Guardian comment moderators: Disagreeing with a woman, or mentioning men's issues, is 'abuse'

EvilPundit · 2014-08-11T09:27:28+00:00

My title is no exaggeration. The editor gave two examples of "abusive" comments which were removed. Here they are:

here is an example of a comment left on Laura Bates article, 10 sexist scenarios women face at work, published on 30 July, which also included some of the worst comments the moderators had seen: "Oh God, another dose of petty feminist whinging from the Graun. Must be that time of the month. When has the guardian's unfounded 'sexism' diatribes ever been about the 'boys?' Whether it's domestic violence articles that ignore the 40% male victims, studies on single parents that are based only on mothers or the complete absence of serious studies on, say, the much higher suicide rates among certain categories of men or the ordeal of single fathers in our incredibly biased court system."

Here is an example of a deleted comment on the Freeman article: "Few men find hairy women sexy. And if feminist women have a problem with that, it's not as though men don't have to maintain and groom themselves either for the opposite sex. This is just more Guardian feminist nonsense. Now women are actually growing out the hair on their bodies just to spite men. And if it's not just to spite men, good luck to you on your own private little endeavour and just keep it to yourselves."

Edit: Some statistical analysis of Guardian censorship.

it_turns_out · 2014-08-11T10:17:57+00:00

The Guardian states that:

"There seems to be a huge backlash against the Guardian's increasing coverage of feminist issues, from more frivolous pieces (body hair, sunbathing topless, anything to do with Beyoncé) to pieces on domestic violence.

They admit they have become a feminist paper. That is fine, but they should not be surprised if men stop reading it and start ridiculing the newspaper.

Following is Guardian readership figures:

http://media.info/newspapers/titles/the-guardian/readership-figures?utm_source=Redirect&utm_medium=mediauk.com

"The Guardian" will not be around for long!

AvgGuy101 · 2014-08-11T10:21:28+00:00

Proof, yet again, that feminists will not tolerate dissent.

Virtually everything they say and do simply proves what their critics, including #womenagainstfeminism say about them.

ThePigmanAgain · 2014-08-11T10:23:00+00:00

"There seems to be a huge backlash against the Guardian's increasing coverage of feminist issues..."

Well, at least now we know we aren't imagining it!

8jh · 2014-08-11T12:29:43+00:00

Isn't the men's rights movement a hate group though? I saw on SNL that they go around getting Planned Parenthood's shut down.

.../s

ZimbaZumba · 2014-08-11T14:45:32+00:00

My comment in case they remove it. :-

On line trolling of comments is a smoke screen to institute the silencing of unpopular opinion and the real opinions of the people. It is akin to publishing who people vote for in an election. Anonymity has an important function in a Democratic Society, voices and opinions can be heard without fear of consequence. As a concept it goes back to Ancient Greece and beyond.

Anonymity comes with a price, however I don't perceive trolling as a particular problem even on unmoderated forums. Pro and cons must be balanced, but frankly a cost benefit analysis of the removing of anonymity simply does not add up. Of late I've been witnessing the influential manufacture a problem to silence those who disagree with them; a tactic that history is littered with.

The most important function of the media is to call the powerful to account, removal of anonymity in comment sections is entirely at odds with that idea. Comments sections are the vox-populi, the voice of the people, of all institutions the Guardian would be the last I'd expect to silence that voice.

2014-08-11T11:23:26+00:00

Fuck the guardian.

Marcruise · 2014-08-11T13:34:54+00:00

Pretty amused that this article came out after I'd analysed moderation at CIF in 2014. Probably a coincidence, but still...

I was surprised no one has referenced it on there. Chipping in with the 88% female authorship on 'gender' would be a pretty devastating point to counter the narrative being pushed.

I take it that we've all pretty much given up on The Guardian on here?

ImNotIntoPokemon · 2014-08-11T15:31:44+00:00

How long until feminazis claim that being disagreed with is literally rape?

questionnmark · 2014-08-11T10:24:06+00:00

Well if they would just change their name to something a little more feminist then people would not go there with an illusion of seeing even a semblance of a balanced perspective. Maybe they can call it 'The burnt bra'? :-)

an_ony_mouse · 2014-08-11T15:57:22+00:00

"I'd love to create something like the 'Mary Beard Prize for women online' to support people who are supporting women to be able to use the internet safely," he said in the article, which was published on 8 August.

And here I thought "using the internet safely" was about avoiding malware. Since when did "dissenting views" or "abusive" comments become a safety issue?

