By David Futrelle
I was up all night writing this one, which I think pulls together some of the points I’ve been making a bit less explicitly on the blog of late.
Here’s what we journalists like to call the nut graf:
There are good reasons why men’s-rights activism has served for so many as a gateway drug to the alt-right: Both movements appeal to men with fantasies of violent, sometimes apocalyptic redemption — and, like [Christopher] Cantwell, a tendency to express these fantasies in bombastic prose. And both movements are based on a bizarro-world ideology in which those with the most power in contemporary society are the true victims of oppression.
In other words, if you can convince yourself that men are the primary victims of sexism, it’s not hard to convince yourself that whites are the primary victims of racism.
In addition to Mr. Cantwell, a number of other We Hunted the Mammoth favorites make appearances in the piece.
Let me know what you think!
He’s only 36? Wow.
Thanks David, great article!
Congrats for the feature David!! ? I like the article and I’m glad “The Cut” chose you to explain this issue.
You’ve been examining the toxicity in the Manosphere for years, hopefully more people will pay attention now.
I forgot to say congratulations, David – so, congratulations!
Also, I’ve been hoping you’d be involved in a piece like this, that explains the link between sexism and racism. Very well done, thank you.
W00t!!! Congratulations!!
@dreemr
Matt Forney is only 22. Milo is actually only 9!
Congratulations!
That’s a great article. It really succinctly pulls together and highlights the parallels between the two ‘movements’. Although I guess in actuality racism and misogyny are just two elements of an overarching ideology or possibly subculture?
I really think it would be quite timely to expand on this. Notwithstanding the migraines and the cat maintenance, have you considered a book? I think the radicalisation process, especially in relation to young men who frequent certain areas on the net would be a worthy and fascinating area of study.
I need a new mattress, so I was pretty delighted to get to the bottom of David’s article and find this linked:
http://nymag.com/strategist/article/best-mattresses-buy-online.html
Thanks, David!
Congratulations, David, great piece!
You’ve described misogyny perfectly as a gateway drug.
Once you accept the deception that men are always and uniquely the victims of a society-wide conspiracy to oppress them, it is much easier to move onto to more taboo forms of discrimination.
This is one of the reasons why we must fight hard against misogyny and prejudice against LGBTQ people and others – they’re often the first cheap, soft hits of a drug of hate that becomes an addiction to essentialism, racism, and eugenics, and ultimately ends with Nazis killing innocent people.
Congratulations, Dave – you’re famous 🙂
http://gizmodo.com/before-getting-banned-from-okcupid-white-supremacist-c-1797949753
great job, truly.
From the Gizmodo post. Bolding mine.
and
Well gee, I wonder why he’s had multiple “false” police reports filed against him.
You rock, David!!
Congratulations! An excellent summary, David. Your article hits the major points and lays out what needs to be known. I hope it gets more people reading the blog and taking misogyny more seriously.
There is this typo though:
@Alan Robertshaw
I support this idea!! ?
Excellent article David, to push the point about the relationship between racism and sexism, there’s actually a documented neurological one as well. When subjects were shown random images which included ones to trigger sexist and racist bias, it was found that they activate the same portion of the brain. There’s been other studies which have shown a distinct connection as well – http://www.medicaldaily.com/sexism-and-racism-linked-similar-mental-processes-238601 – worth mentioning, perhaps. Sexism is almost always the initial stem into the really toxic isms, as you mention if you believe one it’s not a great stretch to believe the other.
Since we (society) are aware of the connection between harming animals and a tendency harming people for example, such a connection between racism and sexism if more widely known might help as a red flag.
The BBC have just aired a documentary filmed at a school near where I live in the Isle of Wight. Its an experiment in gender neutrality, meant to tackle the problems of low self esteem in girls, and low emotional empathy in boys. It’s a very conservative area, and 99% white. The comments made by the children are exactly what I would expect from this part of the country.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/837387/BBC-social-experiment-gender-neutral-school-criticism-Laneshead-Primary-School
I am horrified at the comments section, and all the hatred, especially for the doctor presenting the programme, who is being called a Muslim paedophile. It’s shocking at how people even in my area of the world are being motivated by hate for the ‘leftists’ and anyone who dares to question gender roles. The BBC are actually being accused of child abuse, and pushing a trans sexual agenda, when the show has zero to do with gender fluidity or trans gender, and certainly is not pushing a trans agenda on children.
I grew up in a school a lot like this, and was bullied from a young age by christian fundamentalists who wanted me to fall in line with their agenda, and who also allowed sexual predators to target young girls in their church with impunity. It is this danger we should be uncovering, not looking for a pretend ‘cultural marxist’ propaganda excercise which doesn’t exist.
Sorry, guys, but the reason you share the country with black people is because several hundred years ago, your ancestors decided they didn’t wanna pick their own damn cotton. Take it up with them.
@Imaginary Petal
Hey, I’m old! I can’t gauge ages anymore!
You could call it a perfect storm of the masculinity crisis in the US, erosion of economic stability, and threat to white male privilege. The result is a new generation of idle under and unemployed white men with bleak futures, and they’re prime targets for white supremacists. They’re angry, they’re clinging to an ideal of masculinity that the modern economy no longer needs or wants, and they really want a tangible target to vent their frustration. The result is not surprising.
@WWTH:
I don’t date all that much, if ever (have no intrest in such things, tbh), but how often do women spray guys with their breast milk? Heck, how often do women who are dating have breast milk available for spraying?
Well, if you date women by showing up at their house for coffee… and there’s no creamer, and you’re… I… no, this story has no redeeming qualities, so I’ll just stop here.
—
But yes, it makes sense that if you can convince yourself that women are the reason you can’t get laid, you’ve got most of the “logic” required to decide that “racist” means people who don’t like the white “race”. I’ve seen that redefinition of racist a lot on twitter from people trying to defend the “poor white guy in the car”. *spit*
They use the same words, but the definitions aren’t the same.
This sort of thing reminds me of one of the ideas of boolean logic, where if you can assume that “A and not A” is true, then you can derive anything you like from that, and it will seem logically consistent until you realize that you assumed a contradiction at the start.
Redsilkphoenix,
I’ll venture a guess and say he was sexually harassing a woman while she was breastfeeding. Not a date. Just a random woman in a park or something. The only way she could get him to go away was fling her milk at him. Or he’s just making it up entirely.
Redsilkphoenix,
I’ll venture a guess and say he was sexually harassing a woman while she was breastfeeding. Not a date. Just a random woman in a park or something. The only way she could get him to go away was fling her milk at him. Or he’s just making it up entirely.