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.
Now in black hats world: voting against Hitler is the same as voting for Hitler . It was literally impossible to not be a Nazi in 1932.
@David Futrelle
Your house, your rules but I’m really surprised : even if you don’t agree with the Femen using their body as a political arm, you do, at least, realize that removing a video of one of their protests because we see their breasts in it is a huge symbolical victory of the conservatives who are supposed to be the common enemy of both you and the Femen?
@Howard Bannister
Yeah and I know pretty well the French far-right. The huge thing now in the French far-right is the anti-islam thing and the French far-right being in essence a place of strange unnatural alliances, we’ve seen coming a new kind of nationalist-compatible feminist pro-lgbt discourse, especially since Marine Le Pen is the president of the Front National, there have been an alliance between the bloc identitaire, the racialist ones and riposte laïque which is full of feminists and ex-leftists and there is, in the anti-Islam part of the far-right, a discourse which say “violences against women = Islam”, “Islam is bad because it’s against women’s rights” à la Geert Wilders, all these people wouldn’t be able to agree on anything apart from their opposition to Islam, but that always have been the point of French far-right : the place where people don’t agree between themselves on anything but on what they don’t like.
You shouldn’t be surprise, after all, in your country, the KKK guy, David Duke calls openly to an alliance with black people… against the Jews. It seems to be a international standard with far-right.
Want women to serve? In the armed forces?
I think you will find that it is the MRA’s who want this. Paul Elam wants an Equal Rights Amendment that would make all this possible.
With the bonus of exposing feminist dishonesty on the subject too.
@ matilda
Has it occurred to you that the feminist worldview IS a strict gender role.
Woman = victim.
Men= oppressor.
Always and everywhere forever.
Also…
Heh. That’s right. I don’t like men very much. I mean, sure, I like myself just fine, and other men I know, and men I know via the Interwebs. But I don’t find them necessary!
…
Oh, wait, that’s predicated on ignoring the gender of roughly the people here. Whoops, your exclusionary rhetoric.
…
Oh, wait, the women here have been open and welcoming, even on those occasions I’ve shown my ass.
…
It’s almost as if you were talking out of your ass and had absolutely no relation to reality! Weird!
…
It’s as if it’s not MEN they don’t like, but raging haters–like you!
Oh my lack of god, he IS Owly’s son!
@ Aruba
Well here we have a problem, because the information I am getting is directly opposite. It may be that you hang out with feminists- some of which have bad history with men. I avoid them- too much drama and craziness.
This is not to say that EVERYTHING feminists say has been done to them is a lie.
Just most of it.
Ha! Projection at it’s finest.
“I deny that everything you say has been your lived experience ever happened. I label you all liars. Hey, I’ve been polite, why are you so mad?”
Because you’re a fuck-face, Black-Hat. You are a slandering (libelous, actually) fuck with no manners, no decency, and a load of hostility that you hide in your ‘polite’ language.
Fuck you.
Does “as is this was your experience” mean “as if this was your experience?” Because if so, yes, I does sound a lot like I’m writing about my own experiences when I write about my own experiences. Good job. Interesting that you’re willing to grant that I’m telling the truth but unwilling to accept that my experiences with harassment might mirror those of other women, and yet you have no problem assuming that most of us are lying to brag about how sexy we are on the Internet 9_9.
*Waves at Aruba* Hi, sorry you have to deal with creeps. It is icky.
Scoop : there’s Jews who hang out with antisemitic far-right guys and who’re liked by them. Gilad Atzmon, the guys of Neturei Karta, Norman Finkelstein (he’s not close to far-right groups but the antisemitics looove him very much).
It’s a BS argument.
Hi Viscaria! Yes, those experiences were disgusting. It doesn’t happen now*, maybe because I don’t look weak anymore? I don’t think I’ve changed that much physically.
Fedora, believe it or not I never talk about feminism with any of my friends, male or female. I only talk about gender issues with my mother and my girlfriend. Sometimes with my brother as well.
*sometimes guys I want as friends try to hit on me. I guess I am a friend-zoning bitch.
As I amy have mentioned a few days ago, Blachhead’s posting style:
Black is white
Brown is purple
All feminists are Hitler
and that’s real.
@ Hat:
I don’t know who matilda is but if you think “feminist” gender binary is:
Woman = victim.
Men= oppressor.
Then why were you accusing them of supporting Hitler’s “what are young men for? (if not to die in wars)”? Who would those young men oppress with their dying?! How would they victimize women with their death?
Does not compute.
So If you insist on building strawmen is it too much to ask that you at least keep them consistent. Because this is ridiculous.
Consistency requires thought. If there’s one thing I’m pretty sure we won’t be seeing out of the MRM, it’s thought.
Well, decency. But thought too!
By the way Fedora, oddly enough I don’t consider to have had bad experiences with men in general. When those things were happening to me I thought it was normal. Weird, huh?
Reading now my last comment seems as if those experiences weren’t bad. They were really bad, I just mean that I didn’t extrapolate what a few guys did to the rest of the male half of the population. I’m not so good in English, sorry.
@ matilda
i said Hitler was a feminist in his own way and then defined what was meant by it. Obviously he was not a believer in patriarchy theory but he bought in to the woman-pure man-fallen worldview.
Of course if you end up dead it makes very little difference if the cause is patriarchy theory or not. The effects are identical.
@ Malita
oops sorry.
Hi Aruba,
Are you new here? Or have I just missed seeing your name? Just in case, I wanted to offer you a Man Boobz welcome package:
http://artistryforfeminismandkittens.wordpress.com/the-official-man-boobz-complimentary-welcome-package/
To everyone, You all responded to Hatsy very heroically, but I can’t be bothered anymore since all he does is lie, lie, lie. Luckily he seems to mostly visit when I sleep. Yeah for time zones!
@ Aruba
Human beings are strong. Bad things happen to us all and we recover- as long as we do not adopt a victim persona.
I have met happy people in wheelchairs and unhappy people who act like victims for no real reason. One of the biggest problems I have with feminism is that it encourages people to see themselves as helpless victims- which completely destroys them.
I sense that you own your own strength which is good.
Oh damn the lying liar is still here.
Thank you Cloudiah! Yes I’m new, this is my second time commenting here.
One of the biggest problems I have with district attorneys in murder cases is the way they encourage juries to view the murdered person as a victim. It’s terrible.
@ Malitia
L was referring to the way feminists relate to male victims- particularly ‘comical’ ones such as castrations and prostate cancer (‘bobbiting’ jokes and so on). They also show contempt for men who kill themselves which is happening more and more due to feminist policies.
It is the attitude that men are utilities to be consumed for the benefit of women- not human beings at all. At base it is a horror of any man who is weak.
Which specifically feminist qualities are causing “more and more” men to kill themselves?