dirty tricks with all-too predictable harassment of her target:
https://twitter.com/JessicaValenti/status/495559012449267713
https://twitter.com/JessicaValenti/status/495559068841680896
After brazenly libeling Valenti, Bloomfield went on to boast about it on her blog. In a post with the smug title “Jessica Valenti is not having a good day,” she wrote:
Now, these fake quotes may have been “utterly plausible” only to those who are ignorant of Valenti’s work, but in the hothouse world of the Men’s Rights movement there are people who would probably believe that Valenti eats babies. As I noted, JB’s followers had no trouble believing them.
Later in the post Bloomfield added, with more than a hint of maliciousness:
It’s not clear how having made-up quotes attributed to you counts as “owning your shit,” but I guess I just don’t understand Bloomfield’s higher morality.
Needless to say, in the real world, deliberately publishing false information about someone in order to harm their reputation is libel.
When confronted with this on Twitter, Bloomfield offered some inventive excuses:
@JudgyBitch1 @JessicaValenti JB, "I didn't like her shirt so I lied about her maliciously to harm her" isn't an acceptable defense for libel
— David Futrelle (@DavidFutrelle) August 2, 2014
Later on she attempted to prove that her libelous fake Valenti quotes didn’t matter … by making up things about me:
https://twitter.com/JudgyBitch1/status/495684048237633536
As I noted,
@Alzael1 @virtuarat @JudgyBitch1 I'm pretty sure that "well, I lied about David Futrelle too" is not an acceptable libel defense either.
— David Futrelle (@DavidFutrelle) August 2, 2014
Of course, I’m no lawyer. I can only hope that some people who are lawyers are taking a good hard look at Bloomfield’s lies.
I would encourage you all to screenshot or otherwise archive Bloomfield’s self-incriminatory blog post, as well as her tweets, just in case she decides to talk to a lawyer and take them all down.
At this point, I think it’s probably safe to assume that anything and everything anyone from AVFM says should be taken not with a grain but with an entire shaker of salt.
OT, but here’s another source of male tears. This was labeled “discrimination” on r/mr. It’s a thread on a D&D discussion board. Apparently, there are more female-only prestige classes than male-only prestige classes.
Misandreeee!
Praise be to Bootsey.
I can’t believe I’m actually advising someone to something that will help AVFM look better, but please, for the love of whatever you consider holy, go like google PR tips or something JB. Please. PLEASE! Your incompetence, it burns.
Seriously it’s actually giving me a headache. I’m more confused than ALL of the CCAF combined.
Dang! I’m at work so I missed the latest troll, and he attacked me.
All well… everyone else did a better job of going after him than I would have, so thanks!
Although, with all the flouncing… I kinda wonder how they measure up to my flounce back when I was, embarrassingly, one of the trolls. (I’m still ashamed of those episodes… I hope I’ve learned more and am doing better than I was back then…)
Trolling… may seem fun at the time, but when looking back on it, it’s shameful and embarrassing.
Also… I forgot who offered me the welcome kit, but thank you! Not sure I’ve earned it, yet, with my history, but I intend to work to earn it.
Will say this… double standards? DonB seemed to be under the impression that I don’t criticize feminists. It’s not that I don’t, it’s just that I’ve yet to find a reason to…
I’m so not caught up, but katz’s video…a solitary cell is SMALLER THAN MY BED. And my room, complete with over 100g of fish tank water, a plant stand, a bloody CTR TV, two bookcases and said bed? EIGHT BY FUCKING TEN! THIS IS NOT A LARGE BED!
6′ by 4’… *quick math* that’s approximately 6 55g tanks laid side to side. MY LARGEST TANK IS SLIGHTLY WIDER THAN A SOLIDARITY CONFINEMENT CELL! (And just over a foot front to back) Two 210g tanks side by side? Approx 6′ x 4′! For fish, that’s a great deal of space, for a human?! And wtf, I’m 5’4″ — my brother is just over 6’…HE’D ONLY FIT DIAGONALLY!
Hello eighth amendment, could you please go smack some people around?!
This is me deciding my blood pressure needed to be raised to human levels I guess? Since I usually get the battery of “no dizziness, fainting, etc” (no guys, my natural state is zombie?)
