NOTE: This page is in desperate need of revision and expansion. In the meantime, I suggest you use Rationalwiki’s Manosphere Glossary.
For newcomers to this blog, here’s a handy guide to some of the strange acronyms and lingo you’ll encounter here and in the “manosphere” in general. (For a definition of that term, see below.) I will update this entry periodically as needed.
First, the acronyms you’ll see most often here:
MRA: Men’s Rights Activist
MRM: Men’s Rights Movement
MGTOW: Men Going Their Own Way MGHOW: Man Going His Own Way.
Ok, so what do those terms mean?
MRM: The Men’s Rights Movement: A loosely defined, but largely retrograde, collection of activists and internet talkers who fight for what they see as “men’s rights.” Unlike the original Men’s Movement, which was inspired by and heavily influenced by feminism, the self-described Men’s Rights Movement is largely a reactionary movement; with few exceptions, Men’s Rights Activists (or MRAs) are pretty rabidly antifeminist, and many are frankly and sometimes proudly misogynistic. Those who oppose the MRM are generally not against men’s rights per se; they are opposed to those who’ve turned those two words into a synonym for some pretty backwards notions.
MGTOW: Men Going Their Own Way: As the name suggests, MGTOW is a lot like lesbian separatism, but for straight dudes. MGTOW often talk vaguely about seeking “independence” from western and/or consumer culture, and a few MGTOW try to live that sort of zen existence. But most of those who embrace the term have a deep hostility towards and/or profound distrust of feminists and women in general. Many MGTOW refuse to date “western women” and some try to avoid women altogether. I think the Man Going His Own Way acronym MGHOW adds another layer of confusion to an already awkward acronym, so I use MGTOWer instead.
Some other terms and acronyms you’ll run across here:
Anglosphere: Countries in which English is the primary language, or, more narrowly, those countries that used to be British colonies. They are full of evil Western Women (see below).
Incel: Involuntarily Celibate. A term, and identity, adopted by some dateless guys (as well as some women, but it’s the men we’ll focus on here). While there is nothing shameful about being dateless, or a virgin, or having a really long dry spell sexually — most of us have been there at some point — the term “involuntarily celibate” seems to suggest that the world owes incels sex, and that women who turn down incel men for dates or sex are somehow oppressing them. For those (male, straight) incels who are genuinely socially awkward or phobic, this can be a self-defeating stance that can lead to bitterness towards women. And often does.
Mangina: Derogatory term used by MRAs, MGTOW, etc. to describe guys who disagree with them — e.g., me. You can figure out the various connotations of this term yourself.
The Manosphere: The loose collection of blogs, message boards, and other sites run by and/or read by MRAs, MGTOW, and assorted friendly Pick-up Artists. The primary source of material for this blog.
NAWALT: Not All Women Are Like That. Dudes in the manosphere make so many ridiculous and untrue generalizations about women that they’ve come up with their own little acronym to describe the most common reaction to their nonsense: “not all women are like that.” Remarkably, many seem to think that making a reference to NAWALT is actually some sort of clever rebuttal of their critics.
PUA: Pick-up Artist. PUAs are obsessed with mastering what they see as the ultimate set of techniques and attitudes — known as “Game” — that will enable them to quickly seduce almost any woman they want. There is a vast literature on “game” online, though PUA (insofar as it is not complete bullshit) is at its essence simply a male version of the age-old ploy of “playing hard to get.”
Western Women: Also known as WW. Evil harpies, at least according to many in the manosphere. Contrasted with “foreign women,” a term that (in the manosphere, at least) sometimes refers to all women outside the Anglosphere, but often refers to a subset of these women from poor and/or Eastern countries, mostly Asian, who are regarded as more pliable and thus more desirable to haters of “Ameriskanks” and other WW.
God damnit I am sick to death lately of cis men talking about abortion. Shut your damn mouth Dar.
Between this and all the Planned Parenthood shit lately, its enough to make me Hulk Smash things. Uggghhh.
