Today, the first in what will be an occasional series of posts on the Twitter activity — sorry, “activism” — of Men’s Rights Activists and other misbegotten misogynistic miscreants.
Sorry about the cheap alliteration at the end of the sentence there, but I’ve spent the last few hours reading Tweets from Attila Vinczer (@Alvhun) and I guess his penchant for tacky rhetorical special effects has rubbed off on me a little.
Attila, the “Activism Director” for Men’s Rights hate site A Voice for Men, is an energetic Twitter “activist.” While not quite as hateful or vicious as his colleagues Dean Esmay or the now-banned Judgy Bitch (aka Janet Bloomfield), Attila has developed a Twitter style all his own, spewing forth minor masterpieces of overwrought incoherence that are the unintentional result of his attempts to pull off complicated literary maneuvers without a mastery of the basics. There is a kind of poetry to them.
I’ve written about Attila before; you may recall his not-altogether-successful attempts to dig up dirt on me. But I felt his Tweets deserved a more thorough examination. Enjoy!
As you read the following Tweets, keep in mind that this is not some anonymous rando spewing invective on the internet; this is the official “Activism Director” of AVFM, the most influential Men’s Rights site on the internet.
Attila is perhaps best known for “zingers” that are more befuddling than zingy:
As this last Tweet hints, Attila has a bit of an obsession with the bowels:
And a kind of horrified fascination with vaginas.
Indeed, when another Twitterer accused him of having a “littledick,” he responded with posts suggesting that her clitoris is essentially an even littler dick.
He makes the “clit = small penis” equation a little more directly in this attack on the “MICROPENIS aka CLITORIS” of a feminist whose blog routinely skewers MRAs.
Attila’s contempt for women leaks out in Tweet after Tweet. Aside from calling women “twats” or “t-wats,” he is not shy about calling them “bitches” and “whores,” a trait he shares with many of his colleagues at AVFM.
He seems to think that calling women “missy” is the sort of brilliant retort that ends arguments and wins people over to the Men’s Rights movement.
When men challenge him, he tries to belittle them as insufficiently masculine.
Attila, by contrast, sees himself as “all man,” and regularly boasts of his fighting prowess.
He must be quite a man! If you look at the dates of these Tweets you will see that he somehow managed to undergo two years of training between last September and this January. He hasn’t been able to keep up the pace, alas, and has somehow managed to lose a year of training in the last month.
He has this to say about Emma Sulkowicz, the Columbia University student who carried a mattress around campus as a way to bring attention to the school’s unwillingness to punish the fellow student she says raped her.
And he apparently thinks that Albert Einstein was a bit of an underachiever because he allowed women in his life.
For someone who shares a first name with that of an infamous barbarian leader, Attila is quick to label his opponents “savages.”
Lately, Attila has been working diligently to introduce a new catchphrase. Can you guess what it is?
This catchphrase, you may not exactly be shocked to learn, is not catching on; despite Attila’s enthusiastic promotional efforts, literally no one else on Twitter has picked it up.
Perhaps he will have better luck with these alternate spellings:
Note: I plan to do a few upcoming case studies on several other AVFM staffers who are particularly energetic Twitter “activists,” as well as a couple of well-known PUAs. Please suggest any other Twitter heroes you think I should take a look at.
@sparky:
No idea, I haven’t e-mailed him or anything. I found it by digging around on Atilla’s twitter feed; he had tweeted about JB’s blog post.
I know. She apparently posted an anonymous thing on thoughtcatalogue, which I didn’t realize at first was her. The way it started, I thought it’d be from a repentant former-rapist who realized that what he did was wrong but was trying to explain his mindset behind it. I pretty soon realized that wasn’t the case.
And yes, I did assume it was a “he” until the big reveal at the end. But whereas JB was probably expecting me, as a feminist, to launch into justifications for how what she described wasn’t as bad as if it were a man doing the same thing, my only reaction was “oh, really? Better switch the pronouns in my head. ‘She’ is despicable, what sort of ‘woman’ would write this?”
