By David Futrelle
Today (March 8th) is International Women’s Day, also known as International “Men Being Dicks About International Women’s Day” Day — and few men are celebrating that second holiday more enthusiastically than Reddit’s contingent of Men Going Their Own Way.
Reddit’s MGTOWs celebrated, or pretended that they had celebrated, the holiday in an assortment of ways, from jerking off to porn, to playing videogames, to jerking off to porn.
A few of these alleged “celebrations” bore more than a slight resemblance to symptoms of depression.
But many others — perhaps influenced by the imaginary holiday Festivus, famously invented by George Costanza’s father on Seinfeld — set aside the day for the ritual Airing of Grievances.
So in other words, today was a day like every other on the MGTOW subreddit, only a little more so than usual.
Some of their complaints:
Women are “fuckin leeches.”
Correction: UNGRATEFUL fuckin leeches.
They’re unprofessional.
They make bad music.
Actually, they’re bad at all artistic endeavors:
They were really bitchy during the last Internationa Men’s Day.
They sometimes entice “simps” into wishing them a happy International Women’s Day in order to get laid.
They’re not even oppressed!
I can’t quite figure out what exactly women are doing to piss this dude off.
A few of the regulars decided to declare today “International MGTOW Day,” apparently forgetting that less than a month ago they had declared Valentine’s Day to be “International MGTOW Day.”
And then there’s this guy, who tried to paste a link to this in the comments here, evidently not realizing or not caring that he’s permabanned because, well, he regularly tries to post shit like this here, which is unhinged even by MGTOW standards.
Wait, what?
Setting aside the alleged ongoing genocide of men for now, have a very happy International Women’s Day!
I’m away from ipod but want to add Bjork, Amy Lavere, Cibo Matto, Shonen Knife, Tori Amos, Le Tigre, and Ani Difranco to the list. Just off the top of my head. I obviously have more.
@Surplus
Yup, add Alannah Myles and Elastica to my list too… buried in compilations again. Benatar I actually had to move off to make room for Buffy. 🙁
Not the biggest Kate Bush fan. Although Matt Good and Holly McNarland did a cover of Cloudbusting on one of Good’s albums that sounded great. Dammit, I just looked him up to find out he had released a new one back in October and missed it! Sorry Heart, got some new listening to do….
ETA: Yeah, I’m sure I have a ton of Diane Warren-penned Chicago tunes to boot, but she and David Foster wrote a lot of their 80s hits, so I’m not sure which ones are which….
Just love the hypocrisy:
“Men do everything – fight the wars and build everything – all women do is sit in cubicles doing trivial fake work”
So says the man who never fought in any war, built anything, and sits in the cubicle right next to me . . .
RE: Women artists
I’m really into Mitski lately, and I make no apologies that I learned about her from Adventure Time:
Dianne Warren? Dolly Parton? To name the two I havent noticed in the comments so far. The closest thing to a song about having sex in a public bathroom I can think of is the video for “Hey Boy, Hey Girl” but the Chemical Brothers are two dudes.
The idea that women can’t make good music is patently absurd; here’s the awesome Brody Dalle with help from the equally awesome Shirley Manson with a kick ass song about her pregnancy and childbirth.
As a lurker I’d like to take this opportunity to say hi to you all.
I for one would like to thank any MGTOW who spent the day sad masturbating alone. Any day an MRA spends masturbating alone instead of harassing women is a better day for all involved.
So women can’t music? Behold, a woman who plays all her own instruments, writes, sings, and mixes it herself, too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqhym59ypUI
Oh yeah, and she also attacks sexist tropes.
Migtoes, cry moar.
@Watching in horrified fascinator – Welcome!
I love your ‘nym, it made me smile 🙂
@everyone, thanks for the songs!
@epitome of incomprehensibility
Thank you. Now she might not have written this song but I’d claim that nobody can compare to June Tabor’s singing voice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKkWeYlvppE
Her voice sends chills down my spine.
Sharing one of my favorite Vienna Teng songs:
http://youtu.be/KUCAANqWxRE
Always wise to remember the power of passive-aggressiveness.
The only sex in a bathroom song I can think of is the video for that “boom boom tsk boom tsk” song by the Bloodhound Gang, which is again all guys. And plus the “girl” in the video turned out literally to be a dog so :/
I’m sure there has to be a metal band or two that’s done a bathroom sex song.
WWTH:
Cibo Matto and Shonen Knife made some of the best food-based music!
If I might be permitted some all-dude music, World Order have a topical new video out. Let’s Start WW3:
I’ve been lectured that I couldn’t be ambidextrous if I was a girl, and that I was just trying to be special. Struck me as pretty ironic. I don’t know if anyone has mentioned Lauren O’Connel yet, but she is tremendously talented especially for someone who started music in her 20s
Speaking of music…yesterday I did a thing.
Last fall I joined a local women’s chorus, a GALA choir, and I’ve met the most amazing people and had a fantastic time.
