If the Men’s Rights movement is looking for a celebrity endorser, I think I’ve found just the guy for them: the mixed martial arts fighter, and erstwhile porn actor, War Machine, currently sitting in jail on charges of brutally beating and attempting to kill his ex-girlfriend, porn star Christy Mack.
Men’s Rights activists should be able to look past these criminal charges; after all, as they remind us all the time, women are forever falsely accusing innocent men of all sorts of terrible things.
And in so many ways War Machine is perfect for them. An MMA fighter, he’s already only one letter away from being an MRA. A misogynistic asshole with rage issues, he’ll have no trouble fitting in with the Men’s Rights crowd. And, especialy important for a movement that has a lot of trouble getting any good PR, he’s a bit more comfortable on camera than the Paul Elams and Dean Esmays of the world, with experience on television (on the reality show The Ultimate Fighter: Team Hughes vs. Team Serra), and in seven films (albeit pornographic ones).
Best of all: he’ll need no ideological education from what A Voice for Men likes to call Fuck Shit Up University. War Machine – real name Jonathan Koppenhaver – is already an outspoken proponent of many of the Men’s Rights Movement’s core beliefs.
Consider these selections from a little Men’s Rights manifesto War Machine wrote a few years ago during a previous stint behind bars, serving time for felony assault after two bloody bar fights. His rant, which a friend posted to the internet, would fit right in with the sort of stuff we’ve seen regularly posted on the Men’s Rights subreddit, or The Spearhead, or A Voice for Men. I’ve bolded some of the Men’s Rightsiest bits:
The oppression of MEN is worse than oppression of Jews in Nazi germany, worse than the slavery of Blacks in early America…
There has always been the oppressor and always the oppressed. Before, it was blatant … NOW the oppressor has learned to disguise his evil. You can see man, but you can not see MEN. How easy it is to oppress a minority that is invisible to the eye! How genius of the oppressor! And what a better target too! …
Men challenge injustice from Government, MEN fight for their Constitutional rights, that are slowly being taken away every year. …
And they don’t just oppress us by making more laws and taking away more freedom, they are far more clever than that! Ask yourself what your REAL dream was?? If you gave up on this dream, why? Because of the brainwashing of the Government, that’s why! They taught you to “play it safe.” They told us a responsible man has ONE wife, a house, good credit, good job, and kids. How are you supposed to chase your dreams while maintaining all of that!?
Men are supposed to take risks and be aggressive! What accomplishments have ever come of a man scared to risk it all!? None!? Where would the world be? Still ‘flat!’ Still ‘Earth at the center of the universe!’
If any of you have your Men’s Rights Bingo cards out, I’m guessing you might already be close to scoring a bingo. We’ve got a comparison to slavery that could have come straight from the pages of A Voice for Men, a marriage-is-death-to-male-dreams rant that could have been borrowed from any MGTOW forum, and an evo-psych-esque argument that men are the true risk-takers and the world’s real innovators.
And I don’t think War Machine would have much trouble with Paul Elam’s “Bash a Violent Bitch Month,” either.
[I]t’s Christmas day and I’m laying in my bunk wondering “Why in the hell do American men get married!?” … If your wife is being a bitch you can’t slap her, if your wife is yelling at you, God forbid you yell back … Next thing you know it will be illegal to fuck your wife! LMAO! Maybe then, MEN in this country will get the fucking hint and MOVE! This country forces you to be a bitch!
In another online posting, War Machine touched on another Men’s Rights hobbyhorse, the notion that the justice system is stacked against men:
[L]ook at the prisons, they are FULL of MEN, not women. Are men “evil” and women not? Or do the laws target and attempt to restrict NATURAL MEN’S BEHAVIOR? How many of the HEROES in American history would avoid prison if they lived today? Davey Crockett? Thomas Jefferson? David Bowie? General Grant & General Lee? Shit, George Washington. … Laws target MEN and men’s behavior. Women want to bitch and cry about their rights and equality… LMAO! MEN are the ones locked away like animals, while women run free!
Someone might have to explain to War Machine that David Bowie is not actually a famous American HERO but a famously androgynous British musician who once recorded an album called “Heroes.” (Mr. Machine may be thinking of James Bowie, a well-known 19th century American frontiersman and slave trader, and the guy the Bowie Knife is named after.)
But other than that, he seems ready to go.
There is, of course, that whole attempted murder charge to deal with.
It’s true the Men’s Rights Movement has had few problems in the past rallying behind men with histories of violence. But War Machine might be a harder sell as a Men’s Rights hero. His alleged attack on Mack left her with a cracked rib, a ruptured liver, numerous broken bones, missing teeth and her eyes swollen shut. (See here for photos of her injuries; obviously this link is NSFW and could be triggering.)
While Mr. Machine denies attacking Mack, he joked to a TV host last year that if she were to leave him “I would just kill her” and get a tattoo saying “Rest In Peace” above the tattoo of her name he has on his neck.
