I was asked to do a piece on Roosh V for the International Business Times, and so I did, arguing that his now infamous post on legalizing rape is not actually the worst or most dangerous thing about him.
Roosh, like many other gurus of so-called “pick-up artistry”, likes to pretend he’s discovered some secret codes that – like the cheat codes that make video games easier to play – allow men to charm and/or manipulate almost any woman into having sex with them.
In reality, of course, there are no cheat codes; women aren’t video games. But there is another, more old-fashioned technique that men have used since time immemorial when they want to have sex with women who aren’t interested in having sex with them. This technique is known as rape.
While Roosh indignantly insists he is no “rape advocate”, in his books and blog posts, he encourages his followers to treat a woman saying “No” as little more than a temporary obstacle to sex.
Read the rest here.
@Alan
http://static.curazy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/0384027_300x300x01a8540f4fe648b5001c4e7f.gif
http://laffgaff.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Funny-Dog-Stick-Opt.gif
http://i.imgur.com/bi8Dmnv.gif
No more gifs from me. i don’t want to start affecting load times D:
@Alan
Lol, I can see that being kinda entertaining to watch as the dog tries to puzzle it out every which way it can come up with. Much like watching my dog run full speed down the stairs with her “baby” (stuffed Eeyore which has the ears, tail, and eyes removed because she tried to eat them) in her mouth and somewhere around the two bottom steps she does this launch-roll-baby-still-in-jaws-now-used-as-padding-protection before tossing it in the air and barking like mad at it for causing her to land on her butt in the front entryway. But not a minute later she’s got it in her mouth and gone to the sofa to properly clean and inspect her “baby”.
Then there’s the one trick I’ve ever been successful in teaching her. I say “Show me your boobies” and she flops onto her back. 😛
Wonderful doggies and kitties!
Which reminds me — my kitty is doing much better. No other bleeding incidents. She lay around for a few days but one morning I got up and she accosted me to complain that her food bowl was empty, and what was I going to do about this outrage hmm?
She’s got a shorn patch around one of her front legs where they took blood and hooked up an IV, and it makes that leg look scrawny.
My boy’s pinkeye has resolved but now we’ve all got coughs and runny noses. Poo.
freemage and Mike:
Now I wanna teach my cat tricks. Not that he’d go for that.
@ scildfreja
Oh, that’s sooooooooo familiar 🙂
@ msexception
When Sas (my fur kid) was just a pup I was terrible. I used to go to some posh pet supplies shop in Hampstead and buy her ‘educational’ dog toys. I’m so grateful she still loves me after that.
@History nerd :
“Serial rapists now are about 4% of the male population (plus probably significantly less of the female population). Those guys weren’t born serial rapists.”
It’s your opinion or a solid fact ? I do agree education is responsible for a significant part of thoses 4%, but I kind of find it too optimistic to think that education is responsible for most of them.
I also am iffy for the use of “deviant arousal pattern” because it look like you use it as an euphemism for (would-be) rapist.
Heh. A friend of mine back in elementary school had a big springer spaniel named Chudleigh. (Why, yes, they were an old English family, why do you ask?) Chudleigh was a pretty smart dog. He could get over or around the fence in the back yard no matter what they did… and my friend reported seeing Chudleigh run through the front yard up to the edge of the road, stop, look both ways, and only then run across the road.
My friend’s dachshund could operate the electric windows in her car; that was a bit weird to see. Cute though.
If there’s anyone here who wants to do some detective work….
Does anybody know if this is Beezow Doo-Doo Zoppitybop-Bop-Bop’s real Facebook page? He was in the news yesterday for allegedly assaulting police officers.
https://www.facebook.com/beezow.d.zopittybopbopbop
If this really is his Facebook page, then in addition to being a criminal he’s also a MRA. In addition he has liked the page “Smash Cultural Marxism II”, which, among other things, vilifies Oliver Cromwell for allowing Jews back into England rather than banning them as previous kings had done.
Then again, maybe it’s just someone else using Zoppitybop-Bop-Bop’s name to promote his himself.
Great article, David!
I once had a cat who tried to open doorknobs. He was sure that if he could jump up to doorknob level and get sufficient hang time, he’d eventually turn the knob … and then he’d never be thwarted by a door again!
