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.
“Because he is a loser”
I can’t tell these are real. They have to be jokes. They have to be.
Are ladies nights even that common? I don’t think I’ve ever been to one. One time my friends and I got into a club in Las Vegas for free because we were women while men and mixed men and women groups had to pay cover. I think that was the one and only time that I got something free because of my gender. I still had to pay for drinks once I was inside though.
Men aren’t the ‘forgotten gender’, it’s the gender that just forgot that an interest in one’s personal looks, cosmetics, dressing up, fashion, was a perfectly acceptable expression of masculinity.
You know, if only there was some group, trying to remove outdated societal gender roles, from being placed on people who may not want or need them.
But since I can’t think of any such group, I guess I’ll just have to stop talking.
There are quite a few ammusingly self-defeating ideas here.
1. “waaaah, I’m so jealous and resentful of the unwanted attention women get”
It takes a metric shit-ton of male privilege and cluelessness to see the shit women have to deal with on a daily basis and think ‘I wish that would happen to me’.
2. Nothing amuses me more than the ‘Be warned! If you keep doing this feminism stuff, I will stop opening doors for you!’
‘hey women, if you keep acting so feministy, I might be forced to treat you like regular human beings’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0dOtzZcm0I
3. “we don’t discriminate against a pair of boobs”
Right, because nothing says ‘we don’t discriminate against women’ like calling women ‘a pair of boobs’.
4. Yeah, this one I completely agree with. When a man loses his job it’s more than likely because he was terrible at it, but when a women loses her job, it’s far too often because of sexism.
5. Ah, high heels. The irony of it being held as the ‘ultimate feminine attire’ even though it was originally made by dudes for dudes is never lost on me. It also makes the complaint about how men ‘can’t wear high heels’ hilariously self-defeating.
I wonder how many of these sexist douchecannoes would be a lot happier with their lives if they weren’t trying so hard to adhere to toxic masculinity and suppress any ‘feminine-coded’ interest they have.
Oh, that reminds me: Men are not the ‘forgotten gender’–we’re the default gender. The reason there are so many things labeled as being ‘for’ women is that the base assumption of society is that a generic product is meant for men.
I super agree, but I also have a feeling that most dudes that complain about how makeup gives woman an “easy out” in the looks department have zero idea how much practice and skill it requires, and would probably get frustrated and give up after a minute of stabbing themselves in the eye with an eyeliner pencil. Like, I’ve been trying out subtle eye makeup over the last year or so and I’m still pretty garbage at it. I wouldn’t even bother if there weren’t some occasions where I am determined to look 200% stunning. My partner can apply eyeliner and mascara without a mirror and I’m convinced she’s magic.
Products discriminate.
No, advertisers and the people working for corporations whose job include setting the price of items discriminate and produce ads with sexist, narrowly defined standards of beauty for public consumption. Guess which gender is overwhelmingly represented in those jobs/areas?
Seeing as I can buy a button down shirt in the men’s dept (boyfriend button down shirt) made by Levis for $48 and go into the ladies dept where the substantially similar enough to be the same shirt also made by Levis (also called the boyfriend button down shirt) is priced at $70; must buy box upon box of tampons til menopause which is an expense men do not have but hey who cares they make more money than I do. They deserve getting to spend theirs on whatever since they have a lot more left once they buy their clothes, razors and never the added expense that results with a vagina that hasn’t reached menopause.
No problem! I’ll get right on that fighting to end all the oppression men face because of women. Right after I teach the dog to ride a unicycle balancing on the back of a tank that fires improvised missiles full of glitter.
“mancrimination” may get credit for being the dumbest sounding MRA hashtag and that in itself is an impressive feat.
Also the door thing again? Its basic politeness to hold open a door for anyone not just women.
I should note that I have worn make up and not gotten any shit over it (any shit I would have gotten would have been because of the Patriarchy by the by.) I also know some dumb men who happen to be Blond.