And several hours after allegedly trying to murder her, War Machine tweeted this lovely message about his ex:
https://twitter.com/WarMachine170/statuses/497663075831787521
War Machine does seem to be at a low point in his life. Even aside from the charges he faces, and the time he seems likely to serve, his career in porn is almost certainly over. The “Alpha Male” clothing line he helped start wants nothing to do with him. Nobody but the prison system seems to want this guy.
In other words: Men’s Rights activists, this is your chance! War Machine may not be the, er, hero you want. But he’s certainly the hero you deserve.
Delurking to say that I agree with historiphilia and lea et al re: Ally. I was really surprised and disturbed by what looked to me like cissplaining about the word scrotosphere (which I was always a little surprised was an ok word here) and tone-policing “not all men” stuff. Frankly, I’m not sure why this stuff is controversial; I’ve been following this site and reading the comments for years and before this, I would never have expected that kind of exchange to happen here. I will say that sometimes I’ve disagreed with Ally when she calls out something she sees as problematic, but this wasn’t one of those times. I thought most regulars here agreed that using genitals as insults was wrong, as was explaining to opposed people why their fear of their oppressors was unreasonable. I saw both of those vehemently defended in this thread. I know y’all don’t really know me so of course I don’t expect people to be like “oh, how wrong we were! Thank you, Nellodee, for showing us the error of our ways”, but I guess I just wanted to express my disappointment or something. I’ll probably go back to lurking now.
Uh, “opposed” should be “oppressed”
Exactly.
That attitude is utterly indefensible, horribly harmful and even deadly. And yet it’s widespread and accepted as “natural”.
And it happens all the time. Even now we have trolls in the Zoe Quinn thread, ignoring the no-trolls zone, trying to argue that because she allegedly cheated it’s somehow okay or understandable to harass her.
It really says a lot about our society when in the few days time there are two threads (just on this site) made about abuses and attacks women suffered for “cheating, both threads are declared a no-troll zone; and yet both attract trolls. Who are jumping all over themselves to defend the abusers.
Reading comments about either women (Zoe Quinn or Christy Mack) on other sites is even worse.
Every time a women is abused people are only too happy to rip her life, her choices, her personalty and everything else about her, apart.
To a big chuck of people it’s like victimization a woman has suffered is not enough. And like she must be publicly shamed, abused and victimized all over again just so they can twist it around and make everything “her own fault”.
Well, I’d like to say I’m surprised, but I’m really now.
I’ve watched him in Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda TV show. After the show kicked head writer and executive producer (Robert Hewitt Wolfe) out, they gave Sorbo freedom to write or change scrip the way he wanted.
His character become irresistible to all human and alien women, super competent and able to do everything, and he even turned out (in total disregard of everything show was up to that point) to be a literal demigod (son of, previously unknown in the show, Paradine. The Paradine are described as first race of sentient beings in the universe.Who probably also crated the universe and who can control space / time. And shape all important things in the cosmos).
That not being enough his character also become a Messiah who will save the universe itself.
So the only thing AVfM policy is meant to help / protect is AVfM’s money?
Nice of them to show it so clearly.
Also, it shows that the only time they care about (men) suicides is when they can use them to attack feminists.
@Auntie Alias
Yes, the way they block any discussion off it is uncalled for, especially since they imply that they are a safe space for men to discuss gendered issues. Men turning to them because they feel unable to admit that they’re suffering from depression would actually fall under their scope and there are plenty of ways people who have already dealt with it could give some level of assistance to folks who’re new to it.
I guess their discussion is so strongly gendered that everyone’d just jump on the guy with pseudo-scientifc suggestions how to “beat” depression and “man up” rather than simply giving the person guidance and reassurance.
I’m not sure that the AVFM crowd would be able to offer support to a man who was suicidal unless they could find a way to blame a woman/women for his feeling that way. Like, man who’s suicidal because his beloved pet died and he was already pretty close to breaking point, or he’s been suffering from clinical depression for years, or he’s trying to quit drinking and having a really hard time of it? They have no way to express support and try to help within the framework of how their movement sees why men commit suicide, because to them male suicide is a response to women being evil.
At least they haven’t endorsed the notion that Pandora is to blame for absolutely everything on their front page yet.
I’m seconding everything cassandrakitty said here. Trans women getting the brunt of male violence? Really? Tell that to Braveheart, the student in India, or all the other women gang-raped and murdered in just that one country. Tell it to children. Tell it to all the women who don’t even make it to shelters because they’re murdered. Tell it to the, what, one a day, is it, women murdered by intimates in the US alone, or the one a week here.
3.5 billion women in the world, and trans women apparently bear the brunt of male violence?
Might I also suggest people look up the Cotton Ceiling if they haven’t heard of it? Because that language has been echoed right here on this blog and that’s misogyny, right there.
If rape and violence are “natural men’s behavior”, that’s an argument against men, not an argument against criminalizing rape and violence.
Also, I find it funny that the EXACT SAME behaviors are considered proof of inferiority when foisted on black people. Are you saying men are sub-human, MRAs?
For any group that are trying to advance the “notion” that men are more rational than women, also arguing that rape and violence are “natural men’s behavior” is hoisting oneself onto one’s petard.
It’s not exactly a winning argument for why women should allow men to be in charge of everything, is it? PR clearly isn’t a strong point for these guys.
