I don’t know how I missed this bizarre “Manist” propaganda campaign when it happened last summer. Or maybe I did but couldn’t quite believe it was for real? Well, it was. Is.
If, like me, you missed it the first time, #DontMANcriminate was the brainchild of Indian lifestyle/fashion site Maggcom, and it demonstrates that “Manists” in India can be as ridiculously histrionic and oblivious to reality as their counterparts here in the west.
The site launched the campaign on Facebook with an inadvertently hilarious mini MANifesto:
Manism. This is to remind us of the forgotten gender, who, regardless of the situation, are expected to be such gentlemen.
Men: The FORGOTTEN GENDER.
When women talk about being put on the same pedestal as men, simultaneously there is an unsaid expectation of chivalry out of them. It is time we realize that they deserve a break from being all heroic and they too suffer a different level of harassment.
I’m going to bust out crying.
Did I mention that none of the guys whose faces were used in this campaign actually agreed to appear in it?
That first poster above takes on the horrible injustice of dudes not being able to get FREE DRINKS from creepy guys with ulterior motives. This second one takes on the equally serious injustice of men sometimes feeling vaguely obligated to HOLD DOORS OPEN.
And then there is the terrible terrible oppression of women-only cars on trains and buses, which is a thing in India not so much because “hey let’s be mean to men and give women this totally random privilege h ha ha screw those dudes” but because “gosh we really can’t figure out how to stop dudes from groping and harassing women on trains and buses so I dunno maybe just put them in different cars or something?”
And then there’s all that terrible anti-male discrimination in the job market.
And that’s not even counting the terrible prejudice against hostile woman-hating MGTOWs!
But this last one?
Guys, guys! You want to wear heels? You want to wear makeup? JUST GO AHEAD AND DO IT!
Seriously. dudes. You don’t even need to wear underwear!
Actually fellas, maybe you should wear underwear after all. Not everyone can pull off assless pants quite as tastefully as the dear departed Prince.
Not that “Manism” really needs my help, but… why not “HIScriminate?”
Men can’t be blonde? I’ve seen many blonde men! Or, maybe, from the way he worded it, only stupid men can’t be blonde? So, blonde men are smart, because stupid men can’t be blonde. Or something like that?
Don’t they realize that dumb blonde jokes are actually discriminatory, not a privilege women get to enjoy?
Full disclosure: I am not blonde. I am fully capable of acting quite stupid in isolated incidents, some of which last much longer than I would like to admit. One of the most capable students I ever had was a natural blonde; she worked extremely hard, and was brilliant, and people still made dumb blonde jokes. Do blonde guys really want that burden?
I have also seen that dumb blonde stereotype applied to guys in the movie, though not quite as blatantly. They may have just “happened” to cast a blonde guy in the role of the person who was unable to comprehend the world around him and went through life with a puzzled look on their face. I think we should get rid of this trope for both men and women – (and for blonde cats, as well. They are just as clever as other colored cats).
“Ugly men don’t have make-up”
“Dumb men can’t be blonde”
Does it mean that if i’m as a woman that wears make up and is a blonde, that I’m stupid and ugly? Isn’t that kinda sexist itself?
And woman are hardly stopping you from being or doing any of those things. Johnny Depp was sexy as hell with eyeliner, David Bowie was rocking his hair and so on. More like those men would call another some insults and/or question those sexuality or manhood, alone for wearing heels or make up.
And I, as a woman, hold the door for people, carry the bags or give my seat for another, because I was raised with manners. Neither gender really has to, it’s not like it’s a law but we do it because helping someone out is a nice thing to do after all.
These men crying about being decent people again.
Short men don’t have heels? Tell that to every actor who slipped lifts in his shoes to look taller, or every actor who’s stood on a box to look the same height as his female co-star.
Heck, it was men who first started wearing heeled shoes, and women copied the style (despite the “women shouldn’t look manly” complaints slung their way).
“Wahh! We can’t grope women on buses and trains when they get to ride on their own!” Seriously just shut the fuck up.
“This is a sad fuckin’ song. We’ll be lucky if I don’t bust out cryin’.”
