It’s Memeday again!
Anyone who’s seen a lot of antifeminist memes online has surely noticed them: the angry women yelling at men through bullhorns.
Constructed, for the most part, from pilfered stock images accompanied by vaguely histrionic text, these women are supposed to represent the evil feminists of the world with their abusive behavior and their impossible demands.
Naturally, these women bear only the loosest resemblance to any real feminists any of us have ever met.
Here are a few of these bullhorn-wielding women I’ve run across recently.
Ok, now, that’s just a terrible idea for a chant. Seriously, go for something a little more classic, like “Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Patriarchy Has to Go,” or “Men’s Rights Reddit, You Can’t Hide. We Charge You With Gendercide.” I just made those up on the spot here; you could probably come up with something better if you worked at it.
Remember: Rhyming is good!
Ok, that doesn’t rhyme either. And I’m having a little trouble understanding exactly what is so terribly outrageous about it.
Fellas, if you feel there is something wrong in the world that no one else is addressing, and you sincerely want to do something about it, here’s a suggestion: get together with some other people who feel the same way and, well, do something about it. That’s literally what every other activist in the world does. Don’t get mad at feminists for not doing your work for you.
I don’t think this one was a meme, per se; I think it was used to illustrate a post on A Voice for Men at some point, (though my Google-fu failed me when I tried to track it down).
Ironically, one of AVFMs favored forms of internet activism is to send its flying monkey squad to pester and harass its enemies on Twitter and to fill up the comment sections of articles they don’t like with invective and accusations and abuse. That’s pretty much the internet equivalent of shouting someone down with a megaphone.
Some women — like this extremely angry straw feminist — apparently don’t need a bullhorn in order to yell louder than one of those cars that go boom.
The angry-woman-with-a-bullhorn trope has proven irresistable to the angry woman-haters of Gamergate as well. The cartoon below serves it up with a side order of anti-Semitism, incorporating a version of that Anita-Sarkeesian-as-the-Happy-Merchant caricature so popular with Gamergaters.
Again, this is a terrible chant. “Privilege, Privilege, Misogyny” not only doesn’t rhyme; it doesn’t make any sense.
Also, why is the giant Sarkeesian monster carrying a wad of cash in her fist? With all that money, she can’t afford a purse?
Meme harder, dudes.
EDIT: It’s been pointed out (thanks, Tessa!) that this isn’t a real Ben Garrison cartoon. The original featured Hillary Clinton; some Sarkeesian-hater pasted that anti-Semitic caricature over Hillary’s head, changed a lot of the wording, etc. Garrison’s cartoons are regularly modified like this, for the lulz, but his cartoons are generally pretty awful/ridiculous to begin with.
Oh, and on a somewhat unrelated note: While poking around looking for bullhorn-wielding women online I ran across … well, this thing. For some unknown reason, someone has taken a bizarre animated gif and turned it into a strange tribute to the “eternal friendship” of Portugal and Brazil by adding captions and the relevant flags.
If anyone can explain the logic here, please let me know. I’m pretty sure there’s no place in either country (or any country) that looks like this. At least in this reality.
Also, I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to put flags in the ocean. Or whatever that is.
Given menzers’ obsession with their own wingwongs, I wouldn’t be surprised to see that leak in there somewhere.
The picture without the megaphone reminds me of the Aphex Twin “Come to Daddy” video. Appropriate, as that involves an overgrown baby-like figure screaming at a woman for ages while saying nothing.
[Not linking to the video. It might embed, and you don’t want that.]
Wait, holding doors open for women is considered misandry now? um, I hate to break it to you MRAs but If you go to every public place ever you’ll see people of BOTH genders open doors for each other. I mean geez why don’t they just come out and say “common decency is misandry!” at this point.
Mr. Futrelle, I just want to thank you for continuing to expose online misogyny (with humor, which makes the experience of reading this stuff a little less vile), despite the effort it involves and the almost certain risk you take in doing so. You make the whole internet seem a bit more sane.
Why is Anita Sarkesian stepping on Tinky Winky?
I don’t think that Anita Sarkeesian cartoon is an actual Ben Garrison cartoon. I was curious about the artist and looked him up and it seems 4chan trolls and co. have been photoshopping his real cartoons and replacing them with racist/anti-semitic/etc ones for years now.
https://thenib.com/the-internet-s-most-trolled-cartoonist-91a92d9b7585#.rj1vnixyz
@Hugbees
I think the reason they don’t say “common decency is misandry” is because, for them, that’s just a given.