Kitteh,
The odds of a trans woman being murdered by a man are far higher than that of a cis woman. It isn’t great for any of us, but it is more of a danger to them.
RE: blahlistic
Yeah, like if someone is alone and telling me, “I am going to kill myself RIGHT NOW unless you give me a reason,” then yeah, I will try to help. I’ve had to before.
But oh god I never want to be in that situation again. So I actively try to avoid having relationships where I am likely to be someone’s sole suicide support. Seriously. You do not want me to be your sole suicide support. If that’s the way the cards go, then fine, but I’m going to actively stack the deck to avoid it, you know what I’m saying?
RE: Kakanian
the policy of telling them to get help offline and in the real world is the only reasonable policy for a message board and the only way to actually help somebody with a clinical depression or other mental health issues that require medical treatment.
Enh, in that case, why didn’t they do what fucking tumblr does and post a list of relevant hotlines, books, and other support strategies? That’s not exactly difficult.
RE: historophilia
*standing ovation* Here, here. You put into words what was bothering me but that I couldn’t put together.
RE: Kittehs
3.5 billion women in the world, and trans women apparently bear the brunt of male violence?
Whoa, whoa, whoa. I really don’t appreciate the implication that there are women, and then there are trans women. Especially since uh, yeah, actually, trans women may be less common than cis women, but they have higher rates of violence, homelessness, being kicked out of jobs, and incarceration.
Yeah, there are more cis women than trans women. But I am so not happy about this idea that trans women are “stealing” cis women’s abuse history when cis women have been kicking them out of the clubhouse all throughout history.
Also, what do you mean by the cotton ceiling? All I’m seeing is stuff about trans women being othered by queer cis women, and that doesn’t seem what you mean here.
Yeah, I thought it was pretty clear that trans women experience higher rates of violence than cis women. I don’t see how saying that diminishes the importance of violence against cis women; it just points out an area of violence against women that is often ignored. (Or mis-gendered.)
The way I’ve seen cotton ceiling used is by trans activists who insist that lesbians are being transphobic for not wanting to fuck people with penises. If getting to say “No, I’m lesbian and I get to decide who, and what sort of body, I want to fuck” is going to be called othering, I’m giving that all the side-eye, because telling women who they should be fucking, or even contemplating fucking, is straight out of the male entitlement handbook.
Do I think those trans activists are even remotely representative of all trans women? No, no more than feMRAs are representative of anyone but themselves. But when I see that same argument about “denying the penis is a female sexual organ is transphobic” used here, then I’m extremely suspicious.
Of course the rates of violence are going to be higher in a much smaller community. It’s foul, it’s disgusting that trans women get this shit, but I don’t feel comfortable with the “bear the brunt of” comment that reads like the vast majority of women are free of lifelong misogyny and male violence.
Doesn’t “bear the brunt of” literally mean “bears with the worst of some bad shit.” I’m not seeing how it means most women are unscathed by violence and misogyny.
And I don’t know much about that “cotton ceiling” thing but a quick google search indicates that it’s something Cathy Brennan has been using to bash trans women so I’m backing away from the concept it until I hear more.
I’ve read actual trans activist stuff about it. I wouldn’t give it any credence if it’d come from Cathy Brennan.
If I’d only seen it from her, I mean.
*snaps fingers like a beatnik in a coffee house*
*reaches for bongos*
Hopefully the blockquote monster is satisfied with my previous offerings >.>
Looks like it! 😀
On the topic of Furrinati: anyone familiar with the Black Russian Terrier? I met my first one this morning – gorgeous dog.
http://sentinelkennels.com/B-Litter/Maylish_37p.jpg
Ah, they apparently have some Giant Schnauzer in them! I love Schnauzers; they’re so soft and often do these funny vocalizations that are just charming.
Here are some other cute BRTs:
http://d3o47n6kn1r59u.cloudfront.net/images/dogbreeds/large/Black-Russian-Terrier.jpg
RE: Kittehs
Yeah, I see “bear the brunt of” as “get the worst of,” not, “cis women obviously don’t get abused, all trans women suffer more.” It’s like saying… black men bear the brunt of police brutality in my country. Acknowledging that they get terrible shit doesn’t mean that other people don’t get affected by police brutality.
And I really don’t see how the cotton ceiling is relevant to this discussion, and am REALLY not okay with talking about trans people’s genitals in a discussion where that has nothing to do with it. (For obvious reasons.)
It’s relevant because this whole thing started with Ally talking about trans women’s genitals, bringing them into the thread because the term scrotosphere – which was coined here months ago specifically to mock the word manosphere and MRA’s obsessions – was used. I mentioned the cotton ceiling because she’s talked about that idea before, and it astonishes me that such an idea can be aired here while everyone nods along. It’s saying who lesbians should be willing to fuck.
I feel like I missed something here, because I don’t remember anyone ever discussing the cotton ceiling before now. Regardless, I’m backing the hell out of this conversation, because I, as a trans person, am EXTREMELY uncomfortable with where this going and how it’s been progressing, and I also lack the language to adequately express WHY.