Can we actively discourage using words like 'Femsplain' and 'Wymyn/wimmins'?

planned_serendipity1 · 2014-05-22T17:30:11+00:00

No, sarcasm and satire are perfect forms of expression. Also venting should be ok.

Samurai007_ · 2014-05-22T17:56:46+00:00

1) Terms like "mansplaining" and "womyn" are not reserved to radical feminists, they are mainstream among feminists.

2) Our tone has little to no bearing on how we will be treated by feminists. A recent interview with GirlWritesWhat talked about how different men's groups with entirely opposite approaches (one being confrontational and the other being PC and non-confrontational) drew very similar reactions from Feminists groups. In fact, the non-confrontational one actually drew a greater amount of hatred and vitriol, though that might have been related to the city it was in. The point is, anyone who thinks we only need to moderate our language in order to be accepted as "fellow egalitarians" by feminists is dead wrong. They will hate you no matter what, and if you show them weakness, that just encourages them to be nastier.

3) As was said, we don't have language police and PC enforcers here, nor do we want them. And if feminists don't like their own insulting language turned around and used back at them, they should think about their own actions.

TRPACC · 2014-05-22T19:14:55+00:00

I think we should discourage people from talking about amr as if what they say or do matters.

IgnatiusBSamson · 2014-05-22T17:22:50+00:00

Femsplain is hilarious. Wymyn is hilarious. Satire is as powerful as critique. Excelsior, I say.

typhonblue · 2014-05-22T17:41:22+00:00

If it gives us more attention, it's good.

We're not at the point where we can start picking and choosing the type of attention we get.

HolySchmoly · 2014-05-22T19:41:51+00:00

If you don't mind, i'd rather you don't try to word-police the sub.

IS44 · 2014-05-22T17:19:16+00:00

This is a legitimate concern to have, certainly. The problem is, though, that no matter what image we place, there's always going to be a gaggle of feminists who will actively criticize r/MR and the goals the sub works for.

I'm not saying there isn't room for improvement (and indeed, you do well by reminding people to be mindful of the terms they use), but I am saying that a lot of the "IDGAF" attitude towards using sarcastic and satirical commentary comes from being sick and tired of not being heard either way.

I like satire - it criticizes use of terms like "mansplaining" in its own way, and it riles people up into anger, which is an improvement from simply ignoring or dismissing the MRM. Sometimes civil discussion is good; other times, only satire or mockery can get the job done. There's a balance there, somewhere.

This is a fabulous example of fine-line sarcastic mockery, because it takes a feminist's words and turns them right back against her, while still holding the point that constant whinging gets people nowhere.

Nomenimion · 2014-05-22T17:20:37+00:00

No, we don't need language policing.

Image. People see this and consider the MRA subreddit to be no better than the stereotypical Tumblr feminist. And since the movement is small. Image IS an issue which needs to be controlled.

Image is not 'an issue that needs to be controlled.' Really, what people think of us has nothing to do with how we behave, anyhow.

Anyone offering to be our nanny should be considered a threat.

rbrockway · 2014-05-23T01:51:11+00:00

Absolutely agree that we should avoid terms like femsplaining. I was tempted to start a thread like this myself. Here are the rules I use during any advocacy.

BlackMRA-edtastic · 2014-05-22T17:13:58+00:00

We so aren't freaking there yet so quit looking for excuses to obsess over what women want and what they like. Men by nature care about women and love women. Feminist on the other hand take that tendency and turn it against men to get whatever they put on their wish list while demonizing men as much as possible to sustain a eternal guilt trip employing the vilest negative stereotyping they can get away with.

Femspllian is for FEMINIST. Thats an ideology not a innate human group. 'What about the wymn' Never seen that in my entire life until you posted it here nor Femsplain for that matter.

If you were raising serious women's issues or problems I'd be with you but it seems your consumed with some PC B.S and I'm not the least bit interested with trying to appease people who's mission in life is to make sure males suffering never gets equal compassion.

Your links don't point to a trend. It's isolated but you're all consumed with protecting the ladies from minor rhetorical when you should be developing equal compassion for men. We barely scratch the surface on men's issues here so a pity party for the ladies at this point is unjustified and distracting.

Nomenimion · 2014-05-22T17:36:36+00:00

Censorship is for cowards. We should tell the truth as forcefully as possible, and fuck 'em if they don't like it.

jpflathead · 2014-05-22T22:06:13+00:00

femsplain is perfectly reasonable and accurately describes the very real phenomena of how feminists deal with arguments and people they dislike. Is it a comment on feminist argumentation techniques.

femsplain is satirical.

femsplain reflects on their very bullshit gross sweeping generalization of mansplain which stereotypes and essentializes half the population.

femsplain is not crude nor reference any body parts

You're out of order. This whole thread is out of order.

