As A Voice for Men’s latest failed fundraiser whimpered towards its sad ending last week — with less than half of its target amount raised — everyone’s favorite Men’s Rights hate site did have a little bit of good news to report: AVFM’s Paul Elam has managed to snag Paul Elam as a speaker for AVFM’s upcoming “Men’s Issues” conference and probable fiasco.
As the official conference site notes, Mr. Elam is the prestigious “founvder [sic] and publisher of A Voice for Men.”
At the conference, Elam promises, attendees will be able to
[h]ear provocative, fascinating speakers and enjoy shared meals and social festivities with the idea in mind that we can put society back on track to move forward instead of just continuing to set bridges ablaze.
Wait, they’ve been doing what to bridges? I’m just going to assume that’s a metaphor.
So who are these “provocative, fascinating speakers” that AVFM promises will be on tap? Brace yourself, as AVFM has managed to score a number of other speakers who are nearly as notable as Elam, including:
- August Løvenskiolds, A Voice for Men’s food columnist
- Tara (“Dr. T”) Palmatier, a therapist who does an online “radio” show with Paul Elam
- Tom (“Licensed Clinical Social Worker T”) Golden, a therapist who does online “radio” shows with Paul Elam
- Jonathan Taylor, a “former college instructor” and blogger at AVoiceForMaleStudents.com
- “Andy Bob,” some dude from Australia who comments on A Voice for Men a lot
The keynote speaker will be none other than Harry Crouch, president of the National Coalition for Men, an organization whose website, according to Alexa, gets roughly the same amount of traffic as Brony.com (and considerably less than this blog).
They did manage to convince Men’s Rights granddaddy Warren Farrell to stop by as well.
So what important “Men’s Issues” is this conference going to take up?
The shameful epidemic of rape in our nation’s prison system, which, given the demographics of the prison population, mostly affects men? No.
The drug war, which has led to the incarceration of millions of young men of color? Nah.
“Stop and Frisk” and other police policies that disproportionately affect young men of color? Nope!
As Elam explains on the conference web site:
On October 30 and 31, 2015 in Houston, Texas we will start corrective measures in earnest by initiating a more complete and honest dialogue; one that includes key factors that have literally been elbowed out of the way for half a century. That is male disposability and female sexual power.
Yep, that’s right, they’re cribbing both “key factors” from a Warren Farrell book written more than two decades ago. Apparently feminists have “literally been elbow[ing]” men trying to talk about these issues, with their literal elbows.
“Male disposability” is Farrell’s upside-down notion that historical restrictions on the jobs women were allowed to do, as well as on military service, were in fact a sort of female privilege.
“Female sexual power” is a slightly fancier way of talking about what Farrell once called “miniskirt power, cleavage power and flirtation power.”
That’s right: he thinks that women control men through the hypnotic powers of their boobs and butts.
Farrell is especially obsessed with women’s ass power. The e-book edition of his “The Myth of Male Power” features the word “Power” in the title being shattered by the nude posterior of a woman. During an “Ask Me Anything” appearance on Reddit, Farrell explained why he chose this image:
![DoloresCruz1982 86 points 22 hours ago (174|87) Why is a woman's butt on the cover of a book about problems faced by males in our society? permalink save report give gold reply [–]warrenfarrell [S] 2 points 20 hours ago (184|182) i assume you're referring to the profile of a woman's rear on the new ebook edition of The Myth of Male Power. first, that was my choice--i don't want to put that off on the publisher! i chose that to illustrate that the heterosexual man's attraction to the naked body of a beautiful woman takes the power out of our upper brain and transports it into our lower brain. every heterosexual male knows this. and the sooner men confront the powerlessness of being a prisoner to this instinct, we may earn less money to pay for women's drinks, dinners and diamonds, but we'll have more control over our lives, and therefor more real power. it's in women's interests for me to confront this. many heterosexual women feel imprisoned by men's inability to be attracted to women who are more beautiful internally even if their rear is not perfect.](https://manboobz.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/warrenbutt.png)
Good to know that when it comes to the deadly threat of sexy lady parts, A Voice for Men is on the case.
But that does raise a question: when members of AVFM’s Twitter squad recently Tweeted a topless photo of one of their female colleagues at AVFM to an assortment of feminists, including me, were they trying to hypnotize us?
@Paradoxical Intention
For hiring enough security against the raging feminist droves that are expected to come gunning down their doors, obviously (at least I’m pretty sure that’ll be the excuse).
I know they had “security staff” at the last conference, but I don’t think they’d cost that much. (Though, I seem to recall that they just handed out t-shirts saying “security” at one of their functions before. : / Can I get a confirmation on that from anyone, or am I just recalling things wrong?)
There was a press conference last year where they called the cops to protect them because they had “received death threats”, but the cops said to a reporter that they were just there because they were asked to be, and didn’t know anything about threats made against them.
@PI: According to Sharlet’s article in GQ, you are more or less right about them just handing out T-shirts that said “Security.”