@Argenti: Nobody died in those episodes, though. They all come back. In many ways that’s the frustrating thing about it: viewed cynically, nothing ever makes a difference.
And the tads were going to boil in the kiddie pool, it being July and then August (because mommy and daddy frog loved each other very much, and apparently very frequently). Not like the world is going to miss frogs, but ignoring it wasn’t an option.
http://i.imgur.com/12mX59B.jpg
Most recent photo of the sprogs. They’re into trains, and my boy just had to have tubes put in his ears.
Aww, look at how cute they are! And as somebody who got swimmers ear like it was an annual ritual, I feel for your boy.
Nobody died except Skaro, so idk if it counts for the very short list where Nobody Dies… which makes me question that cynical view since, you know, Dareks, sewers, ewwwwww.
Also, our (semi) aquatic friends appreciate your assistance. At least tadpoles grow up and lose their gills… unlike someone who is flicking hers at me!
Awww, how cute, Falconer! They’re getting so big. I love their contrasting facial expressions.
Here are mine at the playground last weekend. Twin #1 (on the left) is the YUCK to Twin #2’s YUM.
@Argenti – Do you have any experience with hermit crabs? My kids fell in love with them at the beach this summer and wanted to get some as pets. I don’t know much about them, but my impression is they’re pretty high maintenance and need to be kept at a very specific humidity and temperature. We know a family that has two hermit crabs (named Cutest and Mrs. Whatsit), but the mom is home during the day and is able to look after them. I’m thinking fish would probably be a better choice.
D’aww, more adorable twins!
Yeah, I’ve had hermit crabs, at the same time as fish even, I’d venture the crabs might be easier actually. Unless you get cold water fish (goldfish and some catfish basically) you’ll have the tempature problem with either, and crabs aren’t going to freak out if it hits 100F, fish… ice cubes are your friend. The humidity thing is fairly simple too — lots of natural sponges in their enclosure, which, if you use a glass aquarium, traps a lot of moisture on its own. Certainly less lugging buckets of water around when it comes to cleaning up after crabs, they are escape artists though, and social, you must keep at least a pair — a solid screen lid with a book on top should keep them in (if they go missing, check nearby plants, one of mine decided to escape and moult in the flower pot)
Big crab issue really is that they do pinch, not often, and they tend to let go, but of the two fish have never made me scream in pain. (Granted, getting bitten by Puff hurt like hell, but that was a couple months ago, the crab bite of doom was when I was a kid, and that’s really the important part here!)
If they’re old/mature enough to understand that animals bite/pinch, sometimes for reasons that don’t make sense to us humans, and you’re up for having to check the humidity daily and top off the water dishes if needed, I’d say go for it. The humidity thing… cheap way is a like $5 thing you stick on the tank and look at, stick (natural) sponges in small dishes, refill the dishes when the sponges dry // humidity drops. Expensive way is one of those fancy mister systems people get for tropical reptiles and amphibians — hermit crabs are not nearly that picky, and neither is Darwin (w00t for desert tortoises being low maintence), but my brother has a friend with one if you want more info? Honestly I’d just go sponges though, they need the sponges anyways since they drink water but can drown so a sponge in their water dish solves that problem.
Other than the laziest creature in existence (Nivi), they are probably the lowest maintence pet I’ve had. Those shiny tetras all blue and red that seem like great first fish? Not as hardy as they look, I bought ten for the downstairs tank expecting some would die, we seem to have evened out to a school of 6 — idk how well toddlers would take that. If you do go fish, I’d suggest the first tank resident be a catfish that stays small, an algae eater (not pleco, different species) or similar, they’re fairly hardy fish for that ammonia cycle new tank period.
What adorable twins, Buttercup!
Wow, tl;dar sure is dense.
“No you dumb feminist fool, that’s not how it work! The one who natural accepted wisdom and canon is the one who gives citation.
If I say men are generally taller than women, I don’t need a God-damned citation, it is YOU who challenge such an assetion who needs a citation.”