*desplodes* it’s actually 10’x7′ which, having that be about the usable space in my room (I have a useless closet)…I couldn’t imagine being stuck in here 23/7 without anything to amuse myself. I’d be literally bouncing off the walls. [TW: mental issues] actually! since I’d probably be unmedicated, I’d be twitching at every sound and sleeping in 36/12 cycles, and trying to kill myself with anything that exists (I have a sudden understanding of Opie removing the toilet seat so Arlo Guthrie couldn’t hit himself over the head and drown)
Pecunium, you still around? Officially torture or “just” feels like it? Cuz I’m going officially by any definition that doesn’t allow “torture light”.
And cloudiah’s video, not Katz. This is what happens when I’m furious…
@Nathan: here’s some soap/body wash of your choice to wash away any troll residue on you. The feminist dog* cleaning crew will be around shortly to clean the troll droppings up off your floor.
* cats don’t eat stuff off the floor. Unless it’s cat treats. I have not established that troll droppings == cat treats.
More from that video — 37 deaths in 2 years, up to 50 in with months is a four fold increase in monthly deaths!!!!
FOUR FOLD!!!
Nathan — that was me, and you seem to be here in good faith, so you’ve earned a welcome package! Our requirements for commenting are still, afaik, don’t be an ass and like cats, the latter is optional but helpful 🙂
I like kitties! Can I stay, too?
So let me get this straight.
Jessica Valenti tweeted her article in the Guardian, a response to the recent #WomenAgainstFeminism trend, the thesis being that “women are victimized in our society, and #WomenAgainstFeminism doesn’t change that”. She received 93 retweets, many of which were criticisms of people who argued that men faced more “sexist victimization” or that the victimization she described in her article was exaggerated or outright wrong.
Jessica Valenti then posted a picture “in response to all of the misogynist whiners on her feed today” of her wearing a shirt with the line “I bathe in male tears” on it. Presumably, this was in response to the criticism she received on her article, in effect calling them “whinners” and claiming she “bathed in [their] tears”. But, apparently, when taken in context, the t-shirt is just a way to troll over-sensitive anti-feminists who take it seriously.
Janet Bloomfield then posted fake quotes of Jessica Valenti to make her look bad, and when Valenti complained about these fake quotes, she posted a picture with the tagline “I bathe in feminist tears”. Of course, in context, she was ostensibly trolling butthurt feminists who take what she’s saying seriously. Presumably, Janet Bloomfield wanted to highlight the despicable nature of responding to legitimate criticisms with “I bathe in your tears”, or calling it “whining”, and then laughing it off by saying you’re just trolling over-sensitive people.
The fact that you’re upset over JBs actions but not JVs actions is, I suppose, part of the dogmatic hypocrisy that all feminists cling to. Sad, you could have made a valid point here by condemning both for stirring up shitstorms for no reason.
Pallygirl — they also eat potato chips off the floor, and dog food (best part? 80lb dog lets the 10lb cat have dibs on his wet food…no clue on the chips though)
That video — ARGH I HATE THIS COUNTRY SOMETIMES!! If I weren’t white, I’d be in prison at least twice over, cops don’t look kindly in non-white people and pot, no matter how naive they play. And the other time? Took one look at my last name and gave me my ID back without searching my stuff, gave me a ride home and dropped me at the corner when I asked not to be dropped where my father would see — why? Because my grandfather was a sheriff way back when, and should it still mean anything my father and uncle were both deputized, and my father makes a point of helping out when shit happens around here (e.g. hit a telephone pole? He’s got the phone and anyone need any basic first aid? No? I can go back in the house) — yeah, he does it for attention, but it’s still a thing that makes cops like him. That night was surreal though, can you imagine that sequence of events, from family sheriff and deputies to NOT SEARCHING MY STUFF, when someone else in the car just got shoved to the ground and arrested with pot, happening if I wasn’t white?
There is not enough noptopus to describe how racially bias that shit is. (The arrested was white, but the local cops really wanted to make drug charges stick after he walked multiple times, and now personal use here is basically legal…) What the fuck are the odds I’d have not been searched and given a ride, with my request filled, had I not been white? Approaching zero? For all non-statistical purposes exactly zero?
TRIGGER WARNING: child sexual assault // rape
My gaslighting ex got caught in a park with his pants down and a young teen giving him a blowjob, idk if you want to call it assault or rape, it doesn’t matter for this story. But asshole’s white, kid’s black, and male. He admitted, not in court, that he figured a gay black teen wouldn’t report him. The racial bias of the prison system makes predators feel safer abusing minorities. It puts minorities at risk in and out of prison. And, just for extra fucked up icing, the original charges were worse because oral is considered a deviant sex act in PA — yep, making someone perform oral on you is deviant, vaginal rape is not (anal is)…um, I thought laws targeting gays like that weren’t legal?
