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.
I am reconsidering leaving, but dear lard, I just need to get through the next two days at work. Lots I want to say, but it’ll have to wait until later.
tealily, applause! Those are excellent points.
Also, DAMN, YES, THIS to brooked, cassandrakitty’s and gillyrosebee’s comments.
gillyrosebee, if that’s you being tired and thick, I may never write again! Your comments were clear and spot on. They always are.
This still boils down to women being told who they should be willing to fuck. Specifically, people with male bodies telling women whose orientation excludes male bodies that not fucking them makes those women meanie mean pants.
Telling a lesbian – or anyone else in the wider community – that a penis is female because its owner says so, or deeply believes it, simply isn’t going to cut it. Telling women to “reconsider” their orientations, never mind framing orientation as preference, like it’s about which restaurant you want to eat at, is misogyny, same as women put up with all the damn time.
As for dictating terms of debate – older members know what this means: it’s DarkSideCat and Rutee all over again. Queer or trans was on their terms and nobody else’s, they even got to say what was a real orientation. Ally wasn’t doing that but her behaviour’s on the same spectrum and had the same silencing effect, as well as making every bloody thread about her perspective of one particular issue, which isn’t actually the central issue of this blog!
kirbywarp:
Oooh, can you teach chess online? I should really learn to play, or at least have a shot at it. Might improve my chances when I play Mr K across ‘tother side.
viscaria – stay!!!! Don’t go anywhere!
hellkell, hugs for work, and really glad you’re reconsidering, too. I’m hoping things’ll be different here now. I swear, it’s like a boil has been lanced.
I’m happy to see you back, hellkell. 🙂
I miss LBT a lot. 🙁
Thanks for the sweet words, kittehs, I appreciate it.
I agree completely with most of what you wrote in that what bothered me was the policing of other people’s sexuality, but I do have a problem with this bit
One of my trans friends from LA put it so much better than I ever could, and I can’t quite do her point justice, but what it comes down to is that there are indeed women with penises (or as she so delightfully put it “chicks with dicks”), and that there is no framework under which those of us not facing that condition can or ought to judge it.
If a woman is born in a body with a penis, that’s her business and as I understand it she is the only one who can define and articulate her identity and that right remains with her no matter if she keeps that penis or chooses surgical correction. She still understands herself to be a woman whether she has a penis or not. It’s no more my place to tell her that she isn’t a woman than it is for me to tell a gay man that he can only have sex with women, or to tell someone asexual that they are just mistaken because everyone experiences sexual desire.
Now, some folks will be attracted to and seek or be open to sex with women who have penises. Some won’t. I’m not going to judge either way, but I think it is just as wrong to tell a lesbian that she is required to find women who were born with penises attractive and desirable as sex partners as it is to demand that those same lesbians find men with penises attractive and desirable as sex partners, or to demand that asexuals should be open to sex whether they want it or not because other people might desire them.
It does, as you point out, boil down to being unacceptable to tell someone else, anyone else, who they should be willing to fuck.
I’d love to try some online chess practice, especially as I really feel like I’m going back to the beginning – I haven’t played in decades!
Please stay, hellkell. I would of course understand if you can’t or won’t, but I’d very much like it if you did.
I think part of the issue here is whether or not people believe “woman” and “female” to mean the same things. It used to be the case that people, including trans activists, assumed that these were different things, woman being the social role and female being the biological sex one is born with (my first exposure to this conversation was a bit over 20 years ago, when my bestie from high school came out as a trans man, and at that point the consensus was that sex and gender were completely different things). In recent years there’s been a shift towards the idea that if someone is a woman they must also be female, therefore if they are female their body must be female too.
I think which of these frames people are working with is a fundamental issue of disagreement here (in fact I saw emilygoddess allude to this with quite apparent confusion over the change in terminology/definitions earlier in the thread).
I’m new to this type of discussion, so I apologise if this is a really naive question. Is the issue also around:
– person A has the cognitive frame that “if someone is a woman they must also be female, therefore if they are female their body must be female too.”
– person B does not have that cognitive frame
therefore person B must change their cognitive frame because person A’s cognitive frame is the only correct viewpoint?
