I‘ve said it before, but the imaginary feminists that Men’s Rights Activists spend their lives fighting bear about as much resemblance to real feminists as the imaginary Elders of Zion do to actual Jewish people.
But even by typical MRA standards, the meme above (from A Voice for Men’s Facebook page) is a doozy. It’s hard to say which of these imaginary feminists demands is the most ridiculous. That idea that feminists demand “the entitlement to rape men and young boys” or “the right to take money from men under any pretense?” Or that they want “20 men in prison for each woman who commits a crime?”
As ludicrous as these are, I think the most insidious of the bunch is the complaint that feminists want women to have “the right to intoxication with no consequences.”
No, feminists aren’t campaigning for women to be able to drive drunk with no legal repercussions. The “consequences” being referred to here are, of course, rape and other forms of sexual assault. Yep, AVFM is angry that feminists don’t think that women should face the “consequence” of rape if they go out to a bar on Saturday night. AVFM is angry that feminists want the actual rapists to face the consequences of their actions.
The March of the Straw Feminists continues with more AVFM memes from their Facebook page, below.
(Straw) Feminists want to take away funding for prostate cancer:
(Straw) Feminists like to make shit up, as this made-up example illustrates:
(Straw) Feminists demand that fire departments hire women wearing “sexy firefighter” Halloween costumes.
I … don’t even know what the hell the point of this next one is supposed to be. That it’s wrong to talk about the dangers of rape? That women can’t have successful careers and happy lives unless they have children? That … I give up.
At least this one is clear: DANGER! DANGER! (STRAW) FEMINISTS WANT TO CUT OFF YOUR FINGERS!!!!
You’d think the guy would have noticed. I mean, those finger-clipping shears are fucking gigantic.
For more, many more, straw feminists, check out the rest of the memes on AVFM’s Facebook page.
Okay, okay, Iv’e been lurking here for a few months now, but this one finally got to me. The other articles on the first meme, I’m used to the twisted logic behind them by now. However, will someone please, please explain to me number 7 and 8 on the list:
“The right to mutilate men’s genitals”
“The right to mutilate baby boy’s genitals”
. . . Wut?
I still can’t get over the level of projection contained in their claims that feminists feel entitled to rape men and boys. Seriously. So much MRA rhetoric is devoted to bashing age-of-consent laws, at least when those laws get men in trouble, and accusing women of lying about being raped because what they’re describing allegedly doesn’t count as rape. Seriously, where is the wing of the feminist movement that’s devoted to challenging men who speak up about being raped by women or who try to bring rape charges against a woman or to challenging the age-of-consent laws?
@freemage
Thank you very much for enlightening me. You are absolutely correct on how MRAs function, couldn’t have said it better myself.
@alaisvex: I think that they are so wrapped up in their own worldview that they cannot imagine anyone else would have things any different.
More on dangerous jobs…
I’m 25 in a pretty-much entry-level position of a desk job that’s less dangerous than taking a bath. Apart from one example in this list of the most dangerous jobs, I make a higher salary than the median.
A) we don’t compensate workers in dangerous fields as much as we think we do. B) It’s very doubtful that dangerous professions alone cause the gender pay gap, especially when you look at how many positions in each field their are (comparing the “per 100,000” number with total number of fatalities), and when you look up what the most common professions in the US are (only maybe a few that could include dangerous work in the top 10).
Yeah, this talking point is about seven kinds of bullshit.
I have three boys and did not want to circumcise any of them. It was the men in my family and their fathers who insisted. And the one time the conversation came up my sons all emphatically agreed that they were glad to be circumcised. At least where I live, it is very common. Personally, I kinda like men uncircumcised, and I certainly didn’t want to change my perfect babies in any way. Since when is male circumcision something that feminists want?
Those memes are literally ridiculous! Why would we want our husbands, sons, and brothers to have prostate cancer??!
I feel like half that list consists of taking a notable court case of a woman doing something illegal and getting punished for it, and pretending that feminists want to make that happen all the time with no punishment because… I dunno, it was a woman and feminists are exactly slightly more evil than you think they are.
My feminist friend Katie has shears like that, hers are purple. She collects toes though, and wears a darker dress so the fresh blood stains don’t show. She totally gets that meme with the firefighter posing, Katie works part time as a doctor and does a lot of sexy posing in the emergency room and many people rudely stare at her too. She doesn’t have a lot of return patients, so she must be doing something right.
Seriously though, I’m actually surprised that only 1 of these memes is using a sexualised image of a woman. Probably there’s more on the facebook page.
Well, I have imagined using metal snips like those to castrate trucks. Every time I see a set of truck nuts I imagine starting a collection. I refrain because it’s vandalism and theft but also because any guy who puts testicles on his truck probably needs them alot more than I do.