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@Banana Jackie Cake
All men are naturally flushed with cash if they don’t buy a woman a drink every 6 months and then subsequently drink the drink that no woman wants. Therefore, they all have enough money to buy a ticket as well as an extra for a friend (assuming the friend is male. Buying a ticket for a woman automatically causes a man to become a broke, indentured servant subsisting on ramen and flame-burnt chicken)
Welp, that embed failed.
//giphy.com/embed/EVqgiH76Jur4Y
Fuck it
/walks off mumbling, cries in corner
SLY COOPER YES. 😀 Fuckin’ LOVE Sly Cooper. Really need to replay soon.
I heard they re-released the first 3. I really need to get a PS4
@Shadow
Yeah, the HD remakes. Don’t they also have Jack & Daxter and Ratchet & Clank HD remakes too? 😀
I also need to get a PS4. I decided to get an Xbox 360 instead of a PS3 a couple of years ago and I regret the shit out of it. :/ At least with a PS4 I can get all the games I missed out on PS3.
@Banana Jackie Cake and others,
Yes, according to AVFM’s online store he’s marked down tickets to the conference from $650 to $399 😛
I’m trying to think of a better use for that kind of money. I’m thinking… gold-embroidered toilet paper?
@Gaebolga:
I’ve only really seen hints in passing, but I think it’s things like getting a lower paid job to avoid paying tax that will feed the ‘feminist state’. Presumably also withdrawing from workplaces that are ‘dominated’ by women (meaning there’s a woman there).
I’ve seen references to avoiding contact with women generally to avoid being manipulated (I think that’s an MGTOW thing), which may also include avoiding such workplaces. Though honestly if you can’t control your behaviour around women they’d probably appreciate you avoiding them so everyone wins there.
@Bina:
You just haven’t met the right guy yet, that’s all!
Some day you’ll meet someone who has no self control around women and will do everything you ‘command’, and then later blame you for it. Or at least that’s what reams of MRM articles and comments tell me.
That Warrenfarrel comment adds to a theory I have that some of these people are genuine myogynists (not just screwed up, neurotic, prejudiced, extended adolescent, borderline rapist jerks), in that they want nothing whatsoever so do with females in any way at all.
But then they have this ‘traitorous’ hetereosexual sexual drive that ‘forces’ them to have to interact with them and they hate that. They already hate women and then they also self hate themselves for being so weak.
They would much prefer to be asexual or gay. I’d recommend T blockers for them, kill their testosterone and their sex drives then they can be happy with nothing there to ‘force’ them into having to spend anytime with a woman at all. Simple solution and a win-win for everyone.
You know, it speaks to how long it’s been since I posted at WHTM that I went from the cat that explained why we disabled embedding in the comments to the cat that goes “My embed failed!!! 🙁 :(”
@Banana Jackie & Coke
Are they good? I’ve been wary of HD remakes ever since Disney dropped theirs. Now I’m super afraid to try out any more HD remakes of beloved things
I regret nozzing! NOZZING!!!! :P:P For some reason I’m super prejudiced against the PS3 controller. Even though it’s not much different from the 360 controller, I’m never comfortable when I use it. I’m only planning on going for the PS4 cos I’ve heard nothing but terrible things about the X One.
If that’s the “right” guy, I shudder to think what the “wrong” one looks like. I’ve already got nightmare visions of Paulie, Sage Gerard and that Fidelbogen creep dancing the Watusi in my head…
It’s been a few days and… the Founvder typo still remains. Details people, details.
With last year’s attendance already so modest at $250 a ticket, it’ll be interesting to see this year’s turnout. How many people does Elam think are willing to shell out $400 just to hear him and his buddies ramble in person?
Another conference? Because they got such great press from the first conference.
Another conf = another chance to rake in $$$ following fake feminist death threats.
@sparky:
This time around they’ve put in a heavy-handed press moderation that forbids picture and video taking, and reserves the right to kick any press out at any time for any reason.
Putting a stranglehold on the press will ensure they are portrayed positively! And if they are portrayed negatively, they can just assert that the person is lying since they won’t have any video or photographic evidence.
Sanctioning it for girls as well does NOT fix the problem. Besides, this is stupid. Just tell the doctor not to do it. Sanctioned does not mean mandatory.
Okay, when the burden of pregnancy and childbirth fall on you, you can petition for child support, ‘kay?
Bah. Happy belated Easter, blockquote monster!
“Putting a stranglehold on the press will ensure they are portrayed positively! And if they are portrayed negatively, they can just assert that the person is lying since they won’t have any video or photographic evidence.”
Oh noes! Without video or pictures people will have to take someone at their word! And who’d trust a respected journalist over a man who spouts misogynistic hate speech online?/s
Wasn’t there a feminist conference where pictures and videos weren’t allowed because they were worried about people being doxxed and harassed, and the manosphere was all like, “But Freeze Peach! What are they hiding?” Or am I completely misremembering that?
@Spindrift: Exactly. Especially since a lot of the bullshit that they spew at these conferences is the same bullshit that they spew online, in writing, everyday, and is easily linked back to them.