MHRAdvocate · 2014-08-11T13:37:29+00:00

"I'd love to create something like the 'Mary Beard Prize for women online' to support people who are supporting women to be able to use the internet safely," he said in the article, which was published on 8 August."

Doesn't he know that there are no girls on the internet?

LeeryLucifer · 2014-08-11T11:40:41+00:00

Look. The Guardian is the worst, most feminist, most totalitarian socialist/marxist piece of shit paper about. It deserves nothing but contempt and hatred and we should all boycott it. Why a man would buy a blatantly misandrist paper is beyond me. Just boycott it and they'll go bankrupt soon enough.

Ophites · 2014-08-11T14:14:13+00:00

Fuck you, I'll take verbal abuse online in order to maintain my right to anonymity. Anonymous debates over the years have been more educational than almost anything else I've experienced. Being able to just say whats on my mind freely, in order to have someone criticize it, is CRUCIAL. If I had watch out for the though police, most of those discussions probably wouldn't have happened.

cewubaaca · 2014-08-11T10:01:48+00:00

"You are viewing a beta release of the Guardian website"

Priceless! :-)

biffsocko · 2014-08-11T13:12:30+00:00

"I'd love to create something like the 'Mary Beard Prize for women online' to support people who are supporting women to be able to use the internet safely," he said in the article, which was published on 8 August.

err .. don't break a nail from typing too hard on the keyboard? How is the Internet unsafe?

Nomenimion · 2014-08-11T18:40:32+00:00

This isnt even an issue of the sexes. It's an issue of free speech.

typhonblue · 2014-08-11T16:37:15+00:00

Just stop paying attention to the media.

Let them die and be sloughed off.

blueskin · 2014-08-11T13:00:57+00:00

Guardian

'nuff said.

Grubnar · 2014-08-11T14:51:25+00:00

The "article" is shit, but some of the comments are pure gold!

esantipapa · 2014-08-11T18:58:14+00:00

"I'd love to create something like the 'Mary Beard Prize for women online' to support people who are supporting women to be able to use the internet safely"

The internet is just as fucking dangerous for men. Two of my good friends (guys) were driven to be suicidal by the same psychotic woman, from her online interactions with them.

rogerwatersbitch · 2014-08-11T23:29:48+00:00

Whats ironic is that there are so many comments going like "Im not an antifeminist, I just think the articles are bad/trivial/inane, etc"

First of, there should be no problem even if someone was antifeminist. Second, it goes to show how not only not being a feminist is wrong to them, but you have to suscribe to THEIR type of feminism (the type of feminism that cant, under any circumstances, question itself, ever)

The examples of "abusive misogyny" were outright laughable.

Really, dont these people know this is exactly the kind of shit that drives people away? from the ideology. The more I hear and read feminists, the more Im starting to think they 1)are just not very bright 2)they have some sort of deathwish, and are so sick of themselves they are unconciously trying to get feminism killed of.

adequate_potato · 2014-08-11T17:08:14+00:00

Perhaps it is time to assess whether online anonymity should be an option rather than the default position.

Once again, feminists cry out against phantom oppression while calling for restrictions on others.

tksmase · 2014-08-11T17:20:57+00:00

reading The Guardian in 2014

I thought every single one person who is at least debatably smart in some way has stopped reading that bullshit a long time ago.

phantom_nosehair · 2014-08-11T18:40:29+00:00

Safe is a code word for an excuse to censor and avoid discussion / debate.

Apparently someone writing about women's issues should be safe from being a victim of disagreement. People writing about women's issues are of course the only ones that have abusive comments on the internet.

funnyrapejokes · 2014-08-12T00:48:56+00:00

"Online misogyny is a threat to the usefulness of the web"

... but the man-hating feminism that infests every corner of the internet is just fine.

2014-08-12T05:05:32+00:00

Chivalry is dogshit.

frankferri · 2014-08-11T17:28:23+00:00

STOP LINKING TO TRASH SITES!

may the automoderator be forever happy

Title	Guardian comment moderators: Disagreeing with a woman, or mentioning men's issues, is 'abuse'
Author	EvilPundit
Upvotes	426
Comments	110
Date	August 11, 2014 9:24 AM UTC (11 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/mensrights/comments/2d7ymk/guardian-comment-moderators-disagreeing-with-a-/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/guardian-comment-moderators-disagreeing-with-a.1620005 https://theredarchive.com/post/1620005