Other than that, those are all just make believe dangers MRAs pretend feminists represent. Awfully frightened of us, aren’t they? I bet they check under their beds every night just to make sure one of us isn’t under there reading bell hooks and listening to Beyonce’.
Personally, I don’t care if a guy is circumcised or not, as long as he’s (a) healthy, (b) clean, and (c) not using his dick in lieu of a brain.
I also don’t care for sending them off to war, as I’m a staunch pacifist. In any event, I don’t get to make the decision to send men off to war. Generals and heads of state do that. I’m neither, and neither are most women. And the few women who HAVE sent men off to war, be it noted, were NOT feminists.
And yet not a peep from AVfM about ending the “War on Drugs” which would also reduce the number of men in prison for nonviolent crimes.
@Lea
Your comment just gave me a strange thought. Wouldn’t it be weird if instead of putting testicles onto their vehicles, men starting sewing truck nuts directly onto their trousers and began walking around with plastic testicles hanging from their groin. MRAs can start doing this so they can identify each other in public, it’ll be the MRA version of gang signs.
If MRAs are for “equal rights” why do they only want women to experience “consequences” for drinking but not men? If women shouldn’t drink in order to ‘not get raped’ then according to lojick men also shouldn’t drink in order to not get into bar brawls, do something that will get them arrested, or engage in sex that may well be rape.
EQUALITY. CHECKMATE MRAS.
@Dreadnought
@Lea
My impression of rubber bollocks on a truck is that the driver is trying to proclaim “THIS VEHICLE IS MY PENIS EXTENSION.”
1902, Judge Tuthill of the Chicago Circuit Court “…a wife is justified in killing a husband who attempts to beat her…”
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/87825173
http://littlebuggerrabbit.tumblr.com/post/113201034254/when-a-wife-may-kill-her-husband
Probably that’s because Paulie used to be a drug counselor, and he probably figures that if this AVFM scam doesn’t work out anymore, it’s best to have something to fall back on.
(Can you just imagine what a nightmare it would be to have HIM as one’s court-ordered counselor? Yikes!)
@sunnysombrera
I’m just dying for the day when science invents the telescopic penis so us men can finally stop with this nonsense.
They complain about men being the ones being sent to war, but kick and scream (and laugh) at the thought of women fighting in the military.
They complain about men having the dangerous job but complain when women try for these jobs. There’s even a meme mocking women firefighters.
What the hell? It’s like their biggest crosses to bear are also their favorite badges of manlyness.
This is old, but speaking of an actual gendered response to violence by the legal system as opposed to those foolish memes, there’s this: http://lawreview.law.miami.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Real-Men-Advance-Real-Women-Retreat.pdf
Yes, Alexander is out now, but she had to plead guilty to three of aggravated assault in order to not face 60 years. 🙁
I once had the entire XVIII Airborne Corps deploy because I wanted the TV to myself over the weekend. A Top Chef marathon was on, and sending my husband to war seemed like the best way to make sure that I got to see the whole thing. I ate bonbons, demanded that the pizza delivery guy give *me* money (hey, he was a man!), and drank consequence free bourbon all weekend. When he finally got home, I had to give him a good berating because he forgot to pick up a gallon of milk along the way. Good times.
So much of prejudice consists of forcing minorities into a box, and then saying: “look at those weirdos sitting in that box”.
@Tessa “They complain about men being the ones being sent to war, but kick and scream (and laugh) at the thought of women fighting in the military.”
It’s women making their way into a traditionally male space, that’s prime freakout fuel for them.
Also, isn’t rape a big problem in the military? I figure some of them think women just want to join the armed forces to accuse innocent men of rape. I can imagine it could be similar to the “don’t drink and you won’t get raped” arguments, “don’t join the military and you won’t get raped”.
And there’s this: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/03/un-report-shows-nearly-half-of-female-murder-victims-worldwide-are-killed-by-partners-or-relatives/ , but feminism is totally about women killing men…
For more, many more, straw feminists, check out the rest of the memes on AVFM’s Facebook page.”
Ugh. No thank you…
Seconded!
“But then I checked anyway.
Ugh…”
Thanks for the critical appraisal, Tabby Lavalamp. Based on what I have seen so far, I think “Ugh….” sums it up perfectly! I am considering myself warned. I am definitely NOT going to check their facebook page!
“Oh I see what the problem is, nobody has ever bothered to tell the MRAs that the rally chanting “What do we want? Infanticide!” is not the feminist protest. Somebody should let them know so they don’t look end up looking like a bunch of twits.”
I think is it far too late for that! They already do!