And I DID give a citation. You, on the other hand, have not.
“You deny that most societies through-out world history were “patriarchal”? If so, how dio THAT come about, if not from biological impreatives.”
Agriculture. I already fucking said it and the link that you OBVIOUSLY didn’t read said so as well.
“As for the bonobos, again 100% irrelevant! I never claimed that women don’t enjoy sex, therefore that female bonobos have sex year-round means zilch.”
How fucking stupid do you have to be to forget that YOU WERE THE ONE WHO SAID THAT PRIMATES SHOWED EVIDENCE OF GENDER ROLES. If bonobos are irrelevant then you are conceding the point that primates show evidence that transitional gender roles are natural.
“Read the book, you idiot. And no, you don’t live in the “real world”, you live in a feminist circle-jerk bubble where your idiocy is re-inforced by fellow travellers.”
Why should I read your shitty biased book when you won’t even check out my links?
And wow, apparently you seem convinced that people are not in fact individuals who are each different? Do back that up with some evidence please. I want explicit proof that all men are identical to each other and all women are identical to each other.
“Ah yes, another feminist tactic, analogize your bullshit with racism.”
Ah yes, the typical ‘feminist’ tactic of comparing two words that have an almost identical definition.
Racism, n, “Discrimination based on race”
Sexism, n, “Discrimination based on gender”
Yeah. How ‘devious’ of me to compare these two.
It’s funny how many sexist bigots clearly understand that racism is ‘bad’ but have trouble seeing why sexism is ‘bad’ even though they are exactly the same thing.
“I never said women were inferior. YOU, as a moron feminist thinkgs that being a woman doing womanly things is “inferior”. You want women doing man things.”
What the fuck are you talking about? When have I ever said that being a woman and doing womanly things is ‘inferior’? That’s a pretty offensive implication.
Also what the fuck is a “man thing”? I want women to do whatever the fuck they want to do and not be discriminated against. Oh geez, how horrible of me to want that!
“As for blacks and racism. Bzzzzz! Sorry, doesn’t wiork that way. There is hardly any difference between a black man and a white man, but there IS a difference between a man and a woman.”
Actually it does “wiork” that way. Someone who thinks ‘whites are inferior to blacks’ is being racist. Someone who thinks ‘women are inferior to men’ is being sexist.
And again, I asked but you dodged the question last time: WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN AS DESCRIBED IN THAT BOOK?
I heard a news report a while ago that said scientists were trying to get rid of mosquitoes in a natural way by cultivating really handsome (by mosquito standards) males that were biological dead ends and couldn’t breed, so all the female mosquitoes would flock to these dead-end males and not reproduce.
Same here. I can get swimmer’s ear from the shower if I don’t put earplugs in. ; n ; I just want to be able to shower without them, but nooooooo.
re Hermit Crabs: They aren’t, as rule too much trouble, though making sure they get variety in food is requisite. They like to burrow, and can decide to be unseen for days/weeks. I’ve lost a couple to causes unknown; because I’m not sure when they died.
Humidity is usually pretty easy to manage, sponges, and a stick on sensor (I’d use one at either end of the tank; one end also with a ceramic heating element).
That said, I’ve not kept any in… more than 20 years, and I suspect the resources for keeping them have improved.
re Dar, well I’m late to that pinata, so I’ll leave it be (for the nonce).
Yeah, stick on heater pads are damned cheap compared to ceramic bulbs (which sucks, cuz guess who has to have the fancy overhead kind?). Other than that not much has changed really…stick on humidity sensors aren’t that new I don’t think, sponges clearly aren’t 😛
Random complaint. Just finished watching the first Star Wars movie with the family, asked if we were putting the second one on now. My fucking brother tried to insist I call it episode five! No. I will, if I must, when the whole franchise is being discussed, but when the very first original movie finishes, the one after it is THE SECOND ONE.
