“Imagine that one day you see, in all seriousness, an announcement regarding the upstart of a male studies program at a major university that has been developed to address, research and educate people on the effects of misandry that is practiced against men and boys across the western world.”
I posted that to Men’s News Daily on January 20th of this year. I had the good fortune to know about the conference well in advance and the privilege of being the first person to write about it. I also had the stress of having to keep my mouth shut till it was time, which is stressful because I am not very good at that.
I had anticipated that there would first be a good deal of skepticism about it from MRA’s, and I wasn’t disappointed. Hell, we still have plenty that are fuming about the minutia of it being called male studies instead of men’s studies, even though it has been well explained that men’s studies has been around and under feminist control for 30 years.
It was also pretty predictable that once the conference took place, replete with esteemed academicians uttering some long absent truths about feminist ideologues, that eyebrows would be raised and heads would turn.
Some of those heads aren’t just turning; they’re spinning like Linda Blair’s on a shaking bed and puking up green sludge.
It is glorious.
And so, in the early stages of what I am quite sure will result in a Texas Death Match, I want to announce some award winners for media coverage of the Big Event.
The first award, for balanced and reasonable coverage, goes to
Dr. Michael Blumenfield, The Huffington Post
Qualifier: Blumenfield wrote his column before the conference and matter-of-factly questioned why anyone would object to such an academic pursuit.
The “Almost Got it Right” Award
Jenna Goudreau, Forbes
Qualifier: Jenna thought we need to address the issues of men, but took exception to Lionel Tiger’s statement at the conference that “A lot of feminist argument is just irritating.” She also made the point that there was no need to denigrate other gender studies in the process, as though they don’t do that themselves without help.
Most Obtuse Coverage
Daniel de Vise, Washington Post
Qualifier: Daniel never heard the word misandry till he read the conference description. Pretty good trick for a “journalist” who practices it. His one attempt at crack analysis was to make fun of Lionel Tiger’s name.
Completely Clueless Coverage Award
Newsweek writers Jessica Bennett and Jesse Ellison on their Equality Myth Blog
Qualifier: The two Jess’s were qualified by, well, their qualifications. They identify themselves on their blog with the trippy triad of Newsweek writers, pop culture enthusiasts and feminists. For opinion on the conference they sought the opinion of the lady cab driver who dropped them off at the event. Next week they are interviewing Pink’s thong designer.
The Psychopulitzer Prize
Amanda Hess, The Washington City Paper
Qualifier: Hess always was a neurotic idiot. But in her coverage of this event she has demonstrated that she is one stress factor away from talking to herself while she pushes a shopping cart down the street with wild streaks of lipstick running up the sides of her face.
The conference, and the idea of uppity males, has so gotten under her skin that she has posted no less than four pieces on it, each one more poorly written, sloppy and bizarre than the one before it- in the last 24 hours. She has also started a twitter campaign to, well, I suppose, roar.
And the final award, The Internet Heisman, goes to the MRA community. If you go through the comment sections on almost all of these articles, you will find an amazing assortment of rational people intellectually bitch slapping every gender ideologue posting their normal drivel. In fact, even on feminist sites like the Jess’s and Hess’s, the majority of comments are pro male studies, and the authors are very well informed.
It must also be noted that the conference has received a great deal of support from the likes of Mike LaSalle, Welmer, Angry Harry, Glenn Sacks, John Dias and a host of other bloggers who will not be mentioned because they are too numerous to ensure they all get credit.
And in the media, we got to see something I am not sure we have ever seen before. Some really nervous feminists.
Like I said, it’s glorious.
More from Paul Elam at A Voice for Men.
