When a college feminist decided, one cold night in 2014, to burn her personal copy of pseudofeminist Christina Hoff Sommers’ book The War Against Boys, the internet’s antifeminists responded as if Hitler himself had risen from the grave.
“Universities bring book-burning back, one page at a time,” declared a blogger at TheRebelMedia. After an extended comparison with the infamous book burning campaigns of the literal Nazis, he declared that “[t]he burning of Hoff Sommers’ book is a striking visual synecdoche for the malaise afflicting free expression across not only North American college campuses.” In a featured article, A Voice for Men described the burning as a “disturbing” example of “misandry in academia.”
On the Men’s Rights subreddit, meanwhile, one angry dude declared that
If you’re burning a book, you’re basically admitting to being not just a bigot, but one who doesn’t even have enough confidence in the strength of their own views to believe that they can stand up for themselves without needing to silence and censor those that oppose them.
If we set aside the fact that, unlike the Nazis, who confiscated the books they burned, a person burning their own copy of a book that is readily available to others is not actually censoring anything, he’s got a point.
So it’s interesting to see how many of the Internet’s antifeminsts and Anti-Social-Justice-Warrior-Warriors are embracing a proposal from one of their own to literally censor all academics who teach stuff they don’t like.
On Change.org, professional feminism-hater Carl Benjamin, known on YouTube as Sargon of Akkad, has started a petition demanding that “UNIVERSITIES” — presumably, every single one of them — immediately “Suspend Social Justice Courses” because he thinks that “social justice” professors are up to no good.
In vague but melodramatic language Benjamin proclaims that
Social justice has become scientifically illiterate, logically unsound, deeply bigoted and openly supremacist.
He doesn’t specify exactly what kind of supremacism he’s complaining about here; presumably not white.
Nor does he ever define exactly what courses count as “social justice courses.” There aren’t any departments of Social Justice that I’m aware of. [EDIT: Oops! Turns out there are.] Does Benjamin mean a tiny handful of, say, women’s studies courses taught by radical feminists? Or does he hope (at least in his wildest dreams) to take down the humanities and social sciences as a whole?
Social justice professors are indoctrinating young people into a pseudoscientific cult behind closed doors that is doing damage to their health, education and future.
Well, technically, I guess, virtually all college courses are taught “behind closed doors,” since the doors of lecture halls generally do get closed before class begins. Technically, I’m writing this post behind closed doors, because I don’t leave the doors of my apartment wide open. (People might wander in; the cats might wander out.) I suspect that Benjamin himself wrote up his petition behind closed doors!
Benjamin goes on to declare that
[s]ocial justice … has become another ideology fit only to pave the road to Hell, so it is time to turn around and choose another path that is concerned with reason, science and improving the lives of every human.
If only some evil Social Justice English professor has indoctrinated Benjamin in the devilish art of writing without resorting to hackneyed cliches.
But that’s pretty much all there is to Benjamin’s petition. Somehow, thought, the vagueness of Benjamin’s plan hasn’t stopped 9,878 people — so far — from signing the petition.
It is, however, possible that some of the signers are a little bit confused as to what exactly they’re signing.
Indeed, the top two most-liked comments on the petition, for example, were written by people who seem to think that Benjamin’s proposal to peremptorily censor all college courses that he thinks are excessively social-justicey is, somehow, a defense of free speech?
Benjamin has posted a video in which he explains his crusade in a little more detail. It’s possible that somewhere in it he answers the question of how exactly his plan to drive all professors he doesn’t like from all the college campuses in the world is actually a crusade for free speech.
Here’s the video in question:
Oops! Wrong video. Let me try again:
Huh. I don’t think that was it either.
No, that’s clearly not it.
Ok, ok. I found the real one here.
But it’s 40 minutes long. I sampled the first 2 seconds, and that was about all I could bring myself to watch. So I guess I’ll just have to resign myself to a life of servitude under the jackboots of the Social Justice warlords. Still, that’s a far better option than actually watching a Sargon of Akkad video all the way through.
@Scildfreja
I thought it could go either way at first but as soon as he complained about how all those other feminists kicked him out just for having a different opinion and they’re soooo meeeeean, I knew he was going to go full sealion at some point. Sure, he might have come here with good intentions, but he’s demonstrated zero desire to evaluate his own beliefs and assumptions, even when provided actual studies.