Or possibly because they don’t believe it exists.
Either one of these works.
@blanktie
Aw jeez, that poor guy. Shit like that is a big reason why I don’t put my art out in public any more.
I’m curious about the skull-cloud coming out of… Michigan? Are they blaming Anita Sarkeesian for Detroit?
Just one more piece of evidence that gamergate is no more about ethics than the MRM is about human rights.
This is also hypocrisy because they argue that it’s wrong to criticize video games because the developers are entitled to their artistic vision. Never mind that art criticism has always existed and the arts have survived just fine. Never mind that they have no problem stealing and corrupting an artist’s work to make shitty memes.
Sarcastic remark ahead:
Well, I must say men shouldn’t be expected to start their own charities. Feminists should do it. And while we’re at it, those who want more research into lung cancer should be all upset that the brain cancer research people aren’t doing a thing to form charities for lung cancer. I think I’m also going to get all over the Down’s Syndrome people for not starting charities for Fragile X Syndrome. Who do all these charity people think they are; not setting up charities for other people’s causes?
Did any one else read the comments on that Ben Garrison story? I sort wish I hadn’t
The second one is ridiculous. “Feminism is about equality” and “Men start their own charities” do not contradict each other at all. Women have worked their butts of helping women in need for centuries, often with a lot of opposition from men. Men are able to do the same. Also, since it is still very much a mans world, they would be able to do that without a huge backlash from the opposite sex. There should be a meme that says. “The MRM is about equality! Women and feminists should create charities for men and do all our work for us!”
Do MRAs think that by putting their strawman arguments in meme form it gives them any legitimacy?
Oh and the whining over AVFM guest writer Robert Stacy McCain continues. Here’s a write-up on why he’s terrible, as if anyone needed that.
As horrible as Garrison is, no that wasn’t one of his. The real one is of Clinton.
http://www.grrrgra phics.com/images/hillary_clinton_ben_garrison.jpg
(I broke the link because I didn’t want to display the picture)
On topic, can somebody pleeeeeease explain the zero responsibility bit? They say this all the time. What responsibilities do we not want?
I wonder if these horrible things are desensitizing me. The one I’m bothered most by now is the first one. Isn’t ‘sexist’ an adjective, and not a noun? Wouldn’t it be correct to say ‘you’re a sexist bastard’, or whatever?
AS trampling over (among others) Twitter does get me, though, as that is one of the channels that she hardly moderates her comments on. Look at (or react to) any FemFreq tweets and you’re inundated with awful, awful people. I’ve had a civil if childish discussion once with one who said something about shekels in response to a post of hers, and I asked him why he was bullying her.
He said it was fun for him, and that he wasn’t mad at her, and that I shouldn’t be such a partypooper for questioning his hate-following and responding to her every post. Huh.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Really, they brag about the independence of letting the country be governed by the son of the King of Portugal instead of the King himself? Wooowww such freedom, guise, thank you!
This is hilarious. It’s even more funny when you consider how Xenophobic they are with Brazilians. One would think that if they love us so much that they spontaneously freed us they would treat us a tiny bit better, but nah (please don’t take this as a personal attack, I mean Portugal in general, not you, individually).
Kind of reminds me of how princess Isabel is often portrayed as a hero in pop culture / history books for “freeing” the slaves in Brazil. It’s sad and hilarious.
I’d bet money this is about registering for the draft.
Though I wouldn’t be surprised if it also refers to women expecting not to be raped, even if attending parties and drinking with men present, or not to be beaten up, even if they start an altercation with a man.
When anti-feminists speak of women taking responsibility they mean responsibility for men’s behavior.
OT: Avaaz petition to help end honor killings
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/pakistan_end_honour_killing_loc_rb/?bCGwufb&v=73364&cl=9559071744
@Tessa
What sevenofmine said.
Specifically, they often mean that women should take responsibility for being raped by men. I.e. they should accept the consequences of being drunk, wearing certain clothes, going certain places, being near certain people, etc.
sevenofmine and Imaginary Petal
Thanks. That’s kinda what I thought it was, too. Once again they out-misander us members of of the great misandry movement. The consequence women must face for equality is men… Funny, that’s also the consequence of inequality.
Sorry, I meant ‘should start their own charities’. I only noticed it now.
@blanktie — however, that particular artist is the one who made the comic sucking up to Milo. It most certainly is in his portfolio.
Newt, i will eat your soul.
I had been wondering why Anita Sarkeesian was wearing a pantsuit.