By David Futrelle
Over on the Men’s Rights subreddit, the regulars are celebrating women — or at least that small portion of women who are willing to date Men’s Rights activists.
“Men in r/mensrights love women and many of us are in a happy relationship with a woman,” declared an MRA called zogins in a post that’s gotten more than 800 upvotes. He went on to rhapsodize about his girlfriend, whom he described as “like no one I have ever met before.” And she’s not the only good one in his book:
[T]here are lots of women out there who are nothing like the radical feminist bitches who taint the reputation of other women.
It’s a safe guess that when he refers to “radical feminist bitches” he is not talking about actual RadFems but rather every women who’s ever expressed even the mildest feminist sentiment in his general vicinity.
My girl even knows that I post on this sub but we do not go into what I write. I would have no problem if she ever asked to see what I post. But the best thing is that we respect each other’s space and we don’t do that sort of thing – prying into each other’s business.
Her deliberate ignorance of the shit he posts on r/MensRights is probably one of the main things thing keeping the relationship going, I would guess.
After all this, for some reason, zogins threw in a brief review of the 1991 film Thelma and Louise. Needless to say, he is not a fan.
A couple of nights ago we watched ‘ Thelma and Louise’. It is considered the ultimate feminist, man hating movie. My partner was the one to tell me that every man in the movie is a caricature of manhood. She told me that the film portrays Thelma and Louise as the heroes but they are the ultimate villains.
He finished up with a stirring call to action, if posting on the internet can be considered action.
It would be great to hear from other men here who have positive experiences with women – let’s destroy those man hating radical feminists by sharing happy stories!
A few Men’s Rights Redditors dutifully posted vague hosannas to their own girlfriends and wives, but there was one non-girlfriend-related reply that stood out to me — and to a lot of the subreddit regulars, who gave it nearly a hundred upvotes. It came from a fellow called vlo1:
yeah, we’re not incels, despite what 3rd [wave] femtards believe.
He later, er, clarified his remarks after it was pointed out to him that some MRAs are indeed incels:
EDIT: For clarification, I didn’t mean none of us are incels, ofc I understand some are, but not all.
But I”m more struck by the lovely term “femtards,” presumably meaning feminists.
Maybe this is just me, but I somehow find it difficult to believe that anyone who unironically refers to feminists (or women in general) as “femtards” probably is not the world’s number one respecter of women.
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I mean, when this is your girlfriend, she can say whatever you want.
I question how happy the women in those relationships are.
Or even any woman who isn’t 100% submissive. To slightly paraphrase Rebecca West, “I only know that MRAs call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute.”
That definitely happened.
Wait, I thought feminism was already destroyed by PewDiePie by using the word “simp”. Isn’t this overkill, guys?
Honestly, “femtard” is worse than “femoid” IMO because of the added ableism. Both are dehumanizing, but the former is far more ableist.
IIRC Thelma & Louise, which I really liked back then as a teen (no idea if it holds up today, haven’t seen it in two decades), was groundbreaking in its feminism mainly by the standards of early 90s Hollywood productions; anyone more knowledgeable on the topic care to either confirm or correct me?
In any case that doof likely considers any woman character in a movie villainous/antagonistic if she behaves in any way non-subservient to the menfolk, or even worse, if she – GASP! – holds any form of authority over them and uses it (he must really hate Glenn Close and Judi Dench…).
Wouldn’t be surprised if his relationship was real, unfortunately; many women put up with far more shit from their partners than they should (my mother was with a narcissistic tool for 25 years). That or either it’s too early in the relationship for her to really notice or care, or he’s disturbingly good at hiding his real self (maybe helped by that alleged lack of prying). At least those are to my limited knowledge the most likely possibilities beyond him having a girlfriend only in his mind.
This sneering at Thelma & Louise sounds like yet another reason to whine about Brad Pitt, since that was a breakout role for him.
By which he means that she doesn’t “pry” into his, and he doesn’t take much of an interest in hers.
It is? The ultimate? By whom, I wonder?
@All of you
That’s it, practice erasure towards women. No,, no woman could EVER be in a happy, loving relationship with someone that people on the left side of the fence thinks is “totes problematic, hella toxic!!!” Don’t you know, there were no women who voted fro Trump? There ARE women who don’t agree with you, and who have interests which don’t line up perfectly with yours, you know. Fuck you.
@Naglfar
Not very happy, I’d wager. The only ones who often seem happy to be shacked up with that type of toxicity are the extremely religious types, like “Transformed Wife” or “Girl Defined”. Even the Alt-Right women complain or get put off by the constant abuse.
Except maybe Kaitlin Bennett who is as big a douchebag as all of them.
@Paireon
It’s also worth noting that a lot of women have internalized misogynistic ideas like those of the Men’s Rights Movement. That could be what’s going on here (assuming his gf is real). There are even women who are MRAs (often referred to as FeMRAs) whom the male MRAs love because they say exactly what those men want to hear.
