We Hunted The Mammoth
The #MasculinitySoFragile hashtag took off yesterday after a Buzzfeed article highlighted a bunch of products being marketed to men with some of the most cartoonish evocations of old-school masculinity you could possibly imagine, from grenade-shaped shower puffs for men to Man Chocolate.
The point of the hashtag was fairly obvious: to look at, and mock, the ways these ads try to capitalize on male insecurities and suggest ways men can free themselves from destructive stereotypes of masculinity.
Well, it seems that some of the good folks on the Men’s Rights subreddit have taken issue with my post this morning congratulating them on their massive victory in brigading their preferred definition of “MRA” into the top spot on Urban Dictionary. Apparently they think I was trying to brigade their victory away from them.
Let’s take a look at some of their specific complaints, shall we?
Never let it be said that Men’s Rights Activists cannot effect meaningful change in the real world through the power of their activism.
At least if your definition of “effecting meaningful change in the real world” is “voting their preferred definition of MRA to the top spot on Urban Dictionary.”
It’s not exactly news, at least to long-time readers of this site, that A Voice for Men’s tinpot dictator Paul Elam can’t take criticism — especially when it comes from fellow Men’s Rights activists.
But who knew Elam was so allergic to criticism that he would declare that MRAs who expressed any sort of uneasiness with that embarrassing video he posted to YouTube earlier this week, featuring a drunken Elam and a small group of equally drunken acolytes making crude sexual remarks about two prominent feminist writers, were a bunch of “cowards, cunts [and] concern trolls” who would no longer be welcome at AVFM.
I learn a lot from reading the Men’s Rights subreddit. For example, I learned today that feminism can’t win, because it’s impossible, but that if it does win, feminists will throw all of us men into prison and use us for breeding. Though they won’t actually be able to throw us in prison. Then Muslims will take over, unless they don’t.
Let’s let the fella who calls himself 192873982 explain, because reading back over that last paragraph, I have to say it doesn’t seem to make much sense:
Milo Yiannopoulos, Breitbart “journalist” and full-time GamerGate panderer, has weighed in on the topic of the day amongst woman-hating dudes: sexbots, and how non-robot women are going to be so sorry when men desert them en masse for sexy, uncomplaining lady robots.
His 1800-word post on the subject covers pretty much all of the standard manosphere talking points on the coming sexbot utopia for men; he even manages to quote (approvingly, of course) our old friend Heartiste, the woman-hating white-supremacist pickup guru.
Reddit MRAs are all in a tizzy about the evil feminist plot to deprive them of sexbots that don’t yet exist.
Playing the part of “the feminists” in this scenario: two European robot ethicists — that is, two human beings who study the ethical issues raised by robotics — who have launched what they call a Campaign Against Sex Robots. Their concern? That sex robots will “contribute to inequalities in society” and “further objectif[y] women and children.”
“They’re called tropes in games or something like that?”
— Brad Wardell, Game developer and Anita Sarkeesian expert
The Sarkeesian Effect, which premiered as a $3.99 “on demand” video on Vimeo yesterday, and which I forced myself to watch all two and a half hours of, is not so much a “documentary” as an object lesson in why it’s never a good idea to hand over tens of thousands of dollars to hateful, incompetent ideologues barely capable of making mediocre YouTube videos and expect them to produce a documentary that looks even vaguely professional.
Is the Men’s Rights Movement a bunch of middle-aged creeps obsessed with the sexuality of women young enough to be their daughters?
Judging from this video, shot at the first A Voice for Men “family reunion,” the answer is “yes.” Also, the Men’s Rights movement is drunk.
So it turns out that Toronto poster promoting A Voice for Men (by snottily taking down to women) wasn’t actually an official AVFM production. Or at least it probably wasn’t.
Even the folks at AVFM are a little unsure on that point. But one thing is clear: AVFM thinks the poster is AWESOME!
Here’s what amounts to an official statement on the subject, from AVFM’s Facebook page.