A Voice for Men’s ongoing campaign to convince the world that “Men’s Human Rights Activists” are a bunch of petty, malicious, sexually insecure douchenozzles continues apace.
I mean, that must be what they’re really up to, right? Because no one who actually had any real interest in human rights of any kind would produce “memes” like the one above and all the rest below, delivered to your eyes straight from AVFM’s Fcebook page.
At their best, AVFM’s memes are merely baffling …
… or ridiculous.
AVFM also loves appropriating the images of famous people, and pretending that these people are somehow on their side. But their choices of imaginary celebrity endorsers can be a bit, well, ironic. A couple of days ago in one of my posts on the iconography of the “Cultural Marxism” conspiracy theorists, I posted a neo-Nazi meme showing a crudely photoshopped picture of Star Trek’s Kirk and Spock endorsing Adolph Hitler — a rather odd conceit, given that William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy are both Jewish, and that the original Star Trek series promoted tolerance and a very 60s-liberal sort of multiculturalism.
Well, here’s AVFM’s attempt to make Spock an MRA:
Dudes, hate to break it to you, but Nimoy is actually a … feminist. Really. In the 60s he demanded that Star Trek’s producers pay actress Nichele Nichols the same as her male counterparts on the show. And as a photographer today, Nimoy acknowleges that he is heavily influenced by feminism, partiularly the writings of Jewish feminist Letty Cottin Pogrebin, one of the founders of Ms. magazine.
So that’s not really his “listening to feminism face” at all.
An astonishing number of AVFM’s memes are so sexualized that they are more or less soft-core porn. Even their anti-male-rape memes, ostensibly attempts to raise consciousness about the rape of men by women, feature seductive, scantily clad women, undermining whatever message they are supposed to be getting across.
But the most, er, revealing memes are the ones that hint at deep sexual insecurities on the part of the meme makers and those who “like” them on Facebook. (The images that follow are mildly NSFW.)
This meme, for example, actually features the dreaded vagina dentata:
[slightly risque meme removed]
And this one attempts to shame male feminists by suggesting they enjoy being penetrated, an act that’s really only “shameful” if you have some rather fucked-up notions of what is and what isn’t appropriate male sexuality. And a certain degress of hatred and fear of female sexual agency.
[slightly risque meme removed]
AVFM meme-maker John Galt also continues to be weirdly obsessed by me.
And then there’s this lovely meme, intended as a joke at the expense of a feminist activist who’s been on AVFM’s enemies list ever since she told some AVFM dudes to shut up at a demonstration several years ago. (I’ve crossed out her face, because no one really deserves to be made into an AVFM meme.)
[slightly risque meme removed]
The joke is obviously supposed to be at her expense, suggesting that she is so unattractive that she makes penises wilt. But you don’t have to be Sigmund Freud to realize that this isn’t the real story here. This is a woman demonized by AVFM and other antifeminists because once, several years ago, she shouted down some dudes. It’s not her appearance that frightens their penises; it’s the fact that she wouldn’t put up with their bullshit.
Guys, you’re not fooling anyone, except yourselves.
Woe is me. Looks like I missed a guy yelling at us about how nice he is to us. I sure never get tired of that.
So, did my snarky summary leave out anything important? Cuz I’m pretty sure his thoughts on spreading his legs on public transit amount to — nope, not about how I sit, it’s about feminists caring about the wrong things!
Yeah, and it’s about ethics in journalism. Pull the other one, it’s got bells on it.
Unless you need a second seat for a medical device, or for your baby, you paid for one seat, you get one seat. It’s how transit that isn’t your own damned car works. If I can do it while travelling with a laptop bag, the bag of many things and a rucksack, your balls can do it.