(Add “and bi/poly sexuals” to all uses of gay in previous paragraph, except the one about “gay black teen” as that’s a paraphrase)
END TRIGGER WARNING
And they have all sorts of arcane rules about visiting that seem designed to discourage it — you had to be there at least an hour before the visiting time, preferably two. That’s not as reasonable as having to put your stuff in a locker. And even calling required a special phone account because you cover the charges — no rebates for unused balance, linked to your phone number. Sorry, getting calls. Calling was basically impossible. Of course, I was calling “protective custody”, aka solitary, because child abusers are not treated well in prison. (Fuck you Ruby, child rapist or not, rape should not be something prisoners fear)
I think I’m done ranting for now.
EXTEND THAT TRIGGER WARNING TO THE END!! SO SORRY!!
Redpoppy, are you an asshole? If not, give me one moment to get you a welcome package!
Here you go!
Nope. Not an asshole. Long time lurker for like…4 years? lol
Keep trying.
Oh FFS latest TheDjinni troll.
Wearing the t-shirt was a sarcastic general statement, not directed at anyone in particular. Sarcasm can be misplaced or taken too far, and perhaps it was poor judgement, maybe not. Anyways, the pertinent points about the t-shirt are:
– the slogan wasn’t directed at any particular person;
– it’s clearly hyperbole, as no-one literally bathes in the tears of misogynists.
JB’s false tweets:
– stated the name of the person she alleged said the quotes, so were directed at a specific and named person
– are difficult to argue as hyperbole given that MRAs routinely state that feminists say/think these things
So the conclusion that you naively arrive at:
is incorrect on content grounds.
Please go back and watch Sesame St, in particular episodes that deal with the concept of one thing not being like another. Here, let Big Bird help you:
WHAT! Get out troll trash, this place is an unforgiving fortress of unyielding feminist truth and justice! Just go Mr Nathan Hevenstone, if that’s even your real name.
Wait, I was just informed this is a good-natured mockery site that likes kitties, dislikes asshats and smacks down misogynistic jibber jabber. So pull up an uncomfortable anti-male hard chair and stick around.
Side note on trolls: Every time a troll references multiple MRA figureheads, talking points and controversies and then claims to not be a MRA, I’m going to make a small Paypal donation to WHTM in their honor. That way their hypocrisy will do something positive rather than just annoy the fuck out of me.
Nathan, I’ve just spent five minutes reading your blog and it’s pretty clear you’re one of the Guys Who Gets It. Whatever trolling you’ve done in the past, meh – to quote a cliché, when we know better, we do better.
I look back at my 19 (20, 21…) year old self now and shudder. I was so close to being the archetypical Nice Guy(TM) that a nudge in one direction probably would’ve sent me down the incel path. Luckily I went the other way.
Who you are is more important, and your willingness to grow and challenge yourself with different perspectives.
@TheDjinni
Does JV’s “actions” consist of wearing a tee-shirt with a jokey reference to snarky meme? Then you’re right, guilty as charged, not only does that tee-shirt not upset me, I don’t care if it offends other people because I don’t find that joke particularly offensive. You can see that as hypocrisy or moral failure, but I see that as having a sense of perspective and being an adult. That’s my opinion of that tee-shirt, but carry on with the melodramatic pearl clutching if my failure to denounce that piece of clothing so horrifies you.
@TheDjinni
>Janet Bloomfield then posted fake quotes of Jessica Valenti to make her look bad, and when Valenti complained about these fake quotes, she posted a picture with the tagline “I bathe in feminist tears”.
Janet Bloomfield didn’t get what Jesus said when he told his followers to “offer the other cheek” to people who disagree with them. He did not tell them that they should just put up with it, but that they should put the people who disagree with them into a situation where they can’t help but commit an offense against them. Goes to show that they really have nothing.
I do enjoy the heroic narrative TheDjinni gives JudgyB’s goofball trolling. Sorry, making up fake quotes to defame a writer is childish, tetchy and pathetic, but that’s how JudgyB rolls on Twitter.
My god that Janet is a nasty piece of work!