We Hunted the Mammoth: The FAQ-ening
Q) A mammoth, huh? What’s this blog about?
A) Misogyny, not mammoths.
Specifically, this blog focuses on what I call the “New Misogyny,” an angry antifeminist backlash that has emerged like a boil on the ass of the internet over the last decade or so. These aren’t your traditional misogynists – the social conservatives and religious fundamentalists who make up much of the far right.
These are guys, mostly, who range in age from their teens to their fifties, who have embraced misogyny as an ideology, as a sort of symbolic solution to the frustrations in their lives – whether financial, social, or sexual.
Some of them identify as Men’s Rights Activists, trying to cast their peculiar struggle against what they see as the excess of feminism and the advantages of women as a civil rights issue of sorts. Alongside those who explicitly label themselves MRAs we find a great number of antifeminist and antiwomen activists we might call Men’s Rights-adjacent – like those in the Skeptic and Atheist subcultures who still haven’t gotten over an offhand remark Skepchick founder Rebecca Watson made about a dude in an elevator a couple of years ago.
Others proclaim themselves Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW), declaring a sort of independence from women – while spending much of their time on message boards talking endlessly about them.
Still others see themselves as Pickup Artists (PUA), or masters of “Game,” espousing elaborate “scientific” theories of male superiority while trading tips on how best to pressure or manipulate drunk women into bed. This misogynistic wing of the PUA subculture has a considerable overlap with a subset of traditionalist and far-right blogs. Many of those in what has come to be called “the manosphere” — hey, don’t blame me, I didn’t come up with that name — don’t simply embrace misogyny; they also proudly embrace “scientific” racism and other bigotries.
Still, while some of the New Misogynists see themselves as conservatives, even “neo-reactionaries,” many identify themselves as libertarians or even as liberals. Theirs is a backlash that frames itself as a step forward.
That said, there are numerous posts here that don’t have anything to do with MRAs or MGTOWers or PUAs or any of their ilk. Sometimes I like to post cat pics.
Q) Ok, but you still haven’t explained the mammoth thing.
A) This is a reference to a quote I once posted from a dude who felt women weren’t sufficiently appreciative of what men had supposedly done for them over the ages. Here’s the quote, in all of its weird glory:
We men built a nice safe world for you all the the coal-mines of death, roads, railroads, bridges and tall office buildings. Its $1,000,000 spent per death of a man on a large dangerous project on average now you can just 9-5 it and call it a day in air-conditioned and heated safety. Forget about the wars we died in and the sacrifices made just ignore history or is it now hersorty? You are accruing the benefits without ever having to pay the price you still don’t have to sign up for the draft and who will protect you? The Sex and the City girls will fight off the North Koreans with their Manolo Blahniks?
Men gave you this modern world now you take it for granted we hunted the mammoth to feed you we died in burning buildings and were gassed in the trenches but that was just for fun right?
How quick and conveniently you forget who made this possible.
We gave you Leonardo da Vinci, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy not to mention countless others, Jonas Salk saved half the world from death and you just piss on it all.
This quote is such an amazing clusterfuck of misogyny, entitlement and unwarranted self-importance – not to mention historical ignorance – that the bit about mammoths became a catchphrase around here, neatly conveying pretty much everything this blog is against. And so I decided to make it the name of the blog.
Q) And who exactly are you?
A) David Futrelle. I’m a freelance writer and blogger living in Evanston, IL, and the guy behind the Confused Cats Against Feminism blog. For more on my illustrious career, see the David Futrelle FAQ.
Q) You’re against the Men’s Rights movement. Are you against men having rights?
A) Of course not. As hundreds of posts on this site show pretty clearly, the so-called Men’s Rights Movement is a hateful, reactionary movement driven largely by misogyny and hatred of feminism. It doesn’t help men. It encourages them to scapegoat women and stew in their own bitterness.
Q) Are you secretly funded by the international feminist conspiracy?
A) No. I’m not funded by any organization. Some readers have very kindly given me donations. You can too, if you wish.
Q) What’s with all the cat pictures?
A) I like cats.
About citing sources: Sou at the HotWhopper blog uses a service to archive the target web page (climate denial websites in her case). That means you can very visibly provide the link to exactly what you were reading, rather than hiding a link to whatever is present now (particularly useful if your mark decides to modify their page to look less stupid — though MRAs don’t seem to mind). As a bonus, readers don’t end up with MRA sites in their history. Maybe check out that system?
@Everyone who replied to my question
Thank you for the responses, they really helped. I haven’t heard of bio-centrism before, so I’ll have to Google that part.
I never use female without also using male…same goes for girl vs guy or man vs woman. For example, I’d never write a post talking about men and females, just as I don’t use the word “boy” when talking about adult men or “girl” when discussing adult women. In cases like those, yes, I can certainly see how they’d be dehumanizing (not to mention stupid sounding).
As for mish-mashing gender vs sex, that doesn’t really happen on my end. A few commenters might get them confused or use them interchangeably, but as my sex is female and my gender is male, I don’t make that mistake.
I appreciate everyone’s help with this. Thank you all again.
