MRA STEM logic in action, from the A Voice for Men Facebook page
Men’s Rights activists like to pretend that the wage gap between men and women is imaginary (it’s not), except when they can use it as an excuse to attack women.
Or, as in the case with the A Voice for Men meme above, a particular woman.
MRAs have had a hate-boner for Emma Watson ever since she helped the United Nations launch its global HeForShe campaign. Now they hate her even more for pointing out the actual true fact that male actors get paid more than their female counterparts for similar roles.
But the folks running A Voice for Men’s meme machine apparently don’t think any woman should be allowed to complain about the gender wage gap unless they are quite literally the poorest woman in the world.
I mean, if Emma Watson can’t complain about the gender wage gap because “the woman who puts her make up on” earns less than she does, her makeup artist can’t complain about the gender wage gap because she makes more than the nanny who takes care of her kids while she’s putting makeup on Emma Watson. (The median pay for Hollywood makeup artists, as of 2011, was about $88,000 a year; nannies earn considerably less than that.)
But, hey, the McDonald’s employee who takes the nanny’s order at the drive through makes less than the nanny, so the nanny can’t complain about a gender wage gap either.
It’s lower-paid-women-turtles all the way down.
The fact that some women earn more than some other women does not mean there is no gender wage gap. Nor does the fact that some women earn more than some men mean that men are the ones who are truly oppressed, an argument that former AVFM managing editor Dean Esmay actually tried to make during an ill-fated television appearance a couple of years ago.
The existence of one form of inequality (or oppression) does not mean that other forms of inequality (or oppression) don’t count. It just makes things more complicated. If MRAs were actually interested in anything beyond cheap rhetorical “gotchas” (that generally collapse the moment they meet the real world) they would know this. But they aren’t, so they don’t.
Brilliant work, MRA meme-makers! You have truly mastered the art of the self-own.
When we say “equal pay” we don’t mean everyone should make the same salary, memebro.
The other day I overheard two male coworkers talking. I didn’t hear the whole conversation, but one of them said, “…the women are asking for equal pay!” while laughing and the other laughed in response. I have no idea what the context was, but I had to leave my desk to cool down a bit because I can’t think of a context where that’s funny.
Are they being purposely obtuse at this point or are they that clueless about what the wage gap is?
Yes
Alright, then they can’t complain about paying child support if there’s someone who pays more for child support than they do.
They can’t complain about supporting women by offering to buy them drinks if someone buys more drinks and pays more money to support women.
They can’t complain about the draft when there are still child soldiers.
They can’t complain about “false rape accusations” when more people get falsely accused of murder or theft.
See? I can play this bullshit Oppression Olympics game too.
MRAs are just the creamiest sometimes; the gotchas are a pain in the ass.
You reckon there’ll be another further reading article on wage gap issues like you did long ago? There’s social research aplenty
True.
Is this meme maker saying that everyone should have the same amount of wealth? Because that’s pretty much the exact opposite ideal of the objectivism that MRAs tend to gravitate towards.
actual possible problem with Watson, though: I saw people on Twitter saying she’s named in the Panama Papers as someone hiding her money in tax havens. this, if true, is quite troubling from someone who was supposed to be one of the “good ones.”
does anyone know more?
Shorter AVFMorons: “You’re not REALLY oppressed, and we’re gonna beat you senseless with stupid memes until you ARE!”
Don’t anyone explain capitalism to these tools. They would only claim WE invented it.
Being named in the Panama Papers is proof of nothing. She clearly has enough wealth to have money in offshore accounts; that is a problem only if it’s hidden wealth. At this point I don’t know of any information detailing whether Watson was actually trying to evade taxes or just diversify her holdings the way the money manager for an extremely rich artist will naturally direct her to do.
I will be quite disappointed if it turns out she was up to something. I thought she was one of the good ones, too. But keep in mind it’s way too early to start deciding she’s not.
Hey dude, I’m down with universal basic income if you are.
@D.D Webb
I haven’t decided anything. that’s why I qualified my post with words like “possible” and “if true.”
at this point I literally know nothing more than some people I follow on Twitter were talking about it.
I just want to note that right now I have a tomcat crying like a MRA because I had to take Carisma out of Kitty Loveshack, because said tomcat was blocking her access to food and water and wasn’t letting her properly rest between kitty hankypanky. (Considering that we’ve been getting high temperature spikes, blocking access to water is not a good thing.)
65 to 67 days ’till kittens. (Hopefully so.)
@Skiriki
Misandry!
Same logic as:
“Scientists declare that global warming is a serious environmental problem but right now it’s cold, so checkmate!”
Also, if MRAs actually had STEM knowledge instead of assuming they ‘naturally’ possess it, they would know better than to create these embarrassing blunders.
kupo:
Totally! My kitties misander under my misandrist command like misandry is going out of fashion!
Fortunately he has shut up for now and is apparently getting some sleep. So are Carisma and Didi.
If rich, famous, powerful people aren’t allowed to point out inequality and injustice because HYPOCRITE!, then nothing will ever get accomp–
Oh. I see how this works.
@PI
They also shouldn’t talk about homeless men if they aren’t homeless themselves, or about male suicide if they’ve never been suicidal.
Their reasoning is so ridiculous, I wonder if they honestly think anyone will fall for it.
I simply do not get what’s so hard to understand about the phrase and concept “equal pay for equal work.”
actor = actor
make-up artist = make-up artist
actor =/= make-up artist
Also note the gender stereotyping of jobs there. It’s not like every make-up artist is a woman.
Dudes love to flip the wage gap discussion to be about what women are worth and especially how they’re overvalued and make too much money.
weirwoodtreehugger:
It’s MRA math:
actor ~= make-up artist ~= all the dumb “make-work” that women do that no one should pay for or care about ever (that isn’t prostitution).