I apparently really have to play me some Borderlands sometime. Don’t know thing one about the franchise but it looks fun as heck.
@kupo, yeah :\ Doubling-down is a pretty normal reaction to confrontation, though. It can take time for new perspectives to seep in. If that will happen? I don’t know. Depends on how porous Richard is.
@Scildfreja
I would play the heck out of Borderlands if I liked that genre at all. Which reminds me, I need to play the Telltale Borderlands game. 🙂
While not a part of the main series, the first episode of Tales from the Borderlands should be free, as most of Tell Tale games are and should give you a decent look into the world at least to see if you’re interested. (I technically started the series in TftBl myself but I didn’t really get into it until I played Borderlands 2 recently.) The events in it are considered cannons which upsets for at least one reason in episode 3. TdtBl is also considered one of Tell Tale’s finest episodical games todate and should be $20 all together. (Pick up The Wolf Among Us while you’re at it.)
I haven’t played the first Borderlands but I heard it wasn’t as good as the second one (which is where Handsome Jack comes into play so I mean why would you play the first one?). BLD2 is the Mass Effect 2 of the Borderlands games, pretty much. Borderlands the Pre-Sequel is also pretty good, if only because it has DLC that introduces some of my other favorite characters, Jack the Doppelganger (aka Timothy) and the Baroness Aurelia Hammerlock, sister of Sir Alistair Hammerlock of Borderlands 2.
The Borderlands series has all sorts of cannocially LGBTQIA+ characters, include non-binary, bisexual, asexual and gay characters. There’s also Doctor Tannis, who is on the autism scale, and Ellie who is probably one of if not the best fat woman resprentation in games currently.
There are some glaring problems, however, with ablism and sizism. Some of the enemies are called Psychos and, well, yeah. They aren’t…all there. And there’s little people but they’re called “m*dgets” and they are just a variety of enemies. The word r*tarded is also used.
The games have a grey and black morality, I guess you can say. Even the good characters will often kill for money if not just in cold blood, as is the nature of Pandora due to goddamn Dahl corporation. The game, while presenting subjects in a very lighthearted way, is very, very dark. Tina Tiny and Doctor Tannis are the definative example of this, my poor, poor babies.
Also, there’s Claptrap. You either love or hate him. I like him.
Also, the fact that there’s openingly gay characters and Torgue explaining friendzoning and shit pisses assholes off so get in.
All those SJW cooties, all over their games. HAHAHA!
You won’t hear an argument from me there. The continual ignoring of PI’s very reasonable questions isn’t what I would call a good sign, either.
I don’t personally like MMOs, but Borderlands is the one that I was most interested in. I really liked Tales from the Borderlands. It’s simultaneously funny as hell and surprisingly deep and complex in its characterization. It and Back to the Future were my favorite Telltale games. Sam and Max season 3 was also pretty great.
@Katz
I’ve actually downloaded it on Steam, so it’s on the backlog already. I’ll probably play it this weekend.
Is one of the conclusions of rape culture that some men don’t even know they are rapists? That would be more understandable.
@Richard
Yes, but why can’t you just google some stuff for yourself? People are busy with their lives.
@Richard
Are you saying you’re only willing to accept the 10% statistic if some men don’t know they’re rapists? That’s really interesting. Why is that? What is it that you think sets rapists apart from non-rapists in such a way that you, someone who is likely not of sexual interest to the majority of rapists you interact with on a daily basis, would be able to easily identify them if they were aware of their actions?
Don’t know they’re rapists in what sense? It’s true that they don’t call it rape, even to themselves. But it’s still a conscious decision to take advantage of someone too drunk to consent, keep pushing past a “no” or a “stop” or intimidate or coerce someone into saying yes. So it’s not exactly an excuse and rape is not an accident or something a well meaning person can do without meaning to.
Richard, if you’re trying to trick us into implying that all piv sex is rape and a women can turn around and retroactively label consensual rape, it’s not going to work.
More understandable in what way?
The studies I linked you are about rapists who self reported. What makes the premise that some men know they had sex with someone who didn’t want to do that, but aren’t aware that that is rape, “more understandable” to you than the alternative?
