So I found the meme above on the Twitter, posted by some FeMRA I’ve never heard of but who for some reason has me blocked.
I’m stumped. A little reverse-image search shows that the pic is a still from a K-Pop video. Which … doesn’t really help me to make sense of this at all.
Any guesses?
Whoa. So, I guess this person has picked up on the fact that in feminist spheres, radfems/TERFs and “White Feminism” get called out as not good/not real feminism, and the meme is just telling MRAs not to trust that those people are therefore safe, ’cause their bad/fake feminism is really still too feminist?
Except, that implies way more awareness of internal feminist politics for me to really strongly believe that’s what’s going on here? I just don’t have another interpretation.
I… think they’re saying feminists are the next mass shooters?
Nope, beyond me. So I’ll just stick up a Russian roulette related vid:
My best guess:
“When feminists say that a particular woman with extremist views is not a true feminist, it disguises who the dangerous feminists are. You never know when a woman will pop up with an extreme view that feminists actually endorse, and since feminists control the world, those extreme views will cause harm.”
… yeah… my best is not great.
It sorta makes sense in a vague sort of way. Maybe. Kinda.
Woman: “Kill all men!”
MRAs: “Ahh, we better do something!”
Feminist: “Don’t worry, she’s not a real feminist.”
MRAs: “Phew.”
Woman: “Enslave all men!”
MRAs: “Ahh, we better do something!”
Feminist: “Not a feminist.”
MRAs: “Oh good.”
Woman: “Treat women as legitimate as men in all sectors of society, abolish gender roles, and dismantle the patriarchy!”
MRAs: “Ahh, we better do something?”
Feminist: “…”
MRAs: “…”
Feminist: “Totes a feminist.”
MRAs: “AAAHHHHHHHHH!”
I think it’s trying to turn Schrödinger’s Rapist around to be Schrödinger’s SEEKRIT FEMINAZI!!!
They saw some people arguing about white feminism and filtered it through MRA logic?
We need some more basic info to decrypt this.
Who’s meant to be doing the ‘saying’? Feminists, MRAs?
Is she holding the gun to her own head, or is that the arm/hand of another woman?
I think that kirby might be right? Like… the argument that you can’t ignore internet threats because it’s not all just trolls, some people actually do the shit they talk about?
Kirby’s explanation makes sense. Although I’m perplexed as to why they’re grouping “white feminists” together with radfems. What does that particular group have in common, other than (mostly) having X chromosomes?
If it’s supposed to be about intersectional feminists disowning non-intersectional feminists… That doesn’t work in the context of the metaphor. Unlike MRAs who handwave the worst of the worst with “No real MRA” then welcome them back the moment the heat’s off, we actually do disown them, which means they’re out of the metaphorical barrel, which means they can’t be the metaphorical bullet. Unless you’re using two guns, I suppose, but then it’s not Russian roulette anymore.
Why am I overthinking this. MRAs just suck at metaphors.
Tough call. I’ll guess it’s a stupid way of saying when you dismiss or disagree with an extremist statement/viewpoint that an MRA presents as feminist gospel, said statement/viewpoint JUST MIGHT be sourced from an actual old-timey radical feminist you’ve never heard of. And hence… damaging to you somehow.
It’s saying it’s safe for the dudebros to date Tink, but not PInk.
(Tink is not happy about this.)
Captain obvious alert! A meme should not generate this much thinking and discussion!
It should be grokked quickly and elicit a nod or chuckle or something similar.
Can we send the MRM mememakers to memeschool?
@EJ (The Other One):
The twitter account appears to belong to a black ex-feminist. Who retweets everything related to gamergate and #notyourshield. Makes sense to specifically go after “white” feminism along with “radical.”
@Kirby
Loved your post! Great examples, too!
I’ve been staring at this train wreck trying to decipher it (years of multiple foreign language study is not making a dent) for way longer than I’d like to admit, but finally I’ll just go with the simplest one I could come up with. Maybe they’re saying that if they (MRA-types) were to go around blanket-calling women who identify as feminists “not real feminists,” 1 in 6 will, ahem, take a little of the top.
But really, let me close in commenting on how god-awfully this is worded/constructed/etc. At least if you’re going to take the time and half-think up a “clever” Russian roulette meme, run that trash through like a 2nd party so the both of you can at least generate something comprehensible.
Maybe the message is “feminism makes no sense to me”?
Except that’s the starting point for all memeMRAs…
@Scarlet
Can you imagine memeMRAs in memeschool?
They would run out screaming “Femspiracyyyyy!” as soon as memeteacher states that words mean things…
@jpageusmc:
Unfortunately, I don’t think that quite works… Have you ever seen an MRA back down from calling a woman they don’t like a feminist? 😛
A sexbot developed consciousness but was owned by a PUA and thought this made sense as a first communication? Much like the AI in Hitchhiker’s thought Ford Prefect was a good human name?
@Kirby
No, that’s exactly it! But let’s say the MRAs have some ridiculous,super-stereotypical, exaggerated arch-feminist ideal. Now, most feminists don’t fit that mold of course. But then there’s that 1 in 6, that gets called “not a real feminist” and just starts an epic shitstorm (which is their fear of course).
Don’t argue with feminists and don’t underestimate them because you never know which one is a ticking time bomb killer? I don’t know.
Thought you’d like this thread – maybe you want to write a post about it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/3g0pwl/meta_cunts/
It’s the classic: “let’s not do x, y, z because it looks like we’re misogynist. Not that we think that x, y, z makes us misogynist, but other people seem to think so.”
Contradictory replies range from:
“nothing wrong with x, y, z!”
“only imposters come here and use x, y, z”
“x, y, z is the truth!”
1 reply saying that x, y, z is misogynist and shouldn’t be used in serious discourse. Maybe there’s hope for these guys?
Nah.
No, I’ve got nothing – I’ve pondered a bit and it still makes no sense! Unless they are suggesting that being a white radical feminist is the same as being dead. Which still makes no sense.
I think it’s a warning to any man who would take any woman’s pronouncement ‘I’m not feminist’ seriously. Because even if she claims to disavow feminism, she may be — and most likely is — still infected by it.
Well it makes perfect sense if you keep in mind that 99.9% of manosphere memes are pure projection. If any manosphere type does something terrible (hello, Eliot Rodger) MRA’s etcetera are quick to distance themselves. Even though the ideologies expressed are practically identical and the connection is clear to anyone with half a brain.
Who’s a fan of labeling any woman who says anything they dislike a “feminist”? And then actual feminists point out that whatever this woman said or did had absolutely nothing to do with feminism. But manospherians think feminists are just playing the same stupid game that they do of denying the obvious. They believe everybody is as disingenuous as they are.