By David Futrelle
There are a lot of guys out there who not-so-secretly resent women for having bodies that get them all hot and bothered.
Warren Farrell, the intellectual grandfather of the Men’s Rights movement, famously warned men to beware of the “cleavage power” and the “miniskirt power” of young women. Incels and MGTOWs today rail against women “torturing” them by wearing skin-tight yoga pants. Hell, last week I wrote about one horny Redditor who blamed women for tempting men by showing their arms in public.
So what about in insidious threat of shoulders, which in addition to being “the laterally projecting part of the human body formed of the bones and joints with their covering tissue by which the arm is connected with the trunk” are also sometimes nice to look at?
Enter Father Kevin M. Cusick. On Sunday, the priest and former military chaplain caused a bit of a stir on Twitter after he suggested that women shouldn’t show their bare shoulders in church lest the sight of such a tempting bit of skin cause the men and boys to suddenly start feeling a bit funny in their pants.
Naturally, more than a few Twitterers took issue with Cusik’s stance. And so he doubled down, and doubled down again, launching into a full-on meltdown that lasted until this morning.
But he topped even those tweets with his final comment on the subject, in which he compared himself, and the treatment he’d gotten from critics on Twitter, to Jesus getting nailed to the cross. No, really.
As it turns out, Cusick’s not just worried about sexy lady shoulders; he’s also worried that women’s bare feet could give priests boners. Several years ago, you see, the Pope said it was ok to include women and girls in Holy Thursday foot-washing rituals. But Cusick worried that foot-washing priests might get turned on by “cute” lady feet.
That last tweet about washing men’s feet seems just a little bit ironic when one starts poking around a little more in Cusick’s Twitter history.
Because, as it turns out, shoulders and feet aren’t his main obsessions. For every tweet he’s written about the dangers of improperly exposed female flesh, there are dozens (hundreds?) of tweet about the evils of gay men and their dirty doings — both in the Catholic Church and in the world at large. (He has much less to say about lesbians.)
In Cusick’s mind, the Church doesn’t have a pedophile problem; it’s got a “homosexual problem.”
Not only is this “homosexual network” intent on sexually abusing boys; it’s also, in Cusick’s mind, “perverting” the Church’s teachings in order to promote the mortal sin of sodomy.
Apparently the only way to ward off this “homosexualist” menace is with the magic of Latin.
He’s a bit obsessed with the whole sodomy thing.
He also has some, well, interesting views on “so-called ‘trans'” folks. Here’s his reaction to a news story about a trans woman teacher.
And here’s his, well, novel theory about the nature of transness.
Needless to say, he won’t be celebrating Pride month.
But Cusick isn’t just obsessed with sex. His Twitter history is a virtual smorgasbord of unhinged takes on almost every hotbutton social issue. He thinks abortion leads to “bloodthirsty mobs on the streets.”
He regularly links to alarming “news” articles on the alleged evils of migrant Muslim “invaders,” including at least one article from rabid far-right Islamaphobe Pam Geller. His own opinions on the subject are only slightly less rabid than hers:
Needless to say, Cusick also hates feminism, especially when it involves young boys being taught that women’s suffrage was a good thing.
But the strangest thing I found in Cusick’s Twitter history? He’s apparently afraid of being enslaved — by Beto O’Rourke.
It’s a weird and more than slightly unhinged reaction to a young man standing on a car spouting vaguely lefty political platitudes. But, hey, anything to get Cusick’s mind off of sodomy, I guess.
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So a priest has a problem about women’s bare feet ? Better keep him away from the more determined female penitents then.
That stuff could have been written by my great uncle. Luckily he’s my uncle by marriage. Bad enough that I’m related to my aunt…
And it’s interesting that the people who demand women take personal responsibility for everything also demand that the world be figuratively padded for them.
Don’t like the way someone looks?
WELL DON’T LOOK, THEN!
The Catholic Church still thoroughly blames women for most things relating to sex, probably even the gay men are our fault because we did something when we were raising them to make them homo.
The argument is completely circular, I see no point in trying to engage anyone with viewpoints like these.
Good to know this site is anti-catholic as well!
And about clothes on mass: are you people aware there are proper dress codes for every occasion? An catholic men are also requested not to wear short pants or sleeveless shirts no matter how hot the weather is?
