In his must-read GQ story on A Voice for Men’s conference last summer, Jeff Sharlet detailed an unsettling encounter between his friend Blair and AVFM’s “collegiate activism director” Sage Gerard, who, Blair told Sharlet, crudely propositioned her and gave her “the most unconsensual hug I have ever known.” (I wrote about it here.)
Now Gerard has offered a rebuttal of sorts to Sharlet’s article and, well, it’s nearly as creepy as the incident itself. Gerard admits that he was indeed flirting with her and that, yes, “[m]y talking to her included a reassuring knee pat and a hug.”
He also claims that Blair was literally hired by GQ in order to flirt with men at the conference and lure one or more of them into raping her.
Gerard starts off by declaring, with no evidence whatsoever, that Blair was a “plant hired specifically to flirt with men and get GQ a story.”
Then his accusations get even uglier:
Blair’s job was to get raped.
Jeff [Sharlet] wanted that to happen, not MHRAs [Men’s Human Rights Activists]. Blair would play Seven Minutes in Heaven if it got Jeff a rape story. She was there to confirm a presumption that MHRAs, MGTOWs or other red-pill folk are incapable of self-control and are ready to rape at a moment’s notice.
Happily for Gerard, he writes, he was able to see through this subterfuge in time, I guess, to keep from raping her.
Unfortunately for Jeff, I have an ability to detect manipulation, and I do not think with my dick. He calibrated his bear trap to clamp shut on a hug-trigger, which meant he could try to make me look like a pervert even with totally appropriate physical contact. Since he was obviously desperate to catch prey, his trap misfired and merely ripped my jeans without biting me to a standstill. Having narrowly evaded pseudo-journalistic “capture,” I can easily show you that Blair was, indeed, a trap.
He then proceeds to “show us” absolutely nothing that backs up this accusation. After briefly describing his conversation with Blair, which (aside from the “reassuring knee pat” and unconsensual hug) dealt with a friend of Blair’s who claims he’s been falsely accused of rape, he wrote.
I never intend to sleep with strangers, but Jeff framed this interaction as me using Blair’s pain as an excuse to eat her out.
I have no idea where that last bit came from either.
He follows this with a bunch of rape jokes I won’t bother to quote.
I’m not quite sure how Gerard expects that writing this creepy-as-hell post will somehow make him seem like less of a creep.
http://zenmen.org/rape-culture-flyer-sparks-outrage/
Zen Men is the student group at KSU that’s affiliated with AVFM. Sage Gerard is heavily involved.
I’m a student at Kennesaw State, and I can honestly say that we aren’t doing nearly enough to deal with this asshole. I’m probably dealing with him more than I should.
I spoke with Sage personally (interviewed him for a research paper) and he was just plain spooky. He asked me and my friends for our full names, email addresses, and student ID numbers.
I went to his debate with “feminist” Brian Clyne and asked him a question. I’m the meek girl towards the end that Sage can barely hear.
I was at the conference, and it was a mix of both boring and frightening (you don’t know terror until you’ve faced down Dan Perrins’ crusty beard).
I’ll probably go to the “rape culture don’t real” event. I don’t know why.
I’m so so so glad people are starting to realize what a massive creep he is. I only wish they’d figured it out before he started terrorizing the faculty.
I went over to Gerard’s site, and he’s complaining bitterly that Sharlet didn’t ‘choose a better picture.’ (Despite the fact that the GQ picture was actually one of the more flattering ones he displays.) Evidently appearances matter to him. So, in the name of charity and helping one’s fellow man:
Dude. DUDE.
1. Get a haircut. When your hair’s receded that far it’s time for the mop crop.
2. Gold glasses do not work for your skin tone. Try bronze or tortoiseshell.
3. Those glasses wouldn’t work on anyone. The thick legs combined with narrow eyepieces and sharp corners look weird. Save up some money, go buy a new pair, and ask the staff in the shop which ones work for you.
4. Shave properly.
5. You need a smaller neck on your shirt, and probably a smaller size. That one makes you look like you’ve got no shoulders at all. And for fuck’s sake straighten it out before you take a picture.
6. That shade of blue makes you look washed out. Earth tones, dude.
I mean, I could go for ‘Be a decent human being’, but since you clearly think it’s the photographs that make you ‘look like a huggy rapist’, let’s see a little self-help here.
Seems like it might interest you:
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/mar/01/indias-daughter-documentary-rape-delhi-women-indian-men-attitudes
Ice and Indigo,
Bless you for your generosity, but I don’t think that turd is polishable. 😉
Lea – thing is, there’s nothing particularly wrong with his features. With a bit of inner beauty and some basic effort, he’d be fine. He’s just got a serious case of Premature Face You Deserve.
I’m gonna second the reference to Hard Candy. It’s a good movie, though difficult to watch at times (seriously, all the trigger warnings on this thing).
And yes, this is seriously the most inept defense I’ve seen presented by the MRM yet. I’m starting to wonder if all those bad things my journalism profs used to say about PR folks are bunk, because apparently, there’s no competent PR person willing to be hired by these outfits to help them sculpt their image. An entire industry dedicated to faking sincerity, and they won’t have anything to do with these asshats.