@Msexceptiontotherule
Also from what I’ve seen, women’s clothing (and women-targeted products in general) are largely of a worse quality than men’s; they require much more frequent replacing. Especially for things like shoes/boots.
1.Only place where I’ve gotten free drinks was in China. And the men got free drinks too, sooo it’s not like women were the only lucky ones. In my country I’ve always paid for drinks. Sure, on Ladies Night the club entry may be free for women or the drink could be slightly cheaper, but I always felt the whole thing was made so it would benefit men. But okay, let’s say the post does have a point here.
But if they mean ”men will buy you drinks”, I’d like to see them try and tell a big gay dude ”no, thank you” and how they’d react when that guy doesn’t leave and gets more upset and pushy after every ”no”. It’s real fun, what woman doesn’t want to wonder whether this guy will snap or not!
2. I’ve always seen holding the door for others as a matter of courtesy, not gender. If some guy is walking up behind me, I won’t slam the door in his face. Same with the bags and the seat part of the poster.
3. Do they really think that the stupid blonde meme is something women love? Hell, you don’t even have to be blonde, if a person wants to insult you, they just say ”I’m guessing your natural color is blonde” or ”you’re blonde at heart”.
When I see “mancriminate,” my brain tries to correct it to “incriminate.” So uh, good job there, bros, I guess.
Poor fellas. I’m gonna cry ’em a river as long and wide and deep as the Ganges right after I’m done splitting my sides over how out and proud they are of their ridiculousness. Which is to say, never.
And as a perpetual student, majoring in Graphic Design, I have to say that font they’re using for a logo makes my brain hurt.
As a 40-year old guy who is often up with his daughter in the night, and therefore often super-tired on my commute in, I do get miffed when people on the bus walk past seated teenage girls to ask me for my seat. I do not, however, view this as a sort of misandrist conspiracy, nor do I feel discriminated against. I have yet to put up a poster. It’s just, like, c’mon: ask the young people.
Is that Johnny Depp over there? What? Why?
First thought, at the last one: tell that to Tom Cruise!
I wonder how Johnny Depp and Jude Law’s PR firms would feel about their images being used without permission for a campaign like this?
Given that India is a country where female fetuses are routinely aborted purely for being female, it’s kind of staggering that these whiny fools can’t see that they are the privileged gender.
@AW, see when I was pregnant I never had the nerve to ask anyone for their seat, figuring sod’s law I’d ask the one person on the train with some non-obvious disability. Downside to that was standing on a moving vehicle while pregnant.
If they walk past teenagers it’s probably because they can’t make eye contact with them on account of the smart phones.
– I am not “a pair of boobs” and not all women even have a stereotypical “female” chest.
– Most Men in the city dont give up their seats for women, they really dont, not even pregnant women, In my city only black men do stuff like that, and really only for the elderly. The only white ppl Ive seen give up a seat are women for older women or little kids. Everyone is supposed to give up their seats for the disabled but in white areas sometimes the driver has to say something, whereas a black man will instantly, unprompted get up AND put the seat up for the person in a wheelchair. Put that in your pocket next time someone talks shit about black folks, they have way fuckin better manners in my experience. “ghetto” is used to meam rude but people in the ghetto are way more considerate of those in need bc theyre not entitled & privileged like #notall white ppl.
– Id guess 99% of the women who get fired due to sexism dont talk about it that way. I spoke recently on this thread about sexual harassment at work – outside of close family and maybe friends, none of those people went even mildly public about harassment. Pretty sure I recall seeing data that backs that up too. Most women Ive spoken with who got fired cited normal reasons like being late quite honestly.
– Do these guys think all female behavior is based on dating? Try interacting with women as people you arent trying to fuck. My guy friends dont pull out my damn chair or whatever.
