Mammoth FAQ

We Hunted the Mammoth: The FAQ-ening

Q) A mammoth, huh? What’s this blog about?

A) Misogyny, not mammoths.

Specifically, this blog focuses on what I call the “New Misogyny,” an angry antifeminist backlash that has emerged like a boil on the ass of the internet over the last decade or so. These aren’t your traditional misogynists – the social conservatives and religious fundamentalists who make up much of the far right.

These are guys, mostly, who range in age from their teens to their fifties, who have embraced misogyny as an ideology, as a sort of symbolic solution to the frustrations in their lives – whether financial, social, or sexual.

Some of them identify as Men’s Rights Activists, trying to cast their peculiar struggle against what they see as the excess of feminism and the advantages of women as a civil rights issue of sorts. Alongside those who explicitly label themselves MRAs we find a great number of antifeminist and antiwomen activists we might call Men’s Rights-adjacent – like those in the Skeptic and Atheist subcultures who still haven’t gotten over an offhand remark Skepchick founder Rebecca Watson made about a dude in an elevator a couple of years ago.

Others proclaim themselves Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW), declaring a sort of independence from women – while spending much of their time on message boards talking endlessly about them.

Still others see themselves as Pickup Artists (PUA), or masters of “Game,” espousing elaborate “scientific” theories of male superiority while trading tips on how best to pressure or manipulate drunk women into bed. This misogynistic wing of the PUA subculture has a considerable overlap with a subset of traditionalist and far-right blogs. Many of those in what has come to be called “the manosphere” — hey, don’t blame me, I didn’t come up with that name — don’t simply embrace misogyny; they also proudly embrace “scientific” racism and other bigotries.

Still, while some of the New Misogynists see themselves as conservatives, even “neo-reactionaries,” many identify themselves as libertarians or even as liberals. Theirs is a backlash that frames itself as a step forward.

That said, there are numerous posts here that don’t have anything to do with MRAs or MGTOWers or PUAs or any of their ilk. Sometimes I like to post cat pics.

Q) Ok, but you still haven’t explained the mammoth thing.

A) This is a reference to a quote I once posted from a dude who felt women weren’t sufficiently appreciative of what men had supposedly done for them over the ages. Here’s the quote, in all of its weird glory:

We men built a nice safe world for you all the the coal-mines of death, roads, railroads, bridges and tall office buildings. Its $1,000,000 spent per death of a man on a large dangerous project on average now you can just 9-5 it and call it a day in air-conditioned and heated safety. Forget about the wars we died in and the sacrifices made just ignore history or is it now hersorty? You are accruing the benefits without ever having to pay the price you still don’t have to sign up for the draft and who will protect you? The Sex and the City girls will fight off the North Koreans with their Manolo Blahniks?

Men gave you this modern world now you take it for granted we hunted the mammoth to feed you we died in burning buildings and were gassed in the trenches but that was just for fun right?

How quick and conveniently you forget who made this possible.

We gave you Leonardo da Vinci, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy not to mention countless others, Jonas Salk saved half the world from death and you just piss on it all.

This quote is such an amazing clusterfuck of misogyny, entitlement and unwarranted self-importance – not to mention historical ignorance – that the bit about mammoths became a catchphrase around here, neatly conveying pretty much everything this blog is against. And so I decided to make it the name of the blog.

Q) Wasn’t this blog called Man Boobz before?

A) Yes. That was a name I came up with on the spur of the moment when I first started this blog. But it was kind of a dopey name. It didn’t really fit what the blog has become, and I got a bit tired of explaining it to people.

Q) What were you thinking?

A) You see, the “Man Boobz” in question are the misogynistic dudes I write about on this blog. The term “boob,” in addition to meaning “breast,” can also mean “a nincompoop.” It’s a … double entendre? Ha ha!

Q) But you call yourself Manboobz, right?

A) No. I did post as Manboobz on a few sites, but just to identify myself as being connected to this blog. I’ve switched to using my real name.

Q) And what is that?

A) David Futrelle. I’m a freelance writer and blogger living in Chicago, and the guy behind the Confused Cats Against Feminism blog. For more on my illustrious career, see the David Futrelle FAQ.

Q) Do you hate men?

A) Nope.

Q) You’re against the Men’s Rights movement. Are you against men having rights?

A) Of course not. As hundreds of posts on this site show pretty clearly, the so-called Men’s Rights Movement is a hateful, reactionary movement driven largely by misogyny and hatred of feminism. It doesn’t help men. It encourages them to scapegoat women and stew in their own bitterness.

Q) Are you a feminist?

A) Well, yeah. Somehow this wasn’t really a big deal to anyone until I started making fun of misogynists online.

Q) So you admit that you’re not an objective journalist?

A) No one is an objective journalist. But I try to be fair and accurate and upfront about my opinions.

Q) If you’re a feminist, why do you let misogynists and other trolls post comments on your blog?

A) The point of this blog is to expose misogynists and the terrible things they say. So if misogynists want to come here and expose themselves with their own words, I say, why not let them? The feminist commenters here generally enjoy batting them around like a cat toy. That said, I ban those who are abusive, and I’m now setting aside some “no-troll, no-MRA” threads for those who want to discuss the issues, or whatever else they want to discuss, without being derailed or dogged by misogynists.

Q) Are you secretly funded by the international feminist conspiracy?

A) No. I’m not funded by any organization. Some readers have very kindly given me donations. You can too, if you wish. Click that button over there on the right.

Q) Do you advocate killing children?

A) No. Misogynists are assholes, and they tend not to like this blog. So they make up ridiculous shit about me all the time. If a misogynist or MRA says something about me, it is most likely completely untrue. Check their sources, if they have any, and you’ll see that their claims are bullshit.

Q) I heard some MRAs call you fat. Are you fat?

A) Yes, I am fat. This is one of the very few true things MRAs ever say about me. For some reason they like to mention this a lot, as if it’s somehow a rebuttal of what I write.

Q) What’s with all the cat pictures?

A) I like cats.

Q) One last question, what’s the deal with that “Buy on Amazon, Support WHTM” thing? 

A) That’s my Amazon affiliate link. If you buy stuff on Amazon after clicking that link, or any of my other links to Amazon — like this one right here — I will get a little kickback, at no additional cost to you. It’s a handy way to support the site without spending anything extra.

Or, as Amazon’s lawyers would prefer I put it:

David Futrelle is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.