'You Can't Have a Conversation About Sexism at Gunpoint '

2014-01-15T07:28:47+00:00

But the power of an accusation of sexism, particularly when a woman is accusing a man, is such that it’s very hard to have anything approaching an actual discussion. His side is already scripted, and his lines consist of craven apology.

This is very true, and despite the flaws of the article, I think it's important to note this.

femdelusion · 2014-01-15T14:12:39+00:00

If you note, also - the tone of the article is such that responses to it, both there and here, are measured. At the time of my writing this, no one on here has had an unkind word to say about the author.

So I would praise the author, Megan McArdle, for writing like this. All too often, the dynamic is rather the following:

Writer, who just happens to be a woman, writes a load of crap in an inflammatory way.
Many (though rarely most) comments are equally crap and inflammatory.
Writer only notices or draws attention to the nasty comments and calls it 'misogyny'.
White knights come to the rescue. Writer's profile goes up.

It's very frustrating, this dynamic. The best writers own the fact that they're provoking intemperate responses. They don't blame it on some pseuciological bogeyman. All the time they're doing that, they're not looking at what they can do to improve things, especially in terms of becoming a better writer. If you use the 'misogyny' dynamic, it locks you into a cycle of mediocrity.

jpflathead · 2014-01-15T07:00:48+00:00

An interesting essay, but I think her proposed conversation at the end is still one sided in that it doesn't seem to include the possibility that the person calling out sexism may in fact be wrong.

Jesus_marley · 2014-01-15T10:05:22+00:00

I get that the opening paragraph is in reference to a previous article but it does raise a very serious question regarding the call of "undue amount of rage and denigration". I didn't see any mention of the possibility that it was even considered that the "undue amount" that women hear when they speak up is not simply just an equal measure that men receive routinely and who, having not normally been subject to it, see it as being a larger portion. It is in keeping with the observation that feminists clamour to have "women treated like men" and then, when that call is obliged, immediately cry misogyny. It certainly is informative though when you consider just how poorly men in society get treated when women who experience the same, see it as hatred against them.

2014-01-15T19:04:59+00:00

You can't have a conversation with feminists at all. You can either let them scream at you, or you can argue with them. A two-way conversation is flat-out impossible.

guywithaccount · 2014-01-16T01:30:54+00:00

The author's premise that accusations of sexism (as well as racism and any other form of political incorrectness or failure to walk on eggshells wrt some "minority" group) can have a very real harmful effect on the target is essentially correct. Her proposal that we lessen the severity of punishment only half-approaches the truth, though:

There is no court and no objective standard of proof to which one so accused can appeal, and none is required to make such an accusation. The only - ONLY! - viable defense against such an attack is to attack the credibility of the accuser or the accusation until no one who matters to the accused cares about the accusation.

It will, therefore, not be possible to remove the metaphorical gun from the gender conversation until feminists abandon harming people who disagree with them by accusing them of thoughtcrime - and since feminists fought long and hard to get this ability, I am not optimistic that they will abandon it within the foreseeable future.

Title	'You Can't Have a Conversation About Sexism at Gunpoint '
Author	EvilPundit
Upvotes	32
Comments	11
Date	January 15, 2014 6:39 AM UTC (12 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/1v9c3f/you_cant_have_a_conversation_about_sexism_at/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/you-cant-have-a-conversation-about-sexism-at.1004855 https://theredarchive.com/post/1004855

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