UPDATE: This poster (apparently) isn’t an official AVFM poster, but they have endorsed it. See bottom of post for details.
Is the appearance of this poster at a Toronto train station an example of inadvertently terrible timing, or an act of astounding assholery?
The poster in question was spotted at Toronto Transit’s Ossington station yesterday, a day after reports of online threats against University of Toronto women hit the media. Classy, AVFM, classy!
Adding to the ick factor: As one Twitterer pointed out, the bus line that goes through the U of T campus connects to the subway at Ossington Station.
Even if the timing of this little poster campaign is purely coincidental, it’s a little hard to fathom how anyone associated with AVFM would think that the best way to recruit Toronto women to their cause would be to essentially tell them: “We have no respect for you and no understanding of feminism; we like to imagine you suffering; come join us for some epic mansplaining!”
But AVFMers seem to have perpetual troubles telling the difference between “brilliant PR move” and “shitting their pants in public.”
Twitter parody account @TTCwelps had what is probably the best response to the poster.
https://twitter.com/TTCwelps/status/642376748919746560
And here’s a reminder that not everything that starts out with the phrase “hey ladies” is automatically terrible.
UPDATE: Here’s an official statement on the poster from AVFM’s Facebook page. It’s a little … confusing, in that they’re not entirely sure if it’s one of their posters or not.
I should also add that “allowed to be expressed” does NOT mean that the idiot who gummed those posters all over Ossington Station should not be arrested for vandalism and defacement of public property, because that’s in fact what his “opinion being expressed” WAS. Ads have to be cleared with TTC personnel, and this thing was obviously meant as an advertisement of some sort. The TTC, however, did not okay it, nor were they paid to take it. Just because it’s public transit doesn’t mean they’re obligated to leave every shitty thing put there by random vandals on their walls and doors.
I assume you freeze-peachers lurking out there reading this won’t like to hear that, but it’s the truth.
Entertainingly enough, I never actually stated whether or not I agreed with the message that was posted by a Voice for Men. I simply pointed out that it was an opinion they were free to express. I also did not say that they were free to express it without criticism or consequence, but simply that they were allowed to express their opinions. For all I said, I could have been a fellow third waver acknowledging their rights to the freedom of expression.
Excellent job with the name calling and assumption making however. It affirms the critical thinking skills of the commenters who followed. And also is a testament to the fact that you can think whatever you want, so long as you agree with majority 🙂
Well, it is our right to not be the condescending idiot in this situation, yes.
@Dark Enlightenment
http://i.imgur.com/vFIEYty.jpg
(Also, seriously, you cannot pull the “What? Little ol’ me? I’m not a blindingly obvious MRA, I’m a feminist like you! Shame on you for judging me, meanie meanpants!” bit – which never works, by the way – when your username is clearly a play on “Dark enlightenment.”)
@Thinks-with-trousers
Can I take this opportunity to point out that shit smells? It’s utterly obvious, nobody has disputed it, and it doesn’t add anything to the conversation, but I thought it worth taking the time to say it anyway.
Please expand on what you understand by “third waver”.
Curse you, blockquote mammoth, I was proud of that post!
It’s a way for reactionaries to divorce modern feminism from its historical achievements. By saying “third wave feminism” as though it’s distinct from the earlier movements, they try to claim that they’re the real feminists and the true heirs of Woolstonecraft et al.
It’s debate-club bullshit, only worthy of people who cannot aspire to achieve anything greater than semantics.
OMG the troll has just pulled a “how do you do, fellow thurd wavers”!!!!
http://mrwgifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/How-Do-You-Do-Fellow-Kids-Reaction-Gif-Steve-Buscemi.gif
So, what exactly was the point of saying that anti feminists the are allowed to express themselves when nobody was saying anything different? What does it accomplish?
I’ve realized there’s almost nothing in the world that pisses me off more than this epidemic of people conflating free speech with an imagined right not to be criticized. It’s so fucking old. Why do people have such a hard time with this? It’s gotten to the point where you can’t disagree with anybody on anything online without getting the response “HEY I HAVE A RIGHT TO MY OPINION!!!”. Seriously, what the fuck is going on. Why? Why can’t anyone learn anything? raaaaahhhh
Yep, mea culpa. When you started to argue against a position that nobody here has taken ever, I assumed that you were arguing against a straw feminist in your head and that your head was not completely empty. My bad. I should never assume the best about trolls on the Internet.
Also, I never said I was a fellow third waver. I said I could have been. I am yet to identify my position on the issue.
The fact that I cannot state a simple, all-inclusive fact (As the same statement applies to feminists insulting the intelligence of a meminist group-it’s perfectly within your rights) and receive nothing back but assumption based personal attacks; says more to me about the quality of feminism/commenters in general on this side of WordPress than anything else does.
Feel free to carry your disappointment with you as you take your weaksauce, unoriginal negging somewhere more up your standards.
@ Dar Jeans
The thing is that your trolling is so unoriginal already and now you’ve ticked the
box too.
Let us know when you’re going to imply, but not explicitly state, that you’re a woman (bonus points for ‘of colour’) before puling your next ‘gotcha’.
“I’m going to assume that most of the third-wavers on here aren’t going to like it.”
“How dare you make assumptions about me! I’m going to spend every comment save my first chastising you for being so presumptive.”
Boring trolling is boring. Especially when you ignore everything substantive about peoples’ criticisms and leap directly to tone.
Trolly troll, do you even realize you’ve just confessed you assume all of us identify as “third wavers”?
But you grieve over the assumptions we make of you because you act like many other trolls who came here before you.
It’s not us making wild assumptions, is you following a well-known pattern. just because you like to pretend you’re not does not mean we have to play along.
Up your game or go mourn the strawthirdwave in your head somewhere else.
http://ecdn.funzypics.com/grumpycatmemes/pics/16/Kitty-Fighting-With-The-Evil-FINGER—Animated-GIF.gif
Dark Jeans Light Thoughts:
Is the blog linked to your username actually yours?
Sorry Dark Jeans Light Thoughts, but I’m entitled to free speech and I’m going to use this free speech to say that I think you’re an obnoxious, boring little troll.
Feel free to disagree with me (or more likely, ambiguously imply that I’m wrong/elitist), but according to your logic, criticizing my statement means that you’re trying to oppress me and that you hate FREEZE PEACH. Do you really want that on your conscience?
If there’s anything in the world that makes me roll my eyes even harder than people misunderstanding free speech, it’s people pretending to not hold the positions they obviously hold, just so they can avoid having to actually defend their position. It’s the epitome of someone thinking they’re being clever, not realizing that everybody else can easily see right through them. This was one of the worst, least original trolling attempts I’ve seen here so far. He doesn’t even understand how far he is from scoring any points.
@Trouser-thoughts
Where did you attempt do this?
Sorry to kind of necro this, but there has been a feminist sticker response to that shitty poster:
https://twitter.com/DilaraGurcu/status/644785739436294144
(It’s still not great design wise, but the message is what’s important here. uvu)
At least they used space better and had breaks where there needed to be breaks.