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.
Yeah, dog forbid that there should be a place where the feelings of trans women of color are placed “front and center” over the feelings of cis white women.
Wow. I did not think this would be a debate here. I’m disappointed.
Since when does asking people to be better allies the same as telling them to center my feelings at the expense of everything else?
Ally, it doesn’t. It’s just asking people to be better allies.
I really don’t get what just happened here.
Seconded. Wow.
Thirded.
Seeing how the MRM is mostly interested in political/institutional issues as well as with how society views men, only the very first sentence in his quote is at all something an MRA would say. A slightly overheated MRA, I don’t think many would agree, but at least that’s MRA talk.
To conflate the rest – basically talk about masculinity – with the MRA is exactly equivalent to calling makeup advice ‘Feminism.’
Also, just to emphasize this point again:
Being privileged and asking questions in order to gain an understanding of what oppressed people are saying? Totally ok, assuming said oppressed people are willing to provide answers. Being privileged and automatically disagreeing with everything oppressed people say that doesn’t neatly fit with your preconceptions? Not ok. The latter is what has happened in this thread.
I’m not telling privileged people to shut up, nor am I attempting to push onto privileged people an unbalanced dialogue wherein they have no right to speak out against something they perceive to be oppressive in and of itself. I’m asking them to listen and try their best to understand social justice issues as theorized by oppressed people. I have no idea how I can make this point clearer.
Holy shit, is Bootsey back?
*feeling a bit shell-shocked*
Man, I feel like I sparked all this horrible shit by naively using that stupid word, then telling Ally I was uncomfortable with what she had said. I said sorry a million times and thought it was sorted but then people are talking about dog piling and I’m like, wait, was that me? And it isn’t actually about me, I just feel bad. I should shut my stupid mouth. Or at least limit it to talking about butts. No one can object to butts surely?
fluffy fluffy butts?
I say this as an observation, not as a request that anyone explain themselves or their feelings: This feels like the final venting of anger and hostility towards Ally that has been visibly building here for a while. I’m not sure why that is.
THIS!
Ally, I respect your choice, whether it’s to return here or not. All I can tell you is that I you will be missed and I’m sorry this went down this way.
There’s a pile of hugs here for you if you want them.
I noticed that too.
Daintydougal, I don’t think it’s your fault at all. You were two people asking each other “can you not do that?” and then agreeing not to do that. I don’t know why it didn’t just end there. So I hope you don’t feel too bad.
For what it’s worth, daintydougal, I’m not upset at you or blaming you for anything.
I’m a realtive noob here and should probably bow out of this whole thing about Ally but, what the hell…
I agree with everything Lea said about this. Hugs if you want ’em, Ally and do what you need to, but know that this 54 year old cis het white woman would really miss your point of view here!
I’m feeling a bit shell shocked by all this as well. Clearly the anger in this thread goes beyond the specific issues being discussed. I honestly don’t understand the animosity towards Ally here, or why the “cotton ceiling,” a Cathy Brennan favorite, is being discussed at all. (I don’t think anyone here is a TERF, but I’ve literally never heard that phrase being used seriously outside of TERFdom.)
Ally, I understand why you feel the way you do, but I truly hope you decide to stay.
Hellkell, I’m very sorry that you’ve decided to leave.
Wow. Just…wow.
How did this all come about? I mean, I’ve read the whole thread, and kept quiet because I didn’t have anything insightful to add, but, just wow guys.
Ally, I really value your comments here. I, personally, will feel a little let down if you leave the blog. If you stay or if you go, though, I really wish you well, either way.
Hellkell’s leaving, too? Ah, crap!
My reading fail. Hugs, Hellkell, if you want them.
Thirding that. That’s how I read it, and that’s why I didn’t feel the need to pounce on what Ally said. I know from what I’ve read here so far that she’s going through a real shitstorm right now, so all I want, and all I really can do, is not to add to that. And to hope that when I slip up, others will correct and forgive me. I’ve had my slips here (most of you have seen them, and man am I sorry), but I am learning a lot from this place. None of it easy, but all of it very helpful in making me a more mindful writer, and a more thoughtful person in general.
I don’t know if I’ve used the word “scrotosphere”; it doesn’t seem likely, as it doesn’t immediately pop to mind when I think of all these willy-waving wankers of the Menz Rightz Bowel Movement. I have no objections to the word personally, but neither do I object to not using it out of deference for Ally, or anyone else here whom it hurts. I would rather err on the side of not-hurting than on the side of “all censorship is eeeeeebul!” I won’t be using that word from now on. I am all for coming up with a fun-but-neutral alternative…would “wankosphere” work for you all? (Because, y’know, everybody wanks, but most of us know better than to do it in public…)
And yeah, that “cotton ceiling” thing, as interpreted by Brennan & Co., is a load of shite. As I understand it, the term started out simply meaning “the barrier faced by trans lesbians in being accepted as women and as lesbians”. (“Cotton” being a reference to the fabric found in the crotch of one’s underwear.) It’s about other people’s acceptance of one’s identity and orientation, not coercion. It never had anything to do with anyone telling anyone else whom they should have sex with. And the most telling thing of all is the glaring paucity of news stories of men-posing-as-trans-women assaulting women in public washrooms and other women-only spaces. If it’s not happening, and happening A LOT, it’s not to be feared, and there is no need to legislate against trans people using the washrooms that correspond to their gender identity. Nor is there any right to exclude them from women’s spaces anywhere. And anyone whipping up a bogus panic about it should be debunked and discredited.
Yeah, I have to agree with Viscaria and emilygoddess. This whole thing has made me really uncomfortable, sad, and angry. Ally, just adding to the voices that hope you don’t leave, but whether or not you leave I wish you all the best.
Ally, I know my comments are a bit sporadic but I really enjoy reading your thoughts and agree with you 100% on this. I’m working hard to make my feminism trans inclusive and I respect thoughts on language/terminology from any trans woman when I’m talking about feminist issues. I totally get why you might want to leave, and you have every right to, but I hope you know that your input is respected by a lot of people.
Thanks Ally, it means a lot that you let me know.
TERF crapola just seems to be ubiquitous. You start reading it then its like, wait, what someone else calls their genitalia literally affects me zero amount, why am I reading this? Not only does it affect me zero amount but it can be actively hurtful to other people. Then you look at kitty pics. Praise be to Bootsy.
I really hope there’ll be some way back from this. This is glass cage of emotion level stuff.
Also, on saying that men are terrifying. Look, I say that too quite often. Of course I don’t mean every single man I’ve ever met – but so long as cisgendered (and let’s face it, white, heterosexual) men have so much power in my society, I will be a scared of them because I know how protected they are and how much I risk for wanting better. I mean, in Ireland the possible penalty for getting an abortion is 14 years while the sentence for rape is 7 years. Pregnant people are not treated well here and out medical consent laws don’t cover them. And even though there are men who are raped and of course, some men are born with a uterus, I feel that the reasons behind that system stem from male power structures. Does that make sense?