By David Futrelle
On Wednesday, a Malaysian member of parliament proposed a new kind of “Sexual Harassment Act” to help protect men from being “seduced” into raping or otherwise molesting women and girls wearing too-sexy clothes.
“I propose to the minister that we create a ‘sexual harassment act’ to protect men against the demeanor, words and clothing of women,”
Mohamad Imran Abd Hamid told the Malaysian parliament.
which can cause them to be seduced to a point where they commit acts such as incest, rape, molestation, pornography (sic) and others,
Such a law, he said, would ensure that “the men in this country are safe, and the country is peaceful.”
The proposal didn’t go over well, with Mohd Imran’s own party, the ruling Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), rejecting it outright. And so, on Thursday, Mohd Imran apologized for hurting “the feelings of many women and also men, who feel insulted” and retracted his proposal.
Unfortunately the central assumption behind his proposal — that women are “asking for it” if they behave in certain ways or wear certain clothes — is shared by innumerable men (and quite a few women) around the world.
It’s especially widespread among men of the manosphere, who regularly rail against the alleged seductive power of women wearing yoga pants or short shorts as well as outfits that show a bit of shoulder. (Or even just arm.) Men’s Rights granddaddy Warren Farrell has been warning men for decades about the alleged “miniskirt power” and “cleavage power” of young women.
Meanwhile, our old pal enemy Roosh V, the rapey-pickup-guru-turned-raging-fundamentalist-Christian took to Twitter yesterday to warn against another deadly seductive threat to men: women wearing pants.
Stay safe, men! Emulate the folks in Bird Box and wear a blindfold at all times every time you leave the house.
H/T — to Alan Robertshaw for the story and @Zemyla for the Roosh tweet
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Despite his wearing of pants that “highlight his legs, curves, and rear end,” I have never for an instant had any desire towards Roosh. It’s probably because he is an absolutely repulsive person, and pants that accentuate legs can’t fix that.
New law for Malaysia: Anyone who thinks this is how assault works should not be allowed anywhere near elected office.
If I was a man I’d be insulted that some think I cant control myself when I see a woman in yoga pants or what have you. It speaks very poorly for men, and if they lack that much control perhaps women should be running things instead.
@Kat
The problem is, many men do seem to lack the ability to control themselves. I look forward to when robots that can control themselves take over.
#notallpants
Since when do men need to be protected from their own damn actions???
Also: Roosh, clearly, has never heard of upskirting. Something I specifically wear pants to avoid.
It has been said before, but I feel the need to repeat that the sexist notion that “men can’t control themselves”, ironically, is super anti-male. And wrong too.
Edit to add: unfortunately, that doesn’t change the fact that many man don’t seem capable of self control. Like the POTUS, for example.
@ Kat:
I have voiced that argument in conversations with my fellow fellows… and my daddy raised me to be responsible for my actions.
We are NOT at the mercy of our urges… we are not cockroaches. Speaking for myself, of course — obviously some of us ARE cockroaches.
@Moggie
I’m getting on board the #notallpants train:
EDIT: Ok, I can’t embed images… what gives? Here’s the link: http://www.mdhs.org/costumeblog/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/1920s-Women-jodhpurs.jpg
SECOND EDIT: Ok… no html works, but html image tagging does not work?? I am very confused.
@OMEGALUL
I posit that doing it because you think you can get away with it is not the same as “being unable to control yourself.”
Which is why this is a bullshit concept anyway. If men really had that little control over visually-prompted sexual urges they’d be committing assault constantly in churches, supermarkets, in front of police stations. Yet mysteriously, most assaults involve some planning and a lack of witnesses. Good men deserve no such censure on their intelligence and self-control; bad men deserve no such excuse.
Yeah, ‘cannot control’ is more accurately ‘I don’t WANNA!!!!!!’
In many societies, including the Iranian culture that RooshV boasts of his “Aryan” descent from, divided-leg garments are traditional female garb. And although they generally weren’t tightly fitted through the torso and thigh in the pre-spandex era, they were often drapey and lightweight enough to definitely permit body-sexualizing purposes.