2014-05-22T20:14:26+00:00

I feel like you're unfamiliar with womynists.

deejaweej · 2014-05-22T22:59:48+00:00

I like the discussion you're raising here. I for one get disheartened by such bitter satire. These replies aren't encouraging though. I'd like to respond to the people who claim this is tone or word policing.

While it is certainly a request or a plea for different words and tone, it's a far cry from policing. OP isn't asking for mods to enforce this, or to down vote someone who doesn't follow the approved tone. He's asking people to consider changing their actions because they want to. If they don't want to, they don't have to. I imagine many won't. But some might. And not because they were forced to or would be rejected otherwise. Some might just like his reasons.

Basically, it's not policing because it doesn't call for enforcement. So for all you who don't want tone policing, I'm with you. But this isn't that battle.

aussietoads · 2014-05-23T01:28:36+00:00

Actually I'm glad feminists refer to themselves as womyn or wimyn. It helps to clearly delineate them from the other 80% of rational normal women, and other rational normal men.

rg57 · 2014-05-23T01:32:55+00:00

No.

While it may be politically a bad move for men's rights organizations and activists to use the terms "femsplain" and "wymyn", this is a sub for the users of the sub, not all of whom agree on everything. What drew me to this sub was that I saw posters were permitted to write reasonably, or even emotionally, about something and not get censored. I don't see why it makes sense to you to ADOPT the flawed feminist strategy of aggressive word-policing, in order to ELIMINATE duplicating the flawed feminist strategy of name-calling.

And I can't take seriously any post mentioning circle-jerking. It's about as useful a phrase as "check your privilege" is, and in the same way. (But by no means would I prevent you from saying it)

oscillating000 · 2014-05-23T04:00:16+00:00

It's truly a shame that OP is being downvoted into oblivion for making such a common-sense post.

DavidByron2 · 2014-05-22T17:57:12+00:00

And since the movement is small. Image IS an issue

Isn't that the opposite? Because it's small image isn't an issue.

2014-05-22T18:54:47+00:00

Image -- I don't give a shit. Most of the things people blame this place for are things which didn't actually happen to begin with, so it's clear that most of the people who MRAs just hate them because they want to hate them.

Circle-Jerking -- Lmao. Every sub has a problem with circle-jerking.

And we do it because we're tired of meeting the snarky derision of feminists with earnestness. They don't deserve it, and it just plain doesn't work.

Fetish_Goth · 2014-05-22T20:47:49+00:00

Nothing derails a discussion like complaining about tone.

ThePigmanAgain · 2014-05-22T23:02:01+00:00

Concerned, huh? Go away now.

MRSPArchiver · 2014-05-22T17:01:53+00:00

Post text automatically copied here. (Why?) (Report a problem.)

DavidByron2 · 2014-05-22T18:03:42+00:00

If you pretend that "manspalining" is an actual thing then I guess the equivalent is "nagging". Women tend to nag. A lot. That's proverbial. If feminists want to say, hey look one sex tends to lecture and badger the other too much, then I think an honest examination of the data would say that sex is women.

So it's ironic but nobody here cares to make a list of possible shortcomings common to women. Just not interested.

If you pretend that "manspalining" is an actual thing that's where you go wrong. Assuming feminists talk about real stuff. They don't. "mansplaining" is just hate speech. It's just another word made up to denigrate men. That's it's entire reason for being.

avantvernacular · 2014-05-22T20:22:34+00:00

I agree. We need to be better than those who would seek to destroy us and harm men.

Mythandros · 2014-05-22T22:25:51+00:00

No. If they can use the language, we should communicate with them on a level they understand.

Besides, they are perfectly valid and accurate terms.

guywithaccount · 2014-05-23T08:11:01+00:00

Image IS an issue which needs to be controlled.

If MRAs don't say what you want, why don't you fire them? Oh right: it's because they're not your employees and you have no control over them.

Belief in control you don't actually have is a nasty delusion.

Title	Can we actively discourage using words like 'Femsplain' and 'Wymyn/wimmins'?
Author	Qhost
Upvotes	40
Comments	79
Date	May 22, 2014 5:01 PM UTC (12 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/mensrights/comments/2681w6/can-we-actively-discourage-using-words-like-/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/can-we-actively-discourage-using-words-like.1617393 https://theredarchive.com/post/1617393

Comments