– I have had so many guys get violently angry when I hold a door for them, offer to pay (mind you I dont even date men, just offering w a friend or fam), refuse politely go go first or have the door held, refuse a drink bc I dont wanna lead them on and rarely drink anyway. & how many men buy drinks with rapey or actually just rape as intent? Too many. Not a privilege. Next.
– “Ugly” is an imaginary, subjective term. Men invented heels for men and have can and do wear them (hello, Hamilton duh!). MEN, sexist patriarchal men, are the ones who mock and beat up and kill gender bending men, feminist women certainly do not do so (well unless you count TERFs, which I dont).
– blaming “stupidity” (which many feminists oppose labeling people as such bc ableism) on being blonde is anti-woman sexism.
– as David said, women only spaces and lines are so men dont fuckin grope us, like you all do goddamn constantly. Ive never seen a female guard feeling up men, and I doubt youd let a gay man or trans person do it either so stfu.
– “free entry” to bars and no where else afaik is so men will think they can get women drunk and have sex with them, often implying regardless of consent. The low cost is both because women get paid nothing or less, esp bsck in the day / still in some places when yall wouldnt even allow us to work for the most part, and because we need some incentive to put ourselves into a sketchy potentially dangerous situation where men are trying to get us drunk and take us home. Free means we can at least bring a posse to increase safety.
– Stop raping women if youre so worried about the measures we take to protect ourselves.
– Women generally encourage men to emote and do show sympathy to men, we are expected to, we are pressured to give up our own safety and feelings to make you feel respected. MEN beat on men for having feels, so talk to your bros.
If you can’t stop whining about someone who isn’t you getting a free drink, you are probably an alcoholic.
In the late 1700’s men were expected to be clean shaven and wear makeup (and sometimes wear high heels and colorful suits). In various cultures women thought men were hot if they looked “pretty” in the sense of traditionally feminine beauty standards. At other times a very “masculine” look was hot.
Hang on, lemme just check, and… yep, Indian government is 88% male.
You know what they say about Google, Facebook, etc… If it’s free, it’s because you’re the product. That’s how it goes with free drinks and free entry in bars.
As for holding the door, etc… Personally, I literally wouldn’t notice if a man did or didn’t. If there’s someone behind me, I usually pass them the door. If there’s someone who has one hand on a pushchair and another gripping a bunch of shopping bags, I’ll hold it for them, regardless of my gender of theirs.
If you want heels, makeup or blonde hair, I’ll defend your right to go forth unharrassed. If you want a skimpy dress, I’ll buy it for you.
@snork maiden: True story, I once offered my seat to an obviously pregnant woman who tore a strip off me because I clearly thought pregnancy was a disability. I told some of my friends who’d given birth about that, and I think they were almost ready to hunt that woman down for the sake of all future mums-to-be.
Being that I was goth in the late ’80s and through the ’00s, all the guys I knew (know) as friends wore make-up. Some in high heels, some in skirts. No big deal (in San Francisco).
I currently live in Russia (have for over six years) and when I ride public transport, young men will stand for me but so will young women. There’s sort of a “tyotya, babushka” respect here I haven’t actually earned but it’s normal. It’s not a big deal, and I refuse more than half the time because I’m able-bodied (with full grey hair–also, it’s kind of like, how old do you think I am? Oh yeah, I am fairly old. Xa-xa-xa!). I, in turn, stand for very old people, people with children, and people who seem to be having mobility issues.
These guys need to understand the problem is not coming from women, it’s coming from culture (i.e. patriarchy). The culture men built. If you want to wear make-up and high heels, work on changing the culture. That is huge, I realize, but men are more in a position to do so in most countries.
Opening doors is kind of common respect. I open doors for people coming up on the same door. I don’t expect them to speak to me.
Also, “pair of boobs”? I’m going to feel really sorry for your feels when I’m just mammary glands. Many women I know don’t even have “boobs”. Just, yuck.
Oh gods above, I remember these things from a while back. I even did a thorough breakdown of them.
I have no idea how I’d even find it though, as it was at least six months back.