“Even PRODUCT discriminate.”
It’s scary that in a country which has had several widely-reported, really horrific gang rape incidents, some men blithely try to cast themselves as the victim. Wow! Speechless.
P.S. Of course, I understand that this blithe MRA-type behavior is prominent right here in the good old U.S.A.
Things would be so much easier if MRAs just stopped holding doors and stopped buying women drinks. Why are they subjecting themselves to these horrible injustices?
They think women get sympathy? For ANYTHING?
What fucking planet are they from???
We get BLAMED, you bastards!
I always grin to myself when MRAs complain about patriarchy.
Dudes. Go put on some eyeliner – be subtle about it and I bet none of your guy-friends will even notice, and you’ll look good, too. Win-win.
(Oh, wait, you don’t actually want to wear it – you just want to complain about women? Well, that makes sense too)
The busses/trains one is phrased so very well. Because women are only pairs of boobs, despite women who don’t have much or anything at all up top. Clearly, they aren’t qualified for these special trains. And since it’s about having visible breasts, then certainly both male body-builders with pecs the size of cantaloupes and heavier guys who rock the man-boobs would both be allowed aboard these supposed tits-only sections. Because that’s how they work, don’t you know.
What the hell is this? Also who thought that ‘MANscriminate’ sounded remotely plausible as a buzzword?
I suppose basic grammar is also “mancrimination”. There just isn’t enough facepalm in the world…
Did those posters really use Jude Law as an example of an oppressed man? Yeah, I’m sure it’s tough being a wealthy, handsome white cishet movie star.
To be “fair” (not that they deserve it) I assumed the “I don’t get free drinks” was about, like, “Ladies Nights” promotions at bars rather than being bought drinks by dudes. But either way, it’s a stupid fucking thing to get upset and cry “misandry” about.
I haaaaate it when someone holds the door for me. I’m an introvert with anxiety issues. I don’t want to talk to strangers. Sorry.
I will walk reeeallly slowly to let someone know NOT to hold the door for me, and when they do it anyway . . . Ugh. Not a privilege. Really.
@brian
Meh. They’re probably very angry about that too, but they’re constantly complaining about “having to” buy women drinks and pay for dinners.
an aside: It’s interesting that the same people who rail against women getting free drinks on Ladies’ Night (so as to lure women in for the benefit of men trying to hook up, let’s not forget)…
are often the same people who howl about pure unfettered capitalism being the only way to run an economy. How dare they restrict that bar owners’ right to do what he wants?
Their thoughts must come out in absolute knots with all of the inconsistencies they have to tie together.
Urgh. One of my Facebook friends legit shared the product one.
It’s actually even more awful that this originated in India where a woman was recently gang raped and killed on a bus.
Spelling pedantry: Technically, men are blond.
@Imaginary Petal
You’re probably right. It was just what came to my mind when I read the poster. And I always try to “read charitably” even when, like in these cases, I’m probably more likely to be correct by reading as uncharitably as possible.
@NicolaLuna
Really? The product one is the most idiotic and baffling of the lot of them. That anyone sees it and thinks “Hey, what a good point!” is profoundly depressing.
Is there a specific prohibition of Indian men to not dye their hair blond? [FYI, I googled, and didn’t find anything. In English, anyway.]
Or is he complaining about this article?
http://www.findhealthtips.com/top-10-hair-color-for-men-in-india/ (Which doesn’t mention blond. Oh NOES!)
I made the same assumption.
Of course, the concept behind “Ladies Night” is that women are a commodity that bars provide for men. If insufficient women are present, then men won’t show up because what they are looking for in a bar is some women to hit on. The bars put out free drinks for women the way hunters put out salt licks for deer.
It’s extra-stupid to think that a bar is committing misandry with Ladies Night. That entire setup is catering to men.
I’ll trade in my free drink if I can have equal pay and representation in media, and walk past a group of catcallers without feeling like prey.
Seriously, how blind can you be? They’re like kids sitting on top of a huge mound of elaborate Christmas presents and crying because someone else got a crayon. They don’t just want someone else to get the short end of the stick, they want the whole stick.