That is the meta I thought was underpinning part of this. It’s not just about how one views ones body but also the idea that others should adopt exactly the same view. This is the bit that I’m having issues with myself.
*jumps up and down* hellkell might stay! Can I coax you to stay with fishies and an axolotl? Cuz I got the last thing I need for the axolotl tank a little bit ago, getting R to help me with the light on the 55g (I’m just not big enough to position something 4′ long without courting disaster), and while I have him I’m gonna see about getting a touch of “hold this” help on the axolotl tank. And then SOOOON, OH SO SOOOOON I shall have an adorbs little critter! Probably albino, but they might be gold, pretty sure all of them in the shop tank are albino though.
Yes, there WILL be pictures. Lots of them.
Viscaria, stay. How else could we debate who’d win: flower or chimera?
Also, hairless guinea pigs look really weird.
I really didn’t want to make anyone ask me to stay >.> I just wanted to check people’s comfort levels.
Mighty flower always wins, and then asks the chimera to dance.
@ pally
With a certain section/group* of modern trans activists yes, that is the expectation, and any person not agreeing to do so will be considered to be a TERF. Ally, for example, is definitely in this group. I think LBT is too, but I’m not sure, and he hasn’t been around lately so I’m starting to worry that he may have bailed over exactly this issue.
*I’m not sure quite how to word this. What I mean is, in longer form “some people within this group, but not all of them, and I really have no idea what percentage of people are in each of these differing camps”.
… I really hope LBT hasn’t bailed.
🙁
I think under that definition I am a TERF. Who knew?
Is there a mirror issue with respect to cis gay men being attracted (or not) to trans men? Because I am only seeing this argument with respect to women.
Again, sorry for these really naive questions. I have no avenues other than this blog to ask these questions, and I trust the commenters here to steer me correctly.
Yeah, I hope so too, contrapangloss. I’ve tried to get in touch through back channels and no response, so I think he may be angry/upset/feeling disappointed in the group.
I’ve seen the mirror issue a bit? But not nearly as often. I don’t personally know anyone who’s run into that as an issue causing conflict irl, though I’ve seen people arguing about it online.
BTW random – pallygirl and WWTH, did you get the emails I sent you? No rush on responding, I just think my email may be doing something wacky.
I’m no gender theorist, but I am definitely not in any camp that thinks trans women have male bodies, if that’s what is being said here.
And no, that doesn’t mean anyone has to fuck anyone.
@cassandra: yes I did and I emailed you back last night. I was wondering why you hadn’t come back, but thought that the comments in this thread may have overtaken what I asked you in email. Weird.
@ pallygirl
Finally found it. I was just being very non tech savvy, sorry!
@cassandra: and in the meantime I have emailed you again, on the other email address. Sorry for the spam.
I’m not in any camp that thinks trans women have male bodies either, Cloudiah.
I agree nobody has to fuck anyone. I think the problem here was that people were focusing on issues outside of this thread and on tumblr. As well as personal issues. Which I’m not going to touch because that is strictly between the other people on this thread. I don’t think anyone here was making the argument that people are obligated to fuck other people. It sounds like someone brought tumblr drama into this for some reason, or another outside drama.
I concur that I miss LBT. I’ve learned a lot from his posts, and derived much enjoyment from his writings.
Pallygirl – it may not answer your question, but I have had sex with a trans woman. The fact that she was male-bodied (at the time) was definitely a factor for me. We had been acquainted socially, and a mutual attraction developed. She told me later that she didn’t usually find gay men desirable, as we tended not to be masculine enough for her tastes. I haven’t ever been close enough to a trans man for anything like that to happen. My husband is cis bi, and may very well be the last man I’ll ever have sex with.
Well, there goes my political career. s/
Argh. I think bodies are a reality. I guess that makes me a TERF according to some, but I’m never going to say, “Yes, a penis is a vagina.” Does it really impact me? No, so do what you need to do.
What I strenuously object to is the notion I’ve seen floating around that even mentioning a body part is transphobic.
Yeah, I never understood the reasoning behind why scrotosphere is transphobic and now I’m even more baffled.
@Robert: thanks for your comment. I’ll be joining you in the political wilderness.