To hear some Men’s Rightsers tell it, one of the cruellest injustices against men in our allegedly gynocentric world is that men can’t punch women without everybody getting all mad at them.
“Equal rights, Equal Fights,” is their rallying cry. If women are allowed to punch men, men should be allowed to punch them right back, even if the woman in question is half their size. More radical sorts don’t even bother claiming self-defense. “Equal Rights, Equal Lefts,” they declare, as if women should be punched for simply having the right to vote.
Never mind that the world isn’t one giant boxing ring in which everybody is punching everyone else all the time. I mean, seriously, the last time I punched someone I was in 6th grade, and it was definitely self-defense. Are the rest of you getting into fist fights on a regular basis? Did I miss a memo or something?
Oh, and never mind also that punching men isn’t actually considered ok, as the “Equal Rights Equal FIghts” crowd assert. For one thing, it’s illegal. It’s battery, and if you punch someone hard enough you could find yourself charged with a felony.
Luckily for us all, one bold anonymous Redditor has a solution for the problem: just let women punch him — again and again until he dies, thus becoming a martyr for Men’s RIghts (to punch women).
Somehow a dozen Men’s Rights Redditors found this strange and baffling proposal inspiring enough to warrant an upvote.
Men’s Rights activists are weird.
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@ rusalka
There’s also that thing that ‘respect’ has at least two meanings.
And oftentimes people who say “I’ll respect you, if you respect me.” conflate the two.
What they mean is, If you want me to tolerate your right to exist, then you must show me deference.
…this is just the “step on me mommy” meme with with extra words.
@Cyborgette, @hammerofglass – *waves hello!* Yeah, maybe the idea turns him on, or maybe it’s just a fantasy of being important. Like when I was a kid, I’d imagine dangerous situations where I’d rescue others, e.g. stopping a shooting by tackling the shooter and making them let go of the weapon (as if that’d be so easy, past self!!)…not because I really wanted those things to happen, but because I’d get to be the (imaginary) hero.
Technically, I’ve never been in a “fist fight”. I was punched once by a boy at school in 4th grade after I told him that his ability to make farting sounds with his hands was not “magic” as he claimed 😛
On a more serious note, for a long time I had a problem with hitting people, mostly family members, when I got angry. Usually slapping them in the face. So it’s not just men who have violent tempers.
(You’d think this would be long in the past – I’m 33 – but the last time was in March 2020, when my mother said something homophobic. I lost my temper and slapped her on the top of her head. She was wearing a hood, and it wasn’t a hard blow physically, but because of our history it was an especially horrible thing to do, even if what she said was wrong. And when I was younger I didn’t hurt anyone for “righteous” causes – it was just because I got angry or wanted to intimidate them.) 🙁
But if I’d ever slapped anyone I was dating (I haven’t), I wouldn’t think them wrong to defend themselves physically. Or through the courts afterwards. At the very least, I’d expect them to break up with me and cut off all contact.
Generally, I don’t think anyone should be violent unless it’s self-defense.
If you can’t imagine a woman threatening a man, that is misogyny. If you seriously think this guy has a fetish for women beating him you are projecting. Maybe it is just my brand of cynicism that says people are irrational but not malicious, delusional but not lying. While these guys are probably genuinely scared of women that doesn’t mean their fear is based in reality. A lot of them claim to have abusive mothers or traumatic divorces, though it could be simple as gender specific social anxiety combined with A LOT of confirmation bias.
One of the more fundamental principles of patriarchy is that the actions of women are treated as less important than the actions of men. To point out that this can benefit a woman who did something bad isn’t even “the other side of the coin” it is just pointing out that the principle exists by itself for itself. It is not enacted because a man thought it would benefit himself, it occurs because we all grew up in a patriarchy and it is human nature to replicate the culture we grew up with. So check yourself before you automatically assume that whatever the woman did it must be less significant than whatever the man did. MRAs themselves don’t really deserve the benefit of the doubt, but don’t let that warp your thinking.
I don’t know if the police have a man vs woman bias during domestic abuse calls. What I have read suggests they generally don’t take it seriously either way. There is a number of stereotypes that could shape an officer’s first impression. Wife beaters are often depicted as drunk and poor. Violent women are either complete sociopaths or hysterical and if anything are depicted as relatively wealthy. So ironically if I had to guess I think socioeconomic class would be the tie-breaker, but really I think most cops would let everyone off with a warning precisely because they don’t know what to do without a clear victim and perpetrator.
Ogden Nash to the contrary, there is such a thing as Aa three L lama: one hell of a hot fire.
It’s because of all the times that women have gotten away with it. My own mother, a FEMINIST by the way, taught me about it. Now, of course, not all get away with it. Some obviously get thrown in jail or probation or whatever, which I’m glad of, because assault is wrong.
However, many get away with it. I shall compile a list of examples, of YouTube videos and articles and the like, and present them in a comment below.
Also, just saying, but the only time I got in a fist fight was with a girl, but she was bullying my sister, and I made sure she hit me first before I hit her back. And then we got in a fight.
But yeah, it’s moreso those times.
Also, I refuse to support anyone who assaults someone for no reason, so for the MRAs who do that (or even those that support MRAs or just want to hit someone), you are a terrible person that needs help.
But yeah, those are the situations that I bring up. I think the only time it’s ok is in self-defense, after the person hit you.
Also, it doesn’t matter size. She could be stronger than the man. A woman who lifts 100 pounds and a man who lifts 100 pounds have the same strength.
But don’t overdo the self-defense, either. Don’t wail on them. Only give them what they gave you.
And this goes for either gender.
Also I know women can hit hard. I’m physically female, and don’t work out (previously this was because of laziness, but now it’s possible that I may have accidentally gotten pregnant, so not fun, but at least I’m almost18, so I won’t have to stay home and possibly be pressured into an abortion, because I personally wouldn’t want one), but I can slap someone so hard that they feel it beyond 24 hours (the person asked me to, as I found found I have an iron grip and they wanted to know if I could really slap hard). I can’t punch for the life of me, but I can certainly slap. Though I don’t go around doing it.
But yeah, that’s all I had to say on this, unless someone would like to talk further about it?
@alan Robertshaw. haha ! You’re right ! He was listening to the mashed potato! I haven’t heard this song In forever. Actually it’s a cute song. Roosh is not cute nor is he a good person and I don’t know about his alleged conversion. In the right place he would be in prison.
@QuantumInc –
Agreed with the first part, but not necessarily the second – I don’t think people were projecting, it seemed more a reaction to how over-the-top the original statement was. But people will interpret things based on patterns they’ve seen before. E.g. to me his post reminded me of the (non-sexual, in this case) fantasy of wanting to feel important.
Anyway, the amount of times that MRAs blame women for their problems suggests that many of them are acting in bad faith, because it’s possible to have abusive mothers and partners and not blame all women.
But your point on the violence is well-taken; we shouldn’t minimize violence committed by women. And also sorry for responding 5 days later! Things have been busy.