One of the worst bits was that, in the thoughtcatalogue version, she explicitly talks about how consent can sometimes get murky when in a close relationship, and talks about taking advantage of that fact. She basically describes real, actual rape, uses the word “rape,” but the takeaway is supposed to be that “rape” is being applied too broadly. And she’s supposed to be an MRA that complains about how rape of men by women isn’t taken seriously, while writing an article that literally uses the “he really liked it so it couldn’t be rape” defense. Fuck.
@ikanreed:
I’m pretty sure the folks talking to him on twitter referenced that story. One person called him “Walter Mitty,” which I found hilarious
after looking it up on wikipediabecause I totally got that reference immediately.Lea–Now I feel compelled to share some of the Game of Thrones house mottos my friend made up. Unfortunately I can’t remember all of them but here are some:
Greyjoy ‘We burst when we rise’
Stark ‘Complex braids increase fertility’
Lannister ‘Would you mind knocking first?’
See? Any random MRA who makes angry comments online can get a position as prestigious as Attila ‘The Killa’ Vinczer, an ‘Activism Director’. I’m not sure most of them wouldn’t be better for the job. Hell, any random Internet tough guy who brags about how they beat up the people who think Steven Seagal isn’t the world’s most lethal martial artist, because they have years of ‘serious training’, could lead their own human rights movement.
It’s a Cinderella story, if Cinderella was a bully who claimed she could beat up everyone from the safety of her home.
http://www.lolhome.com/img_big/funny-picture-3.jpg
Is that like all hat and no saddle?
That is some sad shit right there. She could rape and laugh about it but didn’t want to feel “slutty”. The whole thing is just…ugh.
She’s prompted me to wonder how often internalized misogyny influences women who rape and why it never occurred to me before.
I’m sure. All men get those messages. So do women. Someone once said it this way, “The same dog that bit them bit you and me.” to describe misogyny. These guys see everything as “deeply personal” though. It’s all about them, all day, every day.
According to his not-at-all-braggy comments on this board, he won a Canadian Fitness Award of Excellence back in high school. 35 years later, he’s still mad that he didn’t get a patch:
You know what? I never got my Red Cross advanced swimmer’s pin at summer camp when I was 10, and it’s never once occurred to me to contact the camp and demand they produce it. #1 because it’s obnoxious to expect people who weren’t even born back then to move heaven and earth to dig up a vintage pin from three decades ago commemorating a test for which the records, if they ever existed, have long since been lost or destroyed because NO1CURR, and #2 once you learn how to swim, you don’t need a round piece of metal to confirm that.
He elaborates further:
He sure loves to work that into conversation every chance he gets. I think “my martial arts training” could be the new “DIRECTLY ON THE BEACH”.
Had our bio-kid been a son we planned to name him Galen. We were told over and over again that people would call him gay and make fun of him if we did that. My response was:
“My name is Lea and that sounds nothing like “dyke”. That didn’t stop kids from calling me that. He’ll live.”
Meanwhile, she turned out to be not so gender specific in her love life and if anyone calls her anything I pity them the savage (get it?) ear beating they’re gonna get.
Our culture punishes anyone who dares to step outside their prescribed role.
@ kirbywarp
“One person called him “Walter Mitty,” ”
Over here in Blighty, as well as the general fantasist meaning, being a “Walt” is used specifically for people who lie about military service.
See here for instance:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Walter-Mitty-Hunters-Club-HQ/501261976579581?fref=ts
Of course being a director at AVFM is about as prestigious as being a vice president in a marketing department.
@ Katz
“as prestigious as being a vice president in a marketing department.”
Oh great, I’ve just offered a friend that role. Hope she doesn’t read this site!
She calls every man and woman a rapist.
She has no idea what consent is or that free sexual exploration requires it.
Great Googly-Moogly, that is so fucked up.
