In today’s episode of Memeday, we look at some antifeminist memes that, well, just aren’t very convincing. Is this really the best you guys can offer?
All the memes here, except for the first one, come from a Facebook page called Math 3 Feminists.
I’m sorry, Math 4 Feminists. What can I say? I’m a feminist; numbers confuse me.
So let’s look at some of these unconvincing arguments, shall we?
Feminism is bad because … Lena Dunham is ugly and has no skills:
We’re off to a bad start here. Say what you will about Lena Dunham, and people have said all sorts of things, some fair, some not so much, but … really? Shes got “no discernible skills?”
Dunham wrote, directed and starred in an award-winning feature film by the time she was 24. She created (and produces and writes and stars in) an HBO series that just finished its fifth season. She’s a bestselling author.
Meanwhile, MRAs stick captions on pictures they find on the internet and call it activism.
Feminism is bad because … sometimes young women get really drunk;
Uh, dudes, I see your “young woman in rainbow stockings passing out drunk in the street” and raise you one “drunk dude in cape leaping through a window.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VKNBrQdoQo
… and one “drunk dancing dude jumping off a boat.”
Feminism is bad because … if being a woman is so terrible why is there Caitlyn Jenner?
Yeah, that’s not how any of this works, you transphobic asshats.
Feminism is bad because … feminists hate stay-at-home mothers:
Weird, Math 4 Feminists dudes, because the only people I see attacking stay-at-home mothers on a regular basis are, well, MRAs and MGTOWs and assorted other internet misogynists. Like in the meme below, which I found … drum roll .. on the Math 4 Feminists Facebook page.
Feminism is bad because … women didn’t serve in the military equally in a war that ended two decades before feminism as we know it began:
Also, fellas, just FYI, Tom Hanks didn’t actually serve in the army in World War II. He was in a movie about it.
Feminism is bad because … Detroit:
Er, what? Are you just putting up pictures of random things and blaming feminists for them?
All I can say to that is … THANKS OBAMA!
Don’t forget the Coast Guard SPARs and the female Marines. (While usually the most regressive branch of the military, you have to give the Marines credit for never giving a cute nickname to their women’s reserve, because, as the commander of the Marines explained, they already had a name: Marines.)
WWTH: I particularly like “refuse to do analysis”. Given the previous sentence, I’m assuming it’s a typo, but I’m sure they’d tell us we couldn’t refuse to do analysis, if the circumstances came up. 🙂
Okay, I’ve been waiting for a Personal Stuff thread, but I can’t keep it in any more. I’m gonna brag just a little bit, here:
Starting in about two weeks, I’m gonna be doing clinic greeter (ie, escort) duty at a local Planned Parenthood clinic. It took nearly a month to go through the approval process–you have to give a mix of professional and personal references, authorize a background check, and go through both a phone and a Skype interview before they’ll approve you. I can understand why, though–they need to make certain volunteers are sincere, first.
But, I got the notice this week, and I’m going to the orientation a week from next Tuesday. I’d like to thank everyone here for giving me the inspiration to actually get off my ass and do some genuine activism., however small.
Freemage: What a neat thing to do!
Freemage: That’s fantastic!
@Freemage
Awesome! If we ever move to the US, I think I would do the same thing. I’ve considered it before, but we don’t have protesters at abortion clinics over here. I’d like to hear more about this when you’ve had some experience with it.
When I was a stay at home single mum, I never had any snark from feminists. The only snark I ever had was from right wing men who were pissed off that their taxes were going on feeding and clothing my illegitimate children.
Also, that gif where the guy falls over is the best thing ever. I’ve seen it so many times but it has never failed to make me scream with laughter.
Detroit’s decline comes from the production of shitty muscle cars for men with tiny penises, not from women, minorities, or taxes. Build a city around a single specific industry and when the “well runs dry”, it’s going to go downhill. This stuff happens with oil “boom towns” all the time, and the results are always disastrous.
Apparently many Manosphere types don’t play SimCity or any other city-building game to learn basic economics and the effects they have on cities.
@ Freemage–that’s inspiring.
Any of you within shouting distance of the San Francisco Bay area can check out the excellent Rosie the Riveter Memorial, part of the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Park:
http://www.rosietheriveter.org/visit-discover/park-sites/item/47-rosie-the-riveter-memorial
Weather wax,
Indeed, my phone’s autocorrect is tricksy. But they like to make outrageous claims, refuse to back them up and expect feminists to do all the work of refuting the claim. So I guess it fits.
