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.
Maybe Dar is secretly a mosquito.
He really does think feminists have a hivemind, or that we obey Katie’s directives, instead of just people, replying to the things he said that really resonated with each individual.
SFHC:
Mosquitos bite, suck, and whine.
@isidore13:
AGREED FELLOW FEMINIST
LET US MAINTAIN THE DECEPTION THAT WE ARE NOT A HIVEMIND UNDER KATIE’S DIRECT CONTROL
I LAUGH AT THE SUGGESTION WITH MY HUMAN MOUTH
HA HA HA
Hmm, that sterile male plan sounds an awful lot like mosquito sexbots. Are we sure the scientists aren’t really trying to make the females regret wasting their youthful beauty riding the thorax carousel?
@Argenti and pecunium – thanks for the info on hermit crabs. It rarely gets hot and dry where we live, so I think it wouldn’t be too hard to maintain humidity. I might hold off until the boys are a bit older and can understand how to handle them without letting them escape into the house or getting the dreaded Pinch of Doom. I have a bit of pincerphobia myself, having grown up swimming in a lake full of crayfish. Thankfully I never got nipped, but it was freaky having them scuttling around my feet and knowing they were lurking in dark places. We used to go out with a flashlight at night and shine it into the water, and there would be hundreds of them all over the bottom. It was a good incentive to learn how to swim 🙂
Is this supposed to be disappointing somehow?
Anyway I mostly came to this thread to say hi to all of the people who haven’t been in a while :).
Side note: does anyone else have the problem where they are logged into WordPress, but when they try to comment it says “error: Please enter required fields (name, email address) so you have to go back, copy your comment, sign out, enter all your info, paste your comment, and sign back in again? Super frustrating, especially on a little phone.
Not at all – I responded purely to a disgusting comment that you made about my wife’s attitude towards our children, initially as a sweeping generalisation and then as a direct personal attack.
A woman whom you’ve never met, have never communicated with in any way and cannot name even by her initials, and yet you still presumed to know her own mind better than she herself does.
This is just about the most extreme instance of mansplaining that I’ve encountered to date – and of course reveals not so much volumes as encyclopaedias about yourself and your overweening arrogance in the process. Nothing that we didn’t already suspect, of course, but it’s good to be certain.
Dar is banned, for repeated violations of the comment policy and generally being an ass. Sorry I didn’t do t sooner.
Please don’t apologise – it’s quite hard to be genuinely offended by a comment that’s so flailingly mistargeted that it ends up clobbering the commenter instead.
^ yep
Buttercup — I wouldn’t worry too much about the Pinch of Doom, I kept them on and off for like 15 years and got it once, and the crayfish you fear have never gotten me, despite catching them in my hands at every chance. So for wee kids, better to play it safe perhaps, for us adults? Swim without fear!
And hi Viscaria 🙂
I’ve only ever seen one crayfish in a lake, and it was blue, but then I’ve never gone out with a flashlight after dark.
I’ll have to remember to try it when the kids are older.
What does irritate me about swimming in a lake is 1) squelchy and sharp underfoot, by turns, instead of sandy; and 2) little nibbling minnows think I’m deadwood and try to scrape food off me.
But then I can hold my hands flat under a few inches of water and see fish swim past above them.
Aw, but how will I keep my garden fertilized without the nightly manure delivery?
Thanks for that, David. Dar was so tedious, he was starting to bore even himself.
Hi Viscaria! Good to see you here.
The crayfish have all vanished from the lake where we used to swim, which seems like another one of those worrisome canary-in-the-coalmine climate change symptoms. The lake’s been heavily built up and developed over the past 30 years. Now there’s a lot more runoff (from pesticides and fertilizers), a lot more boat traffic, and a lot more spotlights shining out on the water at night. Crayfish are nocturnal and need darkness to breed and eat, so it’s possible that light pollution might be a big contributor. The last one I saw in the wild was around 15 years ago. It’s strange, considering how ubiquitous they once were. We’d catch them by the dozens to go dump out in the cove.
I guess it’s good my kids have one less extra thing to worry about when swimming, but it makes me uneasy.
@Dar
“You can’t win by arguments, so you win by spam.
Fuck you and your circle-cunt-jerk website.”
That’s rich coming from him…
Dar…if you still reading this I can say good luck to you on finding your own circle-cunt-jerk-website.
Now fuck off,ASSWIPE.
@viscaria
I do have that problem every now and then when posting from my phone. Even when I’m perfectly logged in, and posted comments in the same time frame.
Absolutely frustrating, hehe.
I’m glad Dar is gone, but why can’t teal deer trolls be more entertaining? He missed so many opportunities to be extra-hilarious because of all the insulting and clueless ranting.
@Dar
Oh, dar. You’ll be missed… Like a hole in the head. Ta ta, you boring asshole.
Thanks for helping him stick the flounce, David.
Why can’t everybody just be asexual?
I’ve been reading and listening to MRAs and so far I’ve only heard 1 making retrograde comments. Most of them usually talk about rising consciousness of issues that affect both genders but that are mostly associated to women: rape, wage gap, discrimination, etc. Most of them dislike feminism because of the negative comments on masculinity that its ‘theoreticians’ (couldn’t think of another word) make. I don’t particularly like [hardcore] feminism but I don’t think it’s bad. Actually, I think that both feminism and MRAs want the same in essence but the vile has run high in both sides for too long as to actually unite both perspectives into achieving a more balanced and fair society.
Edgar,
If you have not seen MRAs saying anything retrograde, feel free to read this blog. There are lots of examples of MRAs being misogynist and reactionary. Until you do, you can stop the false equivalencies.
Also, please learn the difference between toxic masculinity and men or I’m afraid you won’t be taken remotely seriously here. Thanks!
@Edgar
Have you read any MRA writings ever?
“the vile has run high in both sides for too long”
You never read this blog?
Can you find the same kind of vile that one usually sees on MRAs website over here?
Whores,Cunts,bitches…
Edgar – 5 minutes on AVFM should inform you as to the way ‘MRA’s’ talk about women. That is WOMEN, not feminists. What is clear is that they have HUGE problems with women generally, but use ‘feminist’ to imply that they have a problem with an ideology, rather than women generally.
David, being socially awkward is not the complete picture of the incel. Problem with today’s progressive mind is they recognize human nature but reject it’s always been the same.
They say american girls are annoying, entitled, etc. Jeez, most american men are like that too. Creating 1/3 of the world’s pollution by being consumerist, supporting wars and coup d’etats in other people’s countries (mine included)… The only good thing about americans is that they spend some money in my country, sometimes…