Here’s a difference between mra’s andlibertarians. MRA’s think that women owe men sex and other service. Libertarians think no one owes anyone anything. Libertarians don’t say all for me, nothing for you, they say everyone keep their own, unless they consent to trade or donate.
*sigh*
Russia gets “Pussy Riot” and all the US can manage is “Pussy Power Tantrum”. It could be worse, I suppose – I bet fucking Switzerland has to settle for “Pussy Tepid Disagreement”.
RE: Rilian
Libertarians don’t say all for me, nothing for you, they say everyone keep their own, unless they consent to trade or donate.
And yet abortion is still something being debated about there.
RE: Phlebas
I have no idea what it is you’re trying to say. What on EARTH is a Pussy Power Tantrum supposed to be, besides a riot grrl band?
You’re right. “I’ve got mine, so screw you” would be more accurate.
Like I said.
And dude, unless you’re a literal hermit, there’s no such thing as “your own”. Human beings have been dividing their labor and combining the fruits thereof since before we were even homo sapiens. Whether it’s Ug gathering roots while Og builds the fire, or you driving to work on a road someone else built, nobody achieves anything without the aid of others. That’s the glaring flaw in your selfish, ignorant, exploitative ideology.
LBT: I have a friend who’s skeptical and science-minded .. except when it comes to his religion. He refuses to look at argument against it. Similarly, some people fail to apply libertarian principles to everything.
emilygoddes: Am I supposed to respond politely after you called me selfish, ignorant and exploitative?
There is too such a thing as my own. My own body and my own labor, at the very least. If there’s no such thing as my own… then goodbye abortion rights, for one.
No, I called your ideology selfish, ignorant and exploitative. I said nothing about you as a person. You might be quite lovely in person, as long as we didn’t talk about politics.
OK, yes, you own your body and your labor. That’s a fair cop. I’m still not sure how you plan to keep either of those things without assistance from other people, unless you live entirely at subsistence level. By yourself.
I’ve gone to this blog on and off since it was called Manboobz, and I have to say I really like it.
Now, I’ve done some searching, and you don’t seem to have anything on coconut, also known as thatincelblogger. He’s an incel, as the latter name so helpfully explains.
Nestor, I did research on your research, and it turns out thatincelblogger if formerly known as Governments Get Girfriends. I don’t know if he ever got his own posts here, but he did show up for a couple of comment threads and has harassed at least one of the regulars on her Tumblr, so he’s definitely known around here.
[rest of comment deleted by DF; it contained possible personal information on GGG]
I’m not going to be writing about him here.
Cats are dumb and are already all over the damn internet as it is. We need more dog lovers. Dogs kick ass.
wrong; dogs and cats are both equally cute and neither is dumb ^_^
Can I request emus? They’re majestic creatures.
Hi! I really enjoy your writing. I did not know MRA was a thing until I stumbled across your blog. I was wondering, though, are these MRA guys also supportive of gay rights? I would think they would view gay men as, like, supreme beings, since they are 1.) men, and 2.) not slaves to the poon.
Ooh! I love the new name, and have always wanted a shirt but didn’t really fancy the idea of wearing the old name on my chest. Will the shirts be redesigned with the new name?
I am eternally grateful that you are so willing to wade through the toxic waste site and swamp that is the “Manosphere” to report on the troglodyte lifeforms inhabiting that unhealthy patch of land. It is a dirty job and someone has to do it. Keep hunting those Mammoths and watch out for those tar pits.
I love your site! I found you through that deceiving youtube video about domestic abuse that went viral a few days ago, the one where creative editing (let’s call it that) was used, which you showed on your site. I’m so glad you did, big thumbs up to all of you!
wehuntedthemammoth, same lipstick same pig.
It would have been funnier if you’d said, “Same lipstick, different pig.” Or “different lipstick, same pig.” Because you would have been making a point that there was only a superficial change, whereas instead you seem to be implying that there was no change — in which case, what is the point of making a comment at all?
Don’t quit your day job, champ.
Found your blog just yesterday. The mammoth reference struck me instantly as I, being an archaeologist, have had countless entertaining conversations with wide range of I_don’t_know_prehistory_but_Stone_Age people on why women should not pursue a career, and etc.
I really appreciate both the important topics you address and your mocking style. Thank you and best wishes!
*Sorry if any bad English, not my native language.
I hope that those scientists can clone mammoths, so that we can hunt them again.
Like real men!
~
> Men gave you this modern world now you take it for granted we hunted the mammoth to feed you
I agree with it. You did not explain what is wrong with this viewpoint.
It’s laughable. First, you never hunted any mammoth, so you don’t get any credit. Second, women have always made important contributions to civilization, even when men did everything possible to keep us in our “place.” Including gathering and preparing the food, making the clothes, etc. that actually kept people alive. The violence and wars you “protected” women from? The vast majority caused by men. The Holocaust? Men. Finally, we don’t think women are better than men–just not worse. Our contributions are just as vital. Stop trying to belittle them, and we can work as equal partners.
Or, you know, just fuck off. That works too.
That’s because it’s patently absurd to pretty much anyone with two brain cells to rub together.