He probably thinks they are lucky to get paid at all.
Yeah, y’all tell her! That’ll learn her to… something, I suppose? Naw, don’t worry about it guys. Totally nailed it. Slap on a weird pic of Ms Watson and your ‘are we the baddies’ logo. The matriarchy is shaking in its boots now
Re: Panama
A millionaire using offshore accounts is like a politician flip flopping. I don’t approve, but it’s gonna take more than just that for me to dislike you. Don’t hate the playa, hate the game, and suchforth
She claims it wasn’t a tax thing. She bought a house thru the company in question due to privacy concerns. Make of that what you will…
Yeah I just think that’s just bad on principle and billions upon billions of dollars robbed from the US government and the people. Seriously anyone who tells me that we can’t afford anything, I can just point to all dat monies and say “I think we could, quite easily in fact.”
Apparently for their satire of feminism it again PR’s away their actions, because again they like the dichotomy of being in power but also to be powerless.
Men shouldn’t complain about shorter average lifespans because there are bugs who have a lifespan measured in days.
Men shouldn’t complain about paying for dinner because men before them HUNTED MAMMOTHS.
(Apparently).
MRAs shouldn’t complain about male suicide when they themselves are still incarnate.
AVFM has managed to outstupid its prior stupidity.
And that prior stupid bar was set quite high.
When I try to understand manosphere memes, I sometimes find myself regressing to a toddler’s sense of morality (where “right” = “what I want”). Viewed through that lens, this meme almost makes sense. “Hermione is sad because some boy has more ice cream than her, and it’s not fair. But this other girl has less ice cream than her, and Hermione doesn’t say that’s not fair, the poopy-head!”
Most of us develop beyond toddler reasoning, though.
Queen Elizabeth II has a higher income than my postman; THE WAGE GAP IS A MYTH!!!
Oprah’s apparently quite wealthy.
CHECKMATE, FEMINISTS!
Speaking of kitty-cat-centric misandry:
I’ve forced my neutered male cat to warm my lap.
Misandry upon misandry.
Nevermind that he swatted me until I let him up and is purring so hard that he’s actually drooling.
It’s misandry all the way down.
Isn’t it mismoggery?
We suffer from that a lot – our neighbour had their mog neutered a bit late and he’s quite tomcattish – lord of the back gardens and has been caught coming in to snaffling our mogs’ food (it is clearly delectable – organic cat biscuit from a local firm and very good for them).
He seems to suffer from catflap envy: our two come and go at will, whereas he and his two sidekicks (sidepaws?) are out of the house when the neighbour is at work.
We have actually considered offering to install a cat flap for them.
Emma Watson complaining that female actors are paid less than their male counterparts is as ridicule as if a male model complained about being paid less than a female model which is something I’ve strangely never heard.
Me being poor, having an opinion on these rich people issues and deciding to take the time to express it on this blog instead of trying to find a way to unpoor myself is even more ridiculous though.
When I was allowed to start dating, it was on the condition that I always, always, always pay for myself, lest the guy think he was “owed” something. The ultimate irony is that it was usually MRA types who objected. I had to thank my mom for providing me with such a great filter for dates.
Which makes sense. Given that she’s a woman celebrity, she needs to deal with the reality of tabloids and stalkers.
@leftwingfox
An openly feminist woman celebrity. If I got the shit she gets on the daily, I’d live offshore
Never see my ass again
My brain Spoonerized that into “We have actually considered offering to install a flat cap for them.”
I work a minimum wage job. Does that mean AVFM is no longer able to complain on my behalf or on the behalf of any other men who makes less than they do? Because that would be great.
Yes, intersectional feminism exists. Yes, people have critiqued Emma Watson being seen as a face of feminism due to representing a fairly privileged demographic. Yes, discussions about the wage gap need to move beyond pushing for more white middle class female CEOs and take lower paid women into account.
As ever, Men’s Rights are right on the pulse. No feminists have ever got around to discussing this *sarcasm*
@Zatar Here’s to hoping…
@ leftwingfox
I suspect she means privacy about finances rather than address though (not that there’s anything wrong with that IMHO)
It’s perhaps also worth noting that if you create a company to own a property and then just buy and sell the company (who’s sole asset is the property) then you only pay tax at 0.5% rather than SDLT (‘stamp duty’) at 4% so that can save you a pretty penny.
(All perfectly legal, just set up a deal like that for a client)
The irony is that this is the kind of logic that you feminists use whenever anyone who happens to be the eebul cis-het white male dares to express concerns. It is clear that feminists believe that so-called privilege overrides actual life circumstances. So white men always have it easy, and if they don’t, then they had better shut the fuck up so they don’t distract from the problems of women and minorities.
You will deny that this is what you believe, but your actions speak louder than your empty words. Every time white people speak, they are drowned out by the shrill whine of the feminist. Is it any wonder that people are fed up with such a hypocritical movement?
NecRoTroll
Oh look, an appropriately named necro-troll.
If you paid attention, Nec, you’d notice that what feminists argue is that lack of privilege on one axis (class, for example) doesn’t erase privilege on another axis (race, for example). So, if you compare a Latina woman and a white woman you’ll find the white woman is more likely to get a response to a job application, more likely to get a job offer, more likely to get paid more, less likely to be assumed part of the cleaning crew, etc. when compared to the Latina woman. The white woman being part of the same economic class as the Latina woman doesn’t mean she isn’t more privileged in those respects.
Dude, no. Just no.
Dude, have you actually looked at the comments section before you posted ?
No, don’t answer. That was a rhetorical question.
Don’t be so hard on Nec. The entire internet is the domain of shrill whiny feminists. If he wants his posts to even exist, he has no choice but to go to an old thread.