——
Guys, I totally went to Pittsburgh the beginning of January. And it was -15° F with the windchill. Needless to say I didn’t go out much! Very, um, interesting train ride though. In epic short — delayed, broken switch, went backwards, went forwards, broke at a platform, engine worked again, broke in the middle of nowhere, got transferred to another train, three hours late (sorry, “in the middle of nowhere by a staples” as the guy behind me pointed out, and as quickly became the joke while those of us at the way back, who had had nice solo seats, made our way to the front to switch trains. Oh yeah, I did I mention we were on a curve, so they could only line up one set of doors?)
It’s amazing that a poster campaign in NYC caused manbaby tantrums all over the world. What does a guy in Wisconsin care about New York men being asked not to take up two seats on the NYC subway?
Maybe he thinks it’s as empty as public transit in Middle of Nowhere, USA? Cuz it, um, ain’t. NYC transit merely getting a seat is a luxury, don’t abuse it!
Is dudeisms gone? Aw. He was such a nice guy, patting us on the head, swearing at us, telling us how silly our concerns are, and transparently attempting to drum up clicks for his blog.
Citation needed. If you actually talked to numerous women, even if they don’t self-identify as feminists, I think you’ll find a large portion of them aren’t happy with the way women are objectified, sexualized, degraded, dismissed, and excluded in popular media. It’s pervasive, and it’s directly connected to how women are treated in real life. Pointing this out isn’t some trivial, self-indulgent exercise.
Like so many other “it’s just a shirt, calm down ladies” mansplainers, dudeisms isn’t able to think abstractly and grasp the bigger picture. I can just imagine him reviewing books and films: “Why does everyone make such a big deal out of Moby Dick? It’s just a book about some stupid white whale. And Rosebud was just a crappy old sled. Why bother making a whole movie out of it, when there are bigger problems in the world? Was Orson Welles hysterical?”
Dear Muslima…
I highly doubt it, trollicus. Go pimp your shitty blog elsewhere.
Snurk. I just skimmed a few paragraphs and was struck by the he-larious irony of a guy who yells IN ALL FUCKING CAPS, LIKE, A FUCKTON coming in here and accusing us of hysteria. It’s like none of them own a mirror, or have ever heard themselves played back on a tape recorder.
And you wanna talk “hysterical bullshit”, trollicus? Getting all yelly and arm-wavey about a little ol’ sign urging you to be courteous on public transit is hysterical bullshit.
MRAlandia…where irony goes to die.
I still don’t know why a sign asking transit riders to not take up more than one seat is such a big deal. I take the bus and there are signs reminding riders not to smoke or drink, listen to music without headphones, requesting people keep phone calls short and quiet, reminders that certain seats are prioritized for seniors and disabled people etc.
Manspreaders may only be a recent phenomenon, but they’ve always existed. Someone came up with a catchy name and women started commiserating online. Someone at MTA noticed a common customer complaint and did something about it. So what?
The fact that an appeal to basic etiquette upsets so many men so much confirms my suspicion that it’s a purposeful dominance thing and not obliviousness.
The meme with the girl wearing the strap-in is soooo telling. They’re upset that other men are doing things that they’re uncomfortable with. Remember, patriarchy is all about men telling other men what to do, so that the top guys can feel powerful, and directing the disenfranchised men’s rage at women.
Anyone who believes that feminism is about “policing men’s sexuality” should take note. Not that feminism is perfect in this regard, but I’ve never seen universal positivitism towards all consensual sex from the MRM, ever. Their arguments surrounding “shaming men’s sexuality” tend to be a very thin cover for their narrow view of what men’s sexuality should be.
RE: Duerstisms
If you’re around, I strongly disagree with male infant circumcision and think it’s an oppression of children(boys), not of men. Boys are being hurt by it, not adult men. Happy? Now can we stop “contrasting” it with FGM?
FGM still kills adult women & their children during childbirth, male circumsision never kills adult men who had it done as infants. THAT’S the difference.
mrex, THANK YOU!!!! Perfectly put in an encapsulated sentence that can’t possible be dismissed as teal dear. Totally stealing for my next FB meltdown…
I know this post is really old… but all these memes have done is made me want to buy the pants with the teeth! Seriously.