Another vote for “men just need to control their damn selves”.
Usually tell them to have some fucking pride.
Probably changes no minds, but it shuts them up about it, at least.
If he really wanted to protect men from being seduced or whatever, he could have just proposed that they all have chastity belts installed or something. Or maybe just blinding, then they wouldn’t have to worry about seeing sexy clothing ever again.
As crappy as that Malaysian MP is I am pleased to hear that he was shut down so completely.
As a young woman I wore skirts/ dresses (just below the knee) less and less because of the increased attention I got when I did. It was unbearable. Jeans were worn tight in the 80s, but I got so much less harassment when I wore them.
Roosh the arsehole wrong again.
I always think it’s funny when they complain about pants being too sexualizing because I personally find skirts to be way sexier than pants. Of course, I also don’t go around sexually assaulting every person I see in a skirt because there’s more to human brain function than just our id.
Actually, I’m starting to notice a pattern here of my opinions on what’s attractive being the exact opposite of the manosphere’s; see tattoos and dyed hair.
News flash to Roosh,
A pair of well fitting pants can absolutely emphasize a man’s ass.
Possible TMI ahead,
In fact one of my favorite things is when a man I find attractive is wearing pants that are neither too tight or too baggy and he leans forward just enough for the butt shape to pop into visibility.
Just because Roosh doesn’t view pants as sexual on men, doesn’t mean that other people don’t.
Of course, I find a hot guy in a kilt sexy too, so I guess by misogylogic, no matter how men dress, they’re sexually harassing me.
To all the men who believe in personal responsibly and self control as a common innate trait of a normal human being and live as a good example to their kids and/or others around them… thank you.
For the rest who can’t… yeah, I vote for the blindfolds. The easiest and cheapest answer, based on the one who actually has the problem, and will serve as a mark for other people to steer clear.
@Xenophile
That is a great point, actually. I stand corrected.
@OMEGALUL 🙂
@BlueNinja: I volunteer to apply male chastity devices to each uncontrolled penis. Obviously I can’t be doing it for personal gratification, because women don’t enjoy sex and therefore cannot have sexual feelings about looking at penises. My motivation is purely altruistic.
I always find it fascinating how these people seem to extrapolate from a teeny-tiny kernel of truth and then build it into this nonsense.
It’s true that humans (not just men, I assume) can’t control noticing things they find attractive. When something attractive comes into view, you can’t keep your eyes from that initial flicker towards it.
And yes, when I’m out walking, as I’m attracted to women (well, to female-shaped bodies), when an attractive woman comes into view, my eyes do flicker towards her. And yes, if she’s wearing yoga pants and has a nice ass, my eyes will probably flicker towards it, and my brain will go something along the lines of “Ooh, nice.” I don’t think that’s something I can stop.
I also can’t stop myself from noticing a nice sunset. The difference is that while there’s every chance I’ll stop to admire the sunset for a bit, I’m not going to stop and admire the woman, because creepy. Having noticed her, I’m not going to stare at her. Same reason. Guess what? After that immediate eye-flicker, self-control takes over. It’s a thing!
Seriously, if self-control doesn’t exist, how is it that these men aren’t immediately jumping on these underdressed women and raping them right then and there in the street?
The only thing that makes me lose control is seeing a guinea pig, at which point my language abilities devolve into “Oooza booful piggie? You iz! You is so kyoot and fwuffy! I’ll eat you up I love you so!”
… did he see this clip from an old Beavis and Butthead episode and think it was a documentary…?
@Allandrel: Ah, cuteness proximity.
http://www.multiversitycomics.com/wp-content/themes/mvc/images/timthumb.php?src=http://multiversitystatic.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2016/05/junji-ito-cat-diary-1.jpg&q=95&w=593&zc=1&a=t
Wow, that didn’t work out at all well. Pity. It’s Junji Ito’s take on cuteness proximity, which is all you need to know.
Guinea pigs?
Love em! I wish I could adopt one. But I fear my cat would dedicate her life to trying to hunt it. I don’t think I can provide a safe home.