Sorry — I just mean that it always seems like everyone in marketing is a vice president 😛
Or no cattle. Yup. >chews a grass stalk<
@ Katz
” I just mean that it always seems like everyone in marketing is a vice president”
That’s right, because it’s the best job and therefore most sought after. No wonder people take pay cuts for the opportunity eh? 😉
Kirbywarp
I’m so mad and disgusted that I want to cuss and I don’t like cussing. What is wrong with this woman!? How is she still in the mens rights movement!? She straight up admitted that she was a rapist, ‘loves and respects men’ my butt!
So much martial. So arts.
Oh, oh, “demanding”, is it? He’s a petulant little thing, ain’t he.
@Lea
She really doesn’t understand consent. In the post on her blog, she mentions that she and one of her partners would have unplanned or unexpected sex by “mutual agreement,” aka, CONSENT. She may have been saying things like “I’m going to be late” at the time, but that was part of the experience for them and, most importantly, they agreed on those terms before the encounter. However, this description does not match the stories in the Thought Catalog piece.
Given JB’s history with lying, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the stories were “exaggerated.” What is described in the Thought Catalog piece is rape and if things did happen as she describes, then, yes, she is a rapist and a terrible person for violating someone else’s bodily autonomy.
Also, reading that, I’m not surprised that she spends time with the MRAs. She seems to have the same entitled mindset that they do.
Excuse me. I need to go take a shower and wash off the disgusting feeling left by that post.
“How is she still in the mens rights movement!?”
Well, we all know they don’t really care about male rape victims.
So much rage against adults spreading the idea that for sex to be fun, consent cannot be established.
Teens get so many shitty ideas about sex from ignorant and abusive adults and it screws them up and leads to horrible sexual experiences for every gender. So much of adult life is rough and it sucks to come of age and start realizing how much the adults you have been taught to trust and respect have fucked up the world for you. Discovering their sexuality should be a great part of growing up.
I’m including asexuals in that. “Hey, that’s me and how I am. Super cool!” should be how we get to feel about ourselves as we emerge into adulthood.
But middle age fucked up folks want to ruin that too. Argh.
I’m going to listen to Caustic Soda to cheer myself up.
I like the one where he makes fun of someone for having allergies. Such wit!
I’d like #Lumchmob to be a thing.
Winner, winner, chicken dinner!
I wonder if he expects women to just collapse around his feet over that. Why else stress it to death like he does? Silly little man, not everyone is into jocks. Or should be.
Don’t worry. I cuss enough for several people.
ej,
She doesn’t get it at all. I get that alot of kink has to do with exploring taboos and doing things that make you feel either shame in a safe way or sexual desire that boarders on what you have been taught is gluttony without shame. I do not get not understanding as an adult that those things happen with crystal clear consent.
This may or may not be a real Onstar call:
“But, I’ll be late”
“Do you want me to make you late?”
*enthusiastic sex*
Ta-da! Consent!
@fruitloopsie:
I hear you, besides not minding the occasional swear.
There are so many things going on here. One, I’m absolutely sure she would claim both pieces were a form of satire, and that she doesn’t actually consider what she’s done rape. She would claim that the people who call it actual rape are guilty of overusing the term, and/or don’t get satire.
But then, these are the folks who constantly bring up that one jezebel article about beating up boyfriends as if jezebel writers actually condoned domestic violence, so turning around and claiming the constant use of the word “rape” here is totally satire is pretty hollow.
And then, even if she doesn’t actually consider what she described rape, that means nothing because the whole point is that MRAs don’t understand what “rape” means. The fact that she believes she’s demonstrating how overused the term is just highlights her ignorance.
Everything about it is gross. Really, really gross.
“Don’t worry. I cuss enough for several people.”
You can cuss for me too, Lea! I’m not much of a cusser myself.
Hell, even if the actual details of her real life made her not a rapist, her mentality towards sex does. Only thinking of yourself, being overly aggressive with getting sex and damn what the other person thinks or feels? How does she not see the inherent problems with this? How does this strike her as a healthy attitude, let alone the only way to be sexual?