WTF is a MGTOW? A Glossary

On this blog, MRA does not stand for Magnetic Resonance Angiography

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.

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marinerachel
marinerachel
9 years ago

Weigh should be with.

Sorry!

kirbywarp
kirbywarp
9 years ago

KP is right, though, it isn’t men that will be left with the shit end of the stick after MGTOW well and truely GTOWs. It’ll be the MGTOW.

weirwoodtreehugger
9 years ago

What is a feminist? Somebody who sits on feminists? A feminist who is sitting? Someone who babysits the children of feminists? I need to know!

marinerachel
marinerachel
9 years ago

They’ll be fighting over both ends of the shit stick. Everyone else will be functioning normally and healthily in grownup society.

weirwoodtreehugger
9 years ago

My snark was ruined by autocorrect. I mean what is a feminsit?

Paradoxical Intention
9 years ago

Maybe if you men went your own goddamned way already instead of sitting in the entryway yelling about how we’ll all miss you and be sorry once you’re gone with your little backpack full of cookies and two PB&J sandwiches, you’d be happier too.

katz
9 years ago

Well, I can see society experiencing a sudden spike in correct grammar and spelling in the next decade.

kp
kp
9 years ago

@kirby. You know who complains about spelling and grammar on the internet? People who don’t have a point. So since thats what your complaining about, ill assume that you cant make a proper argument to what im saying. Oh and yes, my sole purpose of writing that was to attract women. Man you’re so clever to see through my ploy!!!! How will i ever get along now? #eyeroll

sparky
sparky
9 years ago

You don’t get the joke, kp. And people are snacking on your grammar because, really, you have nothing original to say. We have heard all of this before. All of it. It’s boring.

Now skedaddle off on your own way, already.

Scented Fucking Hard Chairs
Scented Fucking Hard Chairs
9 years ago

Fuck off, Bigboy.

sparky
sparky
9 years ago

Ha-ha, “snarking,” not “snacking.”

katz
9 years ago

Aww, he put a hashtag in his blog comment. That’ll make him look intelligent!

Snuffy
Snuffy
9 years ago

@kp aren’t you supposed to be “going your own way”? We’ll believe MGTOW’s want noting to do with women when they can manage to actually stop talking about them. Your whining on a feminist blog isn’t going to make women miss you, in fact it makes us want you to leave even more. We’ll be fine without you, toodles!

weirwoodtreehugger
9 years ago

kirby. You know who complains about spelling and grammar on the internet? People who don’t have a point. So since thats what your complaining about, ill assume that you cant make a proper argument to what im saying. Oh and yes, my sole purpose of writing that was to attract women. Man you’re so clever to see through my ploy!!!! How will i ever get along now? #eyeroll

We’re referring to another troll who admitted to negging us with bad spelling and grammar. As others have said, you’ve made no arguments worth seriously debating. So, just go your own way already. Or at least make a point worth engaging. Women are horrible and feminism is bad isn’t going to cut it.

emilygoddess - WHTM Mod
emilygoddess - WHTM Mod
9 years ago

I don’t remember anyone agreeing to a debate, so I don’t think anyone here will cry about “losing” to you. But feel free to pretend that’s a victory – I’m guessing you don’t get many

kirbywarp
kirbywarp
9 years ago

@kp:

I didn’t have any motivation to make a point; your post was just a load of hyperbole. Would you like a serious response? Ok, since you asked. 🙂

Ahhh this site should be renamed you hunted all men.

Yup, this is an understandable sentence alright, one where the biting sarcasm is perfectly understandable and relevant. Good job, you.

MRA is nothing.

Well, there’s one thing we could almost agree on, except that the core beliefs of the MRM are simply reflections of the larger misogynistic culture. The movement is pretty much inconsequential, but the beliefs of the movement are sadly still widespread. Getting better, thankfully, but still widespread.

Feminsit doctorine is too ingrained in this society.

*Whew*, don’t I wish. It’s definitely catching on that women are human beings in every respect that men are, but there’s a backlash that is still coming from people in power.

They will only have minor changes.

Aren’t you optimistic.

The real movement thay will leave a hurt for everyone is MGTOW.

Ah ha ha ha ha, oh my god, that’s a good one.

Oh wait, you’re serious. Let me laugh harder.

BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAA!

It wont be overnight but i see something happening in the next decade.

Dude, it won’t happen *ever*. You want to know why? Because the entire point of MGTOW is that the men involved do nothing. They withdraw from society and do something else. It is, in essence, a boycott and not a campaign. Now, boycotts can certainly affect changes, but only if they are sufficiently large.

Tell me, what percentage of the male population do you think are MGTOW? If you’re guessing even 1%, you’re way, way off.

Men are just abandoning women at a pace that’s alarming.

So you say, but I don’t see any evidence of it. Everyone around me is still pairing off into couples. The marriage rate is going down, but marriage isn’t considered the only means of a relationship anymore. The US birth rate has stayed pretty consistent ever since birth control appeared on the scene, so people are still making babies.

There are some countries where the birth rate is way down, to be sure, but those countries are not representative of any major world-wide trend. And, for extra fun, those countries’ birth rates are declining, in part, because of a culture of extremely rigid gender roles (which feminism fights against and MRAs and MGTOWs fight for).