@PoM
Obviously by the feminist conspiracy leaders, aka the cliterati. /s
@Diego Duarte
I haven’t heard Kaitlin Bennett say anything explicitly about Thelma and Louise, but her opinions do seem to be right in line with MRAs in everything she has said.
Surely the ultimate man-hating movie is Fried Green Tomatoes. But that would require these jackasses to actually be aware of some aspect of pop culture beyond the most superficial googling for something to whine about.
@Dalillama
Haven’t seen that movie, but another that could qualify is the 1976 short film based on Valerie Solanas’s SCUM Manifesto. I can only imagine the meltdown MRAs would have upon discovering the manifesto itself.
@Naglfar: True, female misogyny is unfortunately a thing, with some even being rather strident in their denunciation of feminism (lookin’ at you Phyllis Schlafly and Ann Coulter). Then again by MRA “standards” I probably count as a male misandrist…
@Dalillama: Oh wow I’d forgotten about that one. I also liked it when I saw it as a teen IIRC. In any case both films probably warrant a rewatch; somehow neither ever struck me as actually “man-hating” anyway. Probably my upbringing as a pinko libtard soyboy beta simp cuck. /S
@Paireon:
They’re man-hating because they occasionally portray white men as less than perfect.
@Paireon
Speaking of Phyllis Schlafly, I’ve still been meaning to watch the new show about her. I heard good things about the show, plus her son who runs Conservapedia is outraged so it must be at least somewhat decent.
@Naglfar
I was mostly referencing her odious personality and her knack for harassing vulnerable groups, which is right up there with MRAs toxic masculinity issues. She is one person who does not seem to mind all the toxicity spewing out from her side.
Fried Green Tomatoes is so good. It was one of my favorite movies as a kid.
I somehow didn’t notice that it really gay until I was an adult though. Even though it’s very obvious!
Totally a fuck the patriarchy movie.
ETA: It’s also anti-racism. So there’s really nothing in it that MRA types would approve of.
I can’t imagine them liking The Shape of Water, either.
Why do I get the impression this girlfriend might go to a different school we haven’t heard of before in Canada?
Can’t remember the name of the recent movie, but it shows a dad telling his teen daughter’s slumber party not to stay awake talking about Brad Pitt. They exchange blank looks, say “who?” and one girl finally remembers, ” you know, that old guy….”
> Man-hating
I can not wait for them to do a remix of the Weird Al Yankovik parody “White and nerdy” with all their seriousness. Something like “They see me manin’, they hatin’, i know that they think i am so white and manly”…
It’s not a film, but I always thought the ultimate man-hating piece of feminist media was the Dixie Chicks’ masterpiece “Goodbye Earl.”
Well, if “the ultimate feminist, man hating movie” came out nearly 30 years ago, the MRA should be celebrating that the patriarchy still mostly controls what movies get made.
The ultimate? Citation needed. Also, your “girlfriend’s” head would explode if she saw Dogfight. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogfight_(film) Or One Thousand Pieces of Gold. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thousand_Pieces_of_Gold Or Hester Street. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hester_Street_(film) Or The Color Purple. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Color_Purple_(film) All of the female leads are oppressed by both the patriarchy and the cruelty of individual men. Each of them finds a way to assert herself and find happiness. These films almost made my own head explode — in a good way.
I can’t neglect to mention — and I hope your girlfriend is sitting down — I Shot Andy Warhol. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Shot_Andy_Warhol The “I” of the title is the woman the manosphere loves to hate, Valerie Solanas. You know, the author of the SCUM (Society for Cutting Up Men) manifesto. Now that your girlfriend knows about this movie, I expect there will be quite a few rants about it from indignant manospherians.
Is she including the Harvey Keitel character, the tough, experienced police detective who also has a heart? That’s too bad.
Did your girlfriend ever explain why she thinks they’re villains? Also, have you noticed that she uses the word “ultimate” a lot?
OT, but every time I see “femoid” (which I assume is pronounced with a long “e” as in “feeeemale”), I can’t help but think of the sphenoid bone in the skull (the one shaped like a butterfly).
@Fishy Goat
I saw that film, and while I don’t think it was bad, I don’t necessarily think it was Oscar worthy. For the most part, it was just weird. Not quite sure why it won.
@Occasional Reader
I’d expect that their remix would be a disgrace to the original, as is every manosphere song parody. It just seems that manospherians can’t write a half-listenable song to save their lives.
@Prith kDar
Given that (at least some) manospherians are obsessed with skull shape, that is an interesting coincidence.
@Prith kDar
Not that it’s terribly important really, but I’d always assumed it was pronounced with a short ‘e’ as in “feminine”. Is anyone able to give a definitive answer, if there is one?