> And sadly, most of it is stuff that Pope Francis echoes, even if he makes a nod to not being a total asshole occasionally.
The pope is Catholic. Next in the news: queen Elisabeth is British!
> And sadly, these folks have more people in the clergy, in the magisterium, and filling the pews every week.
Gates of Hell having some troubles with my Church? [Dart’s Sidious voice] Good… very good!
@Dalillama
We burst into flame on hearing it. Didn’t you know?
[TRIGGER WARNING: Rape and sexual abuse of children]
You know, every time I read shit like this, I’m reminded of my own rape at the hands of a “good, godly man*” when I was three. I don’t talk about that around people like this hypocrite, because he’d claim it proves him right. I really should talk about it, if only to discuss how completely wrong he is.
The man who raped me identified as straight. He was married to a woman, with whom he had a child, and he abused at least one girl (that I know of). I don’t believe the rapist was gay/bisexual/pansexual. I don’t even believe he was necessarily a pedophile. I know he was a sadistic, opportunistic rapist who raped children because they couldn’t fight back, because they could be threatened into silence, and because he had access.
Something else that pisses me off? I’m pansexual. I’m afraid to be too open about it, because if I am people like Father Cusick say it’s because I was abused. That ugly lie rings in my head every time I attempt romance, particularly with someone of the same sex. I know it’s bullshit, but a part of me still wonders if I like what I like because of what I was done to me, and it poisons me all the same. I feel dirty and ashamed- sick, because I can’t get what was done to me out of my head.
You really are the vilest sort of scum, Father Cusick. I originally used a great many more crude insults in this comment, but there’s really no profanity that can compare to the loathsomeness that spills from your lips. I feel deeply sorry for anyone who has ever been subjected to your cruel “ministry.” You’re a disgrace as a priest, a pastor, and a human being.
*Not a priest or pastor, but active in the church I grew up in as a missionary and possibly an elder (which was Lutheran Church Missouri Synod)
Semi-OT, America respects religious freedom except when the brown religion in another country won’t buy our gross stuff. Then we start trade wars and try to jack up healthcare prices.
@Vucodlak
I’m so sorry that happened to you. I know the exact feeling you are talking about. It has not gone away since I was 5 really, but it fades as time goes on. Surround yourself with people who love you, and ruthlessly chop out the toxic ones, it helps to curb rumination. It gets better as you get older, never worry.
@ cyborgette
I’m not bothered about the availability of euthanasia. As a bodily autonomy absolutist I’m all for it. But what does make me see red is that, as far as I can see, the person(s) responsible for this face no consequences.
Under English law, if a person is driven to suicide as a result of your unlawful actions, that can amount to manslaughter.
https://www.cps.gov.uk/west-midlands/news/man-jailed-manslaughter-after-stalking-his-former-partner
Lol this site is for sure not anti Catholic yutz or I wouldn’t be here. Please take your bullshit other places trolls. You already identified yourself as an incel in the last one and now your a Catholic?
@vucodlac
I am so sorry that happened to you. Thank you for sharing your story. Thank you for being brave enough to speak. I too had to deal with people telling me I was bi sexual because I was raped in my early teenage years. I doubt that had anything to do with it for either of us. I just want you to know you aren’t alone and I will keep you in my prays.
> You already identified yourself as an incel
It’s quite funny, because I didn’t. Some people there did… Should I deny immediately? Maybe… but it would be supporting your narrowed and derogative usus of this word.
>… in the last one and now your a Catholic?
According to David: there’s almost no difference, apparently.
So your a fake Incel and a fake Catholic. So your just a concern troll. Please make sense or get out. I feel like I need a drink just to read your shit. And learn to use the block quote yutz
As an alleged incel I was fake, because I behaved somehow decently… which makes me wonder which aspect of my catholicism is considered fake.
You’re welcome!
I remember reading about a First Holy Communion ceremony somewhere here in the US, where the little girls were made to wear sweaters and shawls if their dresses featured bare shoulders, spaghetti straps, etc. These are prepubescent girls, for Chrissake.
And, I think at the same ceremony, another little girl wasn’t allowed to wear a white suit. Why the hell not, at least her shoulders would have been covered.