/rant
Just call them by name. Star Wars, Empire, Garbage, More Garbage, Oh, THE HUMANITY!, I CAN’T EVEN!!!!!!
I quite liked I CAN’T EVEN!!!!!! I thought it was the best movie they could have made in the circumstances, and manages to tie up the loose ends as well as could be hoped. Also, John Williams kills it.
For men going their own way thy sure as hell talk about women a lot.
Shouldn’t it be the other way around or do I not understand insects?
@Panda
Mozzies are – *looks over at Darsehole and giggles* – female-dominant, the males only exist to be flying sperm banks, so it makes sense.
@SFHC
Yeah, so wouldn’t it make sense that the guys be blowing their loads into a mosquito that won’t be able to reproduce rather than have females be attracted to the men that won’t? I mean, I know they can choose their partners, but do you have all the males going after one female or do you have all the females going after a few males? Don’t mosquitos and other insect have multiple partners during mating seasons?
@Jackie:
(Disclaimer: I am not a biologist. I do, however, know something about mosquitos because Plasmodium falciparum is something of an interest of mine.)
Mosquitos have sex via enormous three-dimensional flying orgies; you’ve probably noticed these next to lamps outside at night during the summer. The males fly around, displaying their strength and aggression and totally holding frame. When a female feels in the mood, she’ll fly into the swarm and let them fight over her, mating with the winner. Once she’s done that, she’ll fly off to drink enough blood to grow the eggs inside her before they’re laid. A given female can live for 1-4 weeks and will repeat this process every 2-7 days.
If a given female is sterile, she’ll fly into the swarm, have a good time, and then leave. This will not prevent a non-fertile female who’s next in the queue from getting knocked up. This means that sterile females won’t decrease the total birth rate. However, if a given male is sterile then the female whom he seduces will go through the process of developing infertile eggs instead of fertile ones, thus decreasing the total birth rate.
(Each act of mosquito reproduction requires exactly one male and one female; mosquitos have an equal gender ratio at birth, females will have sex 1-3 times a week, and males only live for a week. Therefore, each male mosquito has sex on average 1-3 times in his lifetime. This is probably misleading though, since what we’re more likely to see is that stronger, healthier males have a lot of sex and a lot of whiny Mosquitos Going Their Own Way don’t have any. Not that they really do go their own way, of course. They fly around the swarm, catcalling the female mosquitos and complaining about how they go for Chad Thunderwings instead of a nice mosquito like him, grumble grumble.)
If it helps, think of it this way: A sterile mosquito is, basically, a waste of the sexual cells of the other gender of mosquito. Mosquitos have a lot of leftover sperm they aren’t using, so wasting it via sterile females doesn’t hurt them. On the other hand they tend to use up most of their eggs, so wasting it via sterile males really does hurt them.
@EJ
Ooooh, I didn’t know about the man swarm thingy. That makes more sense, then. Gotcha.
If you fucks think I’m gong to spend seven hours replying to 90 posts, then you’re mistaken.
You’ve proven what intellectual pussies you all are, that you have to rely on that “reply to one line per post”-swarming tactic.
I post one reply per person, you post ten replies per person.
You can’t win by arguments, so you win by spam.
Fuck you and your circle-cunt-jerk website.
Bye, teal Dar.
Don’t call. Don’t write.
Hi Dar!
It’s very tiring trying to explain oneself to a great many hostile voices. I can sympathise with that. As you point out, trying to refute a large number of incoming points can be very difficult, and if you spread yourself that thing you can easily burn out.
Here’s what I recommend:
Instead of diving into a website full of people who’re going to take exception to what you believe, why don’t you write one of your own? Make it an introductory piece which can gradually explain your concepts to people, one at a time, and can help them understand the specialised language and wider reading required.
If you do that, I promise that I absolutely will not read it because I have better things to do, but somebody might; and in any case it’ll be more constructive than disrupting someone else’s website to no effect.
http://i.imgur.com/9E2efK2.jpg
I think Dar assumes every post is directed at him. Even the mosquito conversation.