IP: I’m planning on keeping a journal. I’m in a mostly Blue state, and in the more liberal section thereof, so I expect less guff than I would at a clinic in, say, Oklahoma or South Carolina (both of those shitholes are pushing serious anti-abortion laws forward this week). Still, I suspect that we sometimes get protestors who are willing to travel.
I was also waiting for a personal thread, but instead asked David if it would be alright to post this:
So, I need to move out of my house for mental health reasons (TW: talk of suicide), but I can’t afford to do so on my own because I also need to move out of my house for economic reasons, as in, I can’t find a goddamned job around here.
So, I’m planning to move out in August, move cross-country to Raleigh NC to live with some friends, and I even have a job interview secured a week after I move in down there with the drugstore one of my new roommates works at. (He, his girlfriend and I have been friends for years now.)
However, I can’t afford to do everything I need to do to move out just yet. I have details on the page I linked.
And I’ve also set up reward tiers and such, and you can still purchase things from my shops online if you want to support me, but get something out of it! 😀
So, if y’all can’t donate, could you at least share this and spread it around a bit? I’d really appreciate it.
And we now return to your regularly scheduled Paradoxy.
@Freemage
That’s great! I’m looking forward to hearing more about it.
If I recall correctly, you’re a man? (Correct me if I’m wrong.) I was just curious if gender/sex is a factor when they accept volunteers for this kind of work? Like I said I’ve seriously considered doing this, and I present as male in my meatspace life.
@PI
I donated, but I’m sad to say I don’t really use FB and have no one to share this with except for the people of this blog. Best of luck to you.
When did feminists gain control of Detroit?
Or are they saying “Hey, this is really trashed. We need some women with cleaning equipment.” A bit like when they realise they can’t see the floor in their room and their clothes no longer bend.
Re: WWII service. Generally, people did what they could and what they were allowed to do. My Dad, as he always said, “peeled potatoes for his country”. My Mum was at the planning meetings for the Normandy landings, and at the Teheran and Yalta conferences.
“DETROIT: THIS IS WHAT THE ENTIRE WESTERN WORLD WOULD LOOK LIKE IF FEMINISTS WERE IN CHARGE”
Sure, but feminists aren’t in charge, and we’ve got Detroit anyway. It exists and it’s there. Ergo, feminists-not-being-in-charge is not a foolproof preventative against Detroit. {curtsies} Thank you, gentlemen — I appreciate the opportunity you’ve given me, and I wish you a good afternoon.
Re: WWII
If you go over to the Eastern Front there are some pretty badass stories about the women they allowed into combat
Lyudmila Pavlichenko “Lady Death” Sniper credited with over 300 kills.
Mariya Oktyabrskaya Ukrainian woman who upon learning her husband had been killed in battle sold everything she owned and donated it for the production of a tank, on the condition she got to drive it and name it “The Fighting Girlfriend”.
The Nachthexen (Night Witches) An all female regiment in the Soviet Air Force who carried out night bombing raids on Axis positions.
and those are just off the top of my head. Maybe if MRA/MTGOW/PUA sorts were better at history they wouldn’t have such a fetish for Eastern European women.
@JoeB
OOOH, let me chip in as well!
Virginia Hall, American spy for the British SOE
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Hall
@PI, I kicked in a bit to help you get on the choo-choo train to freedom! I have been in your situation before (Sorta there now :s) and am happy to help you get outta there. You should be able to identify which donation was mine. I hope it helps!
@Scildfreja and Imaginary Petal (and the other anon helper, if you’re about):
; U ;
http://media2.giphy.com/media/224NKXmu23A8U/giphy.gif
Thank you all so much! This means so much to me, y’all have no idea.
baw, those kitties look like my kitties
@PI
The donation mammoth is the best of all the mammoths around here. :p
I am, indeed, a man. I know for a fact that women volunteers are accepted, though; I had read several bloggers and news articles about/by clinic escorts while deciding if this was something I would be good at. One of them was about a Catholic nun–go figure!
Sadly, a bit of digging I did just now indicates that she’s stopped doing it, in order to keep the peace with the Church hierarchy. It’s a pity so many good people get caught up by Catholic dogma:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-11-04/news/0911030573_1_abortion-rights-american-nuns-abortion-clinics
@Freemage, just wanted to chime in and say thank you for your volunteering. That’s so excellent of you. I hope that it’s a great experience for you and that you can help a lot of people.
@Freemage
Yeah, sorry, maybe I was a bit unclear. I assumed women would be accepted. I just wanted to make sure that they also accept male volunteers