The myth of the accidental rapist is part of rape culture. It’s not at all difficult to know when you have consent and when you don’t, and men use this skill every single day, in every context. Rapists feign confusion over what constitutes a “no” when they don’t want to hear a “no,” but they are perfectly capable of hearing the same “no” when it comes from one of their buddies in a non-sexual context.
https://yesmeansyesblog.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/mythcommunication-its-not-that-they-dont-understand-they-just-dont-like-the-answer/
The title of that article says it all, really. It’s not that they don’t understand, they just don’t like the answer. (And feel entitled to keep pushing anyways)
You’re right in that many rapists don’t call it rape, and don’t consider it rape – they aren’t strangers, or she wanted it actually, or she was sending mixed signals and now just regrets it, or whatever. That’s what they say.
But in the end it all boils down to not caring about consent, not caring about what the other person wants (or doesn’t want), and prioritizing their desire for sex over the other persons’ desire against it, or ambivalence, or fear.
Like Glenn in another thread recently – doesn’t care about whether he bothers, aggravates, or intimidates women in his hunt for more and more sex. They’re inconsequential (or in his case, acceptable losses); it’s just about him getting his sex.
That’s the defining feature of that 10%. Not aggressive stranger rape, not self-identifying as a rapist specifically; it’s about not caring about the desires of the other person involved, their boundaries, or their limits.
(please hop in and correct me if anyone thinks I’m in the wrong here!)
((I wonder if Glenn is going to show up in this thread too? Beetlejuice beetlejuice beetlejuice!))
There’s a difference between a person “not knowing” that they have committed rape, and “not considering” themselves a rapist. Rapists know what they did, and will cop to it. They aren’t well-meaning, ordinary people who just blunder into a situation where a rape happens and it isn’t anyone’s fault really, and there was no possible way that the rapist could have known that they were committing a violation in the moment.
Just because a rapist won’t say, “Yes, I committed a rape,” doesn’t mean they aren’t aware of what they did. If they weren’t aware of the lack of consent, they wouldn’t admit to having had sex with someone who didn’t want to have sex. Not wanting to use the word isn’t the same as not knowing that the act took place or what its nature was.
Echoing everyone else here on the consent bits.
Hence why a lot of people are pushing for better education on what consent is.
I’ve always seen “rapist” as one of those “bad” words that people avoid, in that we all know being called a “rapist” means you’re horrible, so we’d do anything to avoid being called “rapist”, and some people will outright say that they’re not a “rapist”, but not in those terms, but they’ll continue to do the thing that would get them labeled the “bad” words, and openly admit to doing the thing that would rightfully earn them that label, as long as you don’t describe it as such.
It’s like when a character does something bad in media, and someone says “you’re a [blank]!” or “That’s [blank]!” and the character responds with “I prefer the term [Same thing, but not called whatever it was called a second ago].” (i.e. “That’s stealing!” “I prefer the term ‘borrowing without permission’.”)
“That’s rape!”
“I prefer the term ‘snuggle struggle’.”
(If I never see “snuggle struggle” used as a “cute” euphemism for rape again, it’ll be too soon.)
ughhhhh cutesy terms for rape. Had some of those used on me recently, and of course he didn’t understand my offense. Still angry about it.
Here I am, in disbelief. You guys are right that I don’t like the answer, who would. It makes me uncomfortable to know that there are that many more terrible people in the world. I have a huge family, many, many friends and co-workers.
We’ve had one attempted murderer in our family, one co-worker who was convicted of manslaughter. There’s a few thieves here and there and now rapists too. It’s uncomfortable accepting that answer, trying to dissuade it with my own theories. I will definitely be rethinking myself here on out.
That’s definitely the first step.
You should, if you haven’t been doing this, read some of the other articles on WHTM. Note how the people profiled in these articles talk about women.
This isn’t just talk. Even if it were, it would be a problem, because words and attitudes are interlinked. But I want you to read what these people say, and take them at their words. When they say they’d like to beat the shit out of women? Take that literally. When JB says she’d like to skin black women and mount their heads to her car? Take that literally. It’s one of those jokes that isn’t actually a joke. JB was telling us who she is. Believe her. From first principles, assume that people are telling you the truth about themselves.
