An Appeal to Male Feminists

tenchineuro · 2018-03-25T11:36:27+00:00

For years and years now, by men claiming to speak on my behalf from a platform of feminism, I have been directly and inferentially informed that I can be victimized by men’s shirts, advertisements with slim models, and ideas I don’t like. I am then told which ideas I should not like and which I must support. I receive explanations that I am incapable of dealing with the occasional asshole and will be traumatized if someone is mean to me. Your “feminism” would have me believe that I must fear male violence at all times and experience men as intimidating. Thanks to your softer bigotry, I apparently need speaking to softly and kindly and never being disagreed with lest my lived experience be denied, because, as a woman, I’m to understand I can so easily be erased. (It is, however, evidently just fine to disagree with me that its OK to disagree with me and to patronize me with explanations that “mansplaining” is a real thing.) You tell me I cannot be heard on my own terms, that I need men to be quiet on social media for my message to rise above the din and to give me their platforms and amplify my voice, or else people won’t know I exist. Very commonly you tell me this, completely unironically, whilst completely lacking any kind of platform or significant readership because you do not have anything intelligent or interesting to say.

She says she's no longer a feminist, but she blames male feminists for repeating feminist memes created by female feminists.

Color me unconvinced that she has eschewed feminism.

My instinctive reaction to your patronizing sexism is indignation bordering on rage.

Rage at male feminists, not feminism.

She's still a feminist, she's just not using the union label.

William__F0ster · 2018-03-25T10:02:29+00:00

Also from Helen Pluckrose, from 2016, 'Why I No Longer Identify as a Feminist'

Liberal feminist aims gradually shifted from the position:

“Everyone deserves human rights and equality, and feminism focuses on achieving them for women.”

to

“Individuals and groups of all sexes, races, religions and sexualities have their own truths, norms and values. All truths, cultural norms and moral values are equal. Those of white, Western, heterosexual men have unfairly dominated in the past so now they and all their ideas must be set aside for marginalized groups.”

Liberal feminism had shifted from the universality of equal human rights to identity politics. [ ... ]

So aware of Western imperialism having trampled on other cultures historically, Western liberal feminism now embraced their most patriarchal aspects. A Western liberal feminist can, on the same day, take part in a slut walk to protest Western women being judged by their clothing and accuse anyone criticizing the niqab of Islamophobia. She can demand the prosecution of a Christian baker for refusing to bake a wedding cake for a same sex-couple, and condemn the planning of a Gay Pride march through a heavily Muslim area as racist. Many intersectional feminists do not limit themselves to the criticism of other white, Western feminists but pour vitriolic, racist abuse on liberal Muslim and ex-Muslim feminists and LGBT activists. The misogyny and homophobia of Christianity may be criticized by all (quite rightly) but the misogyny and homophobia of Islam by none, not even Muslims. The right to criticize one’s own culture and religion is seemingly restricted to white westerners ...

Universal liberal feminists were horrified by this development. Our old adversaries, the radical feminists, looked positively rational in comparison.

As interesting as this is, I feel I have to take slight issue with this. I actually think feminism proper has always been radical and revolutionary - and as a consequence also generally quite spiteful and malevolent.

I think Pluckrose has mistakenly understood what she calls there "[u]niversal liberal feminists" as having been at the core of feminism, when in fact that kind of feminism has always been peripheral and marginal and barely counts as feminism at all. I think it is a case of the scales finally falling from Pluckrose's eyes rather than - as she seems to characterise it - a shift in the movement.

I appear to be about the same age as Pluckrose and so when she says:

I criticized sexist attitudes at work, which were still quite unapologetic in the 90s, informing my boss that he was a “good boy” when he called me a “good girl” and refusing to say anything apart from “cheep” to any man who referred to me as a “bird.” Liberal feminism was aggressive then, but a quite different quality of aggression to the spiteful malevolence we see now. It was optimistic, almost playful.

She is surely wearing rose tinted spectacles or at least presenting a highly subjective and personal view to think of feminism in the 90s as being "optimistic, almost playful".

The Duluth Model was developed in the 1980s and the 1980s also saw the widely publicised Dworkin-MacKinnon Antipornography Civil Rights Ordinance - there was nothing "optimistic, almost playful" about either of those developments and I don't believe it's right to characterise those moves as 'radical' in opposition to 'liberal' feminism as the latter was clearly so unimportant to the whole.

Pluckrose also seems to have forgotten that the 'Lads Mags' and Lad culture of Loaded, Nuts and Zoo - scurrilous men's magazines about beer, sex, and football - were created specifically as a backlash to what was then seen as the developing dominant image of men as refined wine drinking 'metrosexuals' who came about as people found they had more money to spend (or credit card bills to run up anyway).

For a brief moment in the 1990s there was the appearance of the Spice Girls and women who could have it all, but then they melted away as fast as the snowflakes who came to replace them.

Karma9999 · 2018-03-25T03:27:01+00:00

An excellent short article, I love that attitude.

pb568 · 2018-03-25T04:01:22+00:00

That is an amazing read.

jacksleepshere · 2018-03-26T01:11:25+00:00

Perhaps he needs to feel that society recognizes him as superior to me because he is afraid he is not?

Sums up all male feminists, shitheads.

She doesn't sound like a modern feminist, she sounds like how I would want modern feminists to sound like.

Rethgil · 2018-03-27T21:05:29+00:00

The article still betrays her lack of ability to give men equality.

The short version of the article is: "Woman claims shes not as evil as she was before, but is still pretty evil".

RPWarelosers · 2018-03-25T05:12:57+00:00

ets just makе it lеgаl to rаpе all womеn!! I'm alrеady tеаching both of my dаughtеrs that women desеrve it when they get rаpеd bеcause of what fucking losеrs everyone knows femаles аre! So that both my daughters understand that it is a positive when men rape losers like a woman!!

Mensmоd even alrеady told mе that she supports making it lеgal for womеn to be rаpеd too also!!

Lets make it lеgаl to rаpе anything that even sounds аs pаthеtic аs а waste of life like a womеn!!!

Title	An Appeal to Male Feminists
Author	EricAllonde
Upvotes	86
Comments	13
Date	March 24, 2018 11:47 PM UTC (8 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/86x0r2/an_appeal_to_male_feminists/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/an-appeal-to-male-feminists.903832 https://theredarchive.com/post/903832

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