There is no evidence of any trend of men “abandoning women” for any of the reasons MGTOW suggests, even in the countries with a low birth rate.

Guess who will hold the shit end of the srick when it happens? It won’t be the men.

Right, because it won’t happen. It could never happen. There will never be a global gender split, and the people who advocate for such a thing (MGTOWs, not feminists) are doomed to remain forever extremists.

You’ve been spending too much time in your MGTOW bubble, KP, which is why your comment (the equivalent of standing on the street corner with a sandwich board shouting “the end is nigh”) seems reasonable to you. It’s why you think it even deserves a response, rather than mockery.

kp
kp
9 years ago

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

Mahatma Ghandi.

Remember those words when men are bowing out of the mating game. Funny statiatic, 70% of men under 35 arent married in this country. You can poke fun all you want but when you “ladies” hit that wall around 40, you’ll know exactly whar im talking about. Yes its wkmen who holds the shit end there. Oh and i could care less if females wont miss me. I wont miss them either. But they certainly love giving me what i want. I guess money cetainly talks in this country.

kirbywarp
kirbywarp
9 years ago

@kp:

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

Mahatma Ghandi.

That isn’t a proscription, dude, it’s a description of a pattern meant to inspire people who fight for justice against power. Not every movement that is ignored, laughed at, or fought is successful, or is even worthy of being won. This quote is not an excuse to yell “checkmate” before the game is over.

sparky
sparky
9 years ago

You are a bundle of cliches, kp.

Gandhi never said that.

Scented Fucking Hard Chairs
Scented Fucking Hard Chairs
9 years ago

40, eh? Well, at least this one’s less likely to be a paedophile than the average Man Whining About Feminists On The Internet.

kirbywarp
kirbywarp
9 years ago

@sparky:

Well, you know who resorts to cliches instead of a response on the internet. People who are trying to defend the indefensible, have given up, and have resorted to a spiteful “you’ll be sorry” before they flounce.

kirbywarp
kirbywarp
9 years ago

I might add that I am a man. A significant portion of the people on this forum are men. A significant portion of the feminist movement are men. No matter what MGTOWs do, they will never attract those men over.

In your head, you’re threatening (heterosexual) women with them never being able to find a partner. In those women’s head, you are threatening them with never being able to find a misogynistic asshole as a partner. That… that just isn’t a threat.

Pandapool -- The Species that Endangers YOU (aka Banana Jackie Cake, for those who still want to call me "Banana", "Jackie" or whatever)
Pandapool -- The Species that Endangers YOU (aka Banana Jackie Cake, for those who still want to call me "Banana", "Jackie" or whatever)
9 years ago

@kp

Jobs with equal pay and sperm donors and the ability to be fulfilled with just friendships. Bam. We don’t need men anymore,.

And if men ever stop masterbating for a couple of bucks a pop, scientist have nearly perfected the ability to make sperm and eggs from stem cells in bone marrow. We won’t need any man ever. Hell, we can even choose the gender of the kid since we can make the sperm; give it a couple of centuries or so and the human population will have just as many men as the assari.

Unfortunately for men, wombs are pretty hard to make, unlike sperm, so there won’t be any artificial wombs for a very long time, unlike artificial sperm.

So, in essence, if all men go their own way, we won’t fucking care.

However, not all men are fucking complete assholes, so that will never happen. The only men that will go away are the bigoted assholes like yourself as the next generation becomes increasingly aware of all the horrible shit people do to people and aim to correct and stop it. One day we’ll all live in equality and all this horrible shit people do to each other will be extremely uncommon and taken seriously. No one will think lesser of each other just because of their genitals or skin color or religion, just as it should be.

So, seriously, shut the fuck up and act like a decent human being instead of a fucking dickhead who cares only about how many people they hurt as they spiral down. You’re only driving people away from yourself. You’ll live a better, healthier life if you let go of the hate and enjoy the time you have with friends and family.

weirwoodtreehugger
9 years ago

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

Mahatma Ghandi.

Just because people ignore and laugh at you, doesn’t mean you’ll win. People laugh at Holocaust deniers and flat Earthers and people who find evidence of the Illuminati in Boy Meets World and people who believe in chemtrails too.

Remember those words when men are bowing out of the mating game.

Not so much an issue. http://www.gallup.com/poll/164618/desire-children-norm.aspx

Funny statiatic, 70% of men under 35 arent married in this country.

So? Not married doesn’t mean not partnered. Not married doesn’t mean someone doesn’t want to get married. People are waiting longer and cohabitating first. Thanks in part to feminism, actually. It’s a good thing. Some people don’t want to get married and that’s fine too!

You can poke fun all you want but when you “ladies” hit that wall around 40, you’ll know exactly whar im talking about. Yes its wkmen who holds the shit end there.

How generous of you. Some of your ilk say we hit the wall at 25.

Oh and i could care less if females wont miss me. I wont miss them either. But they certainly love giving me what i want. I guess money cetainly talks in this country.

What does this even mean? You visit sex workers? Okay. Fine. But they don’t love anything about you, you’re a job to them.

kp
kp
9 years ago

http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/mallorymillett/marxist-feminisms-ruined-lives/

For those of you who don’t know the inner workings and philosophy of the feminist, here is and excellent piece from Mallory Millet, sister of 70’s feminist leader Kate Millet. Looks like feminism got all their wishes from the 70’s.

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