Well yeah; PR companies tend to employ women. When you paw every woman who comes into your enclave, you’d have to have waaay more money than these guys to sell that commission.
Ice and Indigo, I’m not super comfortable with the direction your post is going. We call out sexists all the time for their habit of critiquing a woman’s clothes rather than her speech; I’m not sure poking at our adversaries’ fashion puts us in the best light. I understand that there are times it’s legitimately relevant, and there are two potential reasons in play here. Fir. st, looking at his presentation does contribute to a look at the efficacy and seriousness of the MRM as a whole. If you just want to point out that they’re not ready for prime-time, and that they spend more time hating on people than building themselves up, then sure. Second, it does undercut some of their claims about sexual oppression and about dating being rigged. If someone is complaining that sinister social forces are ruining their love life, it’s valid to point out that there are factors under their control they might work on. Even so, those aren’t the central issues in this thread. I’m not even sure where David got that photo, since it’s not in the linked AVFM post, so I’m not sure to what extent Gerard intended that photo to represent the MRM.
When I look at the photo, I’m honestly not sold on the substance of your critique either. As far as I can tell, the basic problems with the photo are that the lighting is fucked and his mouth is open but not smiling. Beyond that, it’s very difficult to say. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with pale redheads wearing blue clothes. I’ll agree that the shirt looks a little off in this photo, but honestly it could just be a problem with the light. I’m pretty sure his glasses’ sidepieces are already bronze or tortoiseshell, and the gold frames don’t bother me at all. The shape is not good, but it’s unfortunately the current style in men’s glasses. I can tell you from experience that asking the people in the shop for help will not protect you. I had to spend a great deal of time looking for something less blocky that wasn’t horrible for some other reason, and in the end I bought women’s frames. I don’t see 5-o-clock shadow on a young man as something worthy of scorn. Yes, the shirt is too big and he could do something with his hair, but if someone took a decent picture, I bet he would look totally normal for a college kid.
Actually, I don’t have to bet, because if you click through to his post and look at the photos of himself he would prefer to use, they’re much more innocuous. It’s amusing to illustrate posts with photos of opponents looking their worst, and with folks like Elam it’s even a worthwhile reminder of how out-there they are, but let’s not pretend the shots we choose for mockery reflect the person as they really are.
@proxieme
That’s a good Guardian article and I’m glad someone isn’t letting the outrage from the Delhi bus gang-rape atrocity die. What I’m not glad about, is the people in the comments trying to argue that India doesn’t have a rape problem and according to stats other countries are worse so jeez guys, leave India alone huh? No fair!
This keeps happening no matter how many people tell them that the reason reported rape stats are lower than other countries is because women are routinely blamed or even attacked for being raped. They respond with “well homicide and other forms of violence are at low levels so that means rape is too! Neener neener!”
Head, meet brick wall.
Orion – well, I can see your point, though I disagree with your defence of his fashion choices. You’ll notice I was a bit careful where I drew the line: I said nothing bad about his features or figure, just his grooming and clothes, which is less personal. I reckon that if you paw a woman and then complain that it’s the GQ photo that made you look bad then you’ve put the subject on the table, and considering how shitty they are about women’s appearance I have little sympathy if they get a bit of their own medicine, but if you don’t like it I won’t carry on.
I find it very informative that AVFM says GQ accused Sage of “Hug Rape” when the article says nothing of the sort. I guess we finally know where all the “false rape claims” the manosphere keeps talking about originate – from themselves.
I don’t think his face is the unpolishable part. Send him to a stylist and wrap him in Armani and he’ll still be a turd.
From Proxieme’s link:
“It’s the woman’s fault for allowing it to happen! She should have stopped fighting and let it happen!”
ಠ_ಠ
@Lea:
You totally can polish a turd, though the technique is usually done with mud. It’s just that the style doesn’t negate the substance.
Oops, accidentally cut a quotation mark off the quote. Oh well.
I don’t think critiquing a man’s appearance is entirely comparable to critiquing a woman’s. There is not a culture surrounding men that tells them that their only value is in their looks. Style is chosen. It isn’t innate. Further, he is not being told that he is wrong because of his look. I think those things make a difference, but I might need to reconsider.
Wasn’t there an episode of Myth Busters where they literally polished turds and measured their reflective index, or something?
*to the google machine*
@fromafar2013:
There was indeed! That’s how I heard of it. There’s a description of the episode on the wikipedia article I linked to.
Yeah, I think the difference is that MRAs say “You’re wrong because you’re ugly,” while people here are saying “He’s ugly because he’s wrong.”
I think they polished a giraffe turd.
Yep. They even learned the dorodungo technique from your link!
http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/videos/polishing-a-turd-minimyth/
/off topic
Duh! I should have just scrolled to the bottom. LOL
*snrk* Surely you mean dorodango? 😛
Hahahahaha… omg. I didn’t even do that on purpose. Or did I? 😛