Love cannot exist in any relationship that is based on domination and coercion. Males cannot love themselves in patriarchal culture if their very self-definition relies on submission to patriarchal rules. When men embrace feminist thinking and preactice, which emphasizes the value of mutual growth and self-actualization in all relationships, their emotional well-being will be enhanced. A genuine feminist politics always brings us from bondage to freedom, from lovelessness to loving.”
― bell hooks
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/turkey-heroic-cat-saves-woman-being-raped-by-her-own-step-nephew-1542037
Turkey: ‘Heroic’ cat saves woman from being raped by her own step-nephew
By Tom Porter
February 4, 2016 18:38 GMT
So about 5% to 10% of men in a specific population have committed at least one rape and about half are serial offenders (he discusses statistics around 8:30 on).
A very low amount of serial offenders would mean that around 20%-30% of men are single offense rapists. But I think it’s more likely that one group of single offense rapists never does it again and another group becomes serial offenders. It’s totally plausible that an 18 year old guy might take Roosh’s advice and rape somebody, end up with no consequences, and then continue offending until he can’t stop. Meanwhile, Roosh’s “no means no but you can keep pressuring her until she stops saying no” gives the serial rapist a rationalization so he can think what he’s doing isn’t actually rape.
OMG. Come to comment on the ugly Roosh pic (srsly, is his jacket made of upholstery fabric? I could swear I saw that velour on a chair!), stay for all the awesome kittypups. And the fenceturtle (fencetortoise? fenceterrapin!)
Interesting how when women challenge his bullshit with even a modicum of feminist legal analysis, he immediately becomes fearful and defensive. If that doesn’t tell you that he KNOWS he’s being rapey, I don’t know what does. He knows what he does can get him in deep shit with the law. Else why be so afraid?
I think it’s mostly socialization, yes. But there might be genetic predisposition to it. Socialization is more than parenting and education.
“Deviant arousal pattern” means getting turned on by non-consensual sex or sex involving children or animals. It’s used in academic literature, so it’s a bit of a euphemism, but it doesn’t exactly mean “would-be rapist” since some people might just have fantasies they choose not to act on.
Here’s a link that does a good summary of the research about rapists
https://yesmeansyesblog.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/meet-the-predators/
Then there’s this
http://www.newsweek.com/campus-rapists-and-semantics-297463
I don’t have access to real research unfortunately, but those summaries were easily found.
Given the topic of the post, I find the optimism that serial rapists are exceedingly rare a little disconcerting. Is that just me?
First comment on Dave’s article is some dude saying that, while Roosh is obviously sexist, maybe the real issue is that we consider misogyny to be bad. Maybe misogyny is a good thing, he suggests. Thanks for your cutting insights, random woman hater.
@ viscaria
In some ways I actually prefer to use the term ‘woman hater’ rather than mysogynist (not least because I can actually spell that).
To me it says very bluntly what these people really are. Mysogynist almost sounds like a euphemism or even suggests hating women is some sort of ‘condition’ that can’t be helped.
That’s just me though. I could be wrong on this (I often am, but I like to learn)
I’d guess that both the serial and single-act rapists under-reported in the surveys. I do think assuming most rapists are single-act minimizes the problem and creates undue sympathy for perpetrators (a single-act person can always become serial). It’s a type of “boys will be boys” argument and people can use it to excuse behavior. That’s more or less the idea behind “date rape,” that huge proportions of guys do it once due to a miscommunication or stupidity and never do it again. Many people hear victimization figures and jump to that conclusion because they have a poor understanding of statistics and would rather believe something less depressing.
A huge percentage of men can participate in rape culture and not be rapists through minimizing, rape jokes, etc. Rape culture shields the rapists from accountability.
There is some evidence that genetic predisposition could play a large factor. But I believe it’s much more likely that culture has more of a role. So yes, I think Roosh and his works are responsible for making the world a worse place.
Brains are made of silly putty. Roosh and his ilk (ilk is a great word for them, I think) are certainly responsible for spreading this peculiar brand of stubborn hate.
@Alan
That’s a perspective I’d never considered before. Personally, I actually like misogynist more. I feel like it anchors the hatred of women into systemic oppression, whereas “woman hater” doesn’t invoke that same context for me. In this case, though, the guy proudly hates women and thinks that the hatred of women is the only logical, reasonable way to react to us; so the term seemed to fit. XD
A “good thing”? Not for 51% of the world’s population, it ain’t. A bad prevailing reality, is what it is. A reality in need of changing is what it is. But a “good thing”? Ptui.