Rape is on the serious side of an entire spectrum of symptoms of a culture that does not value women. Consider: if women are not valuable, then in order to be valuable men must be something other than women. This is the heart of all kinds of male gender policing. Since women are stereotyped as caring and nurturing (a byproduct of offloading all the grunt work of child-rearing onto women), men cannot be nurturing and their ability to publicly care is tightly constrained. The normal array of human emotions is artificially gender-divided, with anger and lust assigned to men and everything else assigned to women. Men are allowed to be angry, but only allowed to be angry, and are shamed and humiliated if they exhibit any other emotion. Why aren’t boys allowed to cry? Because it would make them girly. Why is being “girly” bad? Because women aren’t valued. In failing to value women, the culture harshly constrains men as well. It is an entire range of cultural values that has, at its root, the idea that women are not valuable.
You think about this. It’s not just about rape. Rape is only one manifestation. There are many others. You should definitely care about rape, but rape isn’t easy to solve. It can be treated (like what I said above wrt not laughing at rape jokes, etc.) but the ultimate solution is to change the culture so that women are valued as highly as men.
Feminism really is as simple as thinking that women are fully human.
I would argue that it also takes being aware of how women are treated, as well. I used to think sexism and racism were in the past with the exception of a very tiny group of awful people. I did not think your average person treated women or people of color differently, and most of the people who treat those groups differently don’t realize they’re doing it, either. Intuition heavily influences the decisions that lead to things like dark-skinned kids being assumed a threat or women being passed over for a “better” candidate. But yes, you must start from the position that women are fully human.
You guys really are eloquent in a way I wish I were 🙂 Thank you for your comments.
@Richard, you react very well to all of this. That’s a really hard thing to do, and very few people do it – most just double down on whatever they believe and block out anything that contradicts. It’s so good that you don’t seem to be doing that. Keep it up!
This is the first time I’ve ever seen it happen, actually. If it is actually happening.
I have seen it before. It is often a slow process, mind you, but I have seen lightning strike before.
If you find this truth uncomfortable, honey, imagine us.
Imagine me, who, before even starting my sexual life, thought no one would ever have the guts to try to force me or intimidate me into doing sexual stuff. Who learned to be a nice and cool girl, who isnt too harsh when declining a proposal and who doesn’t mistrusts people by default.
Imagine how I felt when having my trust and niceness used against me, over and over and over again. Imagine not feeling safe to be alone in a room with a member of your own family. Nothing is sacred anymore, no bond is holy anymore, “common decency” is not “common”.
Yes, its pretty damn uncomfy, to say the least. Despairing would be a more accurate word.
Guys, it was very entertaining and educational to read this. I want to be like you when I grow up. It was GLORIOUS. Thank you.
As for you, Richard, its great to see you didn’t explode when you had privileges pointed out, or were treated a bit harshly. its great to see your mind REALLY WAS open for changing and you don’t treat us as intelectually inferior. That’s very unique and truly a painful, slow labour for someone who is really privileged. I know cause i’ve been (almost) there. Keep going down that path and it will make more sense by the day, I promise.
I’m sorry to bump this slightly old thread, but I just finished reading through it and I admit I’ve been having a very intense dilemma that I would like yalls opinion on, in the hope that it helps me. I’m sorry if this is too personal, or off topic. [cn: assault]
Is it possible that the man who assaulted me didn’t realize he assaulted me? I noticed the argument made that someone who commits rape must realize they are doing it because really, consent isn’t a difficult thing. But in the case of my assault, and perhaps in others, I really don’t think he knew. I think to him, it was fine to persist past my refusals until I just stopped refusing at all. I doubt he even realized that I was saying no, because I never actually said it. What if he absolutely thought this was okay, because he’d been taught for his whole life that this was the way to get action with a woman he was attracted to? And if this is true, should I still be angry? Do I consider it assault still? I wish he would have been punished for it but is it moral to punish someone who had no idea what they did was wrong because it had been taught this way to them forever? I don’t mean to excuse assault or those who commit it, I just want to find peace with this.
Thank you for your help
@Lagoon
I definitely think there are men who don’t realize they’ve committed sexual assault-I don’t know how many of them are out there compared to the number of willful assailants, but they exist. Whether or not to stay angry at the accidental assailant and whether or not to still consider it assault are personal decisions and I wouldn’t dare make them for anyone other than myself (knock on wood that I never have to), but my general philosophy WRT transgressions is to include intent as a mitigating factor.