My parents weren’t perfect, but at least they chose not to saddle me with a Catholic school education, that they’d suffered through when they were kids. They bowed to pressure from their families, and I did have my First Holy Communion, as well as being baptized, though.
@yzek
I go to church (protestant, not catholic). I’ve regularly worn t-shirts, jeans, shorts, sleeveless dresses, dresses with thin straps, and skirts that only reached my mid thighs. And nobody cared. Other women wear similar, men wear shorts and t-shirts in summer (and some in winter too). And nobody cares. Maybe because I’m in Australia and it can get bloody hot in summer, or maybe because we try and treat each other as people.
For a while I went to a church in a busier part of the city that sometimes had people wander in part way through the service, including a woman who’d come in semi-regularly who was always pretty skimpily dressed. And nobody cared. People just said hello to her and made a bit of small talk. You know, treating her like a person and trying to be kind and loving.
Sure, dress codes exist. But are you agreeing with Cusick about the fact that dress codes exist because otherwise men will be unable to control their lustful thoughts? Then why are there also dress codes for men?
Also, nicely done picking out the one plausibly defensible point. Do you agree with everything Cusick has been shown to tweet about in this thread? How about you try to defend his appalling remarks about LGBT folks?
Then we can finally call upon the Dark Lord to ban you and won’t have to deal with your annoying whining.@ Alan Robertshaw
It’s true that she died, and that she asked to be euthanised. But just to clarify, the clinic actually refused, and she didn’t die by euthanasia but by refusing food and liquid (and her parents refusing to force-feed her on this occasion).
This is explained here:
It’s still a really sad story, and I get that the main point of it is that it’s awful that someone did something that caused her to feel so horrible for the rest of her life, and to want to kill herself, regardless of how she actually achieved that. But just wanted to clear up the fake news part of it.
Yzek,
You said “people like me” in the incel thread. So, what exactly did you mean by that?
In any case, good to see you caping for the most oppressed members of society. First young straight men whose biggest problem is having a jawline that’s a few millimeters away from being Chadlike and now Catholic clergy. What a hero you are!
I mean, I was just reading yesterday about how the Church spent millions of dollars on lobbyists to try and kill statute of limitations reform bills so that they couldn’t be held accountable for all the enabling of sexual abuse that they did. But that’s not important. Somewhere, a woman’s shoulder is visible and that is the bigger crime by far.
Speaking for myself: I’m able for such control on clothing-optional beach, but I’d prefer not to put myself on such test during the Mass…
Speaking for other men: I’d spare them such effort if I could.
Please specify: which one, because from the general tone I gather that almost every aspect of Church teaching about LGBT is somehow appalling.
The only Dark Lord that has such power here is known as David 🙂Ugh. Sorry to those who were made to feel like being bi or pan is a pathology. It’s not.
I don’t get how that stereotype came about. I used to watch those terrible daytime talk shows where they had troubled teen girls on. Sometimes dropped in between descriptions of their antics, it would be brought up that they were bi and the audience would actually boo, likely at the behest of producers. As if that’s a behavioral problem. Even as an ignorant teenager I was puzzled and annoyed about why that would be shown as equivalent to drinking, truancy and trying to get pregnant.
Oh, you don’t limit yourself to blackpilled incels here and this blog has a long history. My backstory (type of “I was-an-(NiceGuy|Foreveralone|Loveshy|Incel|Choose one)-but-“) should theoretically made me even your supporter, but somehow I got hit by rebound many times while lurking here… Strange, isn’t it?
Oh, I know: now I’ll be forced to stand for every real and imagined crime of clergy back to ancient times (sigh).
I did what? Oh, I should be already used to those bunches of straw people put on me here, but sometimes they itch.
No, we don’t limit ourselves to incels. Which flavor of misogynist are you? MRA, MGTOW, red pill, PUA, gamergater? Because they all have the same views on women.
No, you don’t have to stand for everything the Church has ever done. Just
wondering why you’re defending one of its shittier members and wondering why you seem to be more concerned about adult male victims of female shoulder seeing than you are sexual abuse victims.
You can’t be offended that we view as a misogynist when your only comments here are defending misogynists.