So a couple of weeks ago, our director got an e-mail from an A&E producer, asking us to sing a selection for an upcoming episode of Ozzy and Jack’s World Detour.
Snarky director answered back “Oh, yeah, sure A&E producer, sure we’d love to do that” (insert eyerolls and /sarcasm)
But it was a totally real thing and yesterday we filmed and, yes, I and about 50 of my friends sang “Changes” for Ozzy, Jack, Kelly and Kelly’s little dog.
It should air this summer! lol
If I may add, for people looking for more good music; Epica, Within Temptation, Halestorm, and Arch Enemy are a few bands I have been listening to over and over the past few years and I don’t think anyone has mentioned yet.
@eli
That is amazing! 🙂
Would any one mind if a suggest a local artist I know personally?
@TreePerson:
I can’t speak for the Feminist Hivemind but I’d love to hear about awesome local musicians.
That reminds me: She Makes War is a local musician whom I go and see now and then. Highly recommended.
@EJ (The Other One)
I give you Hudson K
@TreePerson
That’s good! Voice reminds me of Saraya. 🙂
Well if it’s J-rock you want, Remi Matsuo of Glim Spanky is a pretty powerful vocalist:
Oh, we’re doing non-male artists?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMJ4LHpUB3A
One of many bands I’ve got up my crusted sleeve, local heroes too!
For a bunch of guys who claim to have “gone their own way” and “not care about women anymore”, they sure seem obsessed with them.
I might be missing something, but for the to celebrate IWD by watching porn and playing video games alone does not seem different than what they do on any other day.
Still, I have sympathy for “incels” in one respect. It seems clear to me many of them are suffering from real mental illness – depression, avoidant personality disorder, being on the autistic spectrum, etc. Their lashing out online at women seems in many cases a symptom of their illness, which treatment may help.
After all, a paranoid schizophrenic like Robert “Bobby” Fischer believed “the Jews” were out to get him, and wanted them all dead. But that was a symptom of his illness, as can be seen by the fact that those “Jews” included, according to Fischer, the Pope and the top management of Sony, and among their evil plans was a conspiracy to wipe out all elephants because their trunks reminded them of uncircumcised penises.
For this reason, I could never get myself to hate poor Fischer. Similarly, I have pity on some of these incels, not because of any sympathy to their views, but because I, to be honest, cannot take what they say too seriously, any more than one should have taken Fischers rants.
@ anonymous
I very much don’t. And apart from the problems with remote diagnosing, their claims are all bullshit anyway. It’s also highly insulting to people with genuine problems around mental illness and social anxiety (whom it should be noted manage not to be hate spewing wankers).
Incel logic goes like this:
1. Autism makes you obnoxious (which is of course false anyway)
2. I’m obnoxious
3. I’ll say I have autism
Their claims are merely to offer excuses for their freely chosen behaviour, and to guilt trip people who call them out, for ableism. Note however that ‘autist’ is one of their go-to insults.
They are completely unworthy of any sympathy whatsoever.
@Anonymous
1) You don’t know that all incels have a mental illness (I find it highly unlikely that any group of people other than a therapy group would, in fact, all be mentally ill)
2) People with mental illnesses don’t deserve to be compared to incels
3) Being an asshole and/or wishing violence against others are not mental illnesses
4) If someone wants me dead or enslaved I do NOT feel sorry for them
5) Coming here and expressing to people who incels wish dead or enslaved that you feel sorry for the incels is insulting and inflammatory
@anonymous,
I understand the impulse to be considerate to people who are suffering, and it’s true that incels suffer, but – well. As the untiring Alan has pointed out, the number of incels who are actually autistic is likely really small; they’re using the idea that “autism” = “bad social skills” and that’s just not true. And, as the incisive kupo points out, being an asshole is not a mental illness.
Incels demand the right to rape women, and to kill those who fight. You can call that hyperbole if you want, but it’s apparent that you don’t feel like you’re the one under the gun of their threats.
Because it isn’t hyperbole. Some of the most horrible mass shooters of the past few years are drawn from their ranks, and they celebrate those shooters as heroes.
I know autistic people, and every one of them in my circle is disgusted and horrified by incels, and bitterly angry about them claiming autism as an excuse. I think you’ll find that holds for most autistic people.
Having some measure of sympathy for a monster isn’t awful – you can’t choose your feelings, only experience them. But you can choose whether you believe your feelings are justified or misguided.
Which is it, @anon? Do you think your feelings towards them are justified, or misguided?
@Anonymous
Hi, I’m a woman with both autism and schizophrenia who manages to not be an inhuman Nazi rapist piece of fuckshit. This is because – as stated by the people who ninja’d me (whoops) – being an inhuman Nazi rapist piece of fuckshit is not a symptom of autism, schizophrenia or any other mental illness/disorder/etc.
Comments policy, yadda yadda, fuck off.