Thursday 11 July 2013

This is Why Authentic Men's Issues Activists Can't Have Nice Things

An Albertan offshoot of the American MRA ('men's rights activists' and yes, the scare quotes are intentional) whinefest and hate groups has decided the Edmonton Police Department's "Don't Be That Guy" Campaign was talking about *all* men  and decided to be brave heroes with a counter-campaign of their own, speaking truthiness to power.

"Don't Be That Girl"

Bonus CTV videos

The "Men's Rights Edmonton" website has the bingo card of straw arguments that are mainstays of the MRA seething resentmentarians.

"…Except, feminism has had over 40 years to do something about mens issues, and they have done jack diddly about them. In fact, feminism has been directly responsible for exacerbating existing issues, while brining about new ones. So your pro-feminist camp can CLAIM to covet open-mindedness and open discourse, but you already have a great deal to answer for before you have a hope in hell of being taken seriously. If you call yourself a feminist, you have to own this shit."

Eeeeyah.  It's possible they are actively working on actual men's issues but when it quacks 'whataboutthemenz you feminazis' like a duck... Anyway, I invite readers to visit the website and decide for themselves.

If you want a more detailed taste of the American seething from which this Edmonton group appears to draw its rotes, an excellent watchdog site focused on them is "Manboobz" (run by a man...or mangina as his MRA opponents spit at him.  They loathe feminist men almost as much as they do feminist women).

As an example, at present, Manboobz has highlighted the usual suspects discussing the celebrity assault/divorce of Saatchi vs Lawson, where apologizing for Saatchi is tricky but doable if you ignore reality.

The fact that the Edmonton-based MRA group has a woman out front 'unofficially' speaking to the press, shows no matter the size or organization of a group women are not homogenous in their empowerment goals and women are just as socially conditioned into being misogynists as men are.

Some women are quite fervent about being misogynists, although ironically, they tend to make a very public, independent, financially rewarding career for themselves telling women to remain in domestic roles submissive to men's authority.

"Heteronormative Patriarchy for Men" a men's issues blog working on the sufferings of men under patriarchal systems (you know, where an elite caste of authoritarian male patriarchs have historically exploited *all* sexes of lower social caste for continued power), has recently had a run-in with the American MRA resentmentarian Paul Elam of "A Voice for Men" and taken him to task.  The blog has links to other men's issues groups, many international.

To end this on a light note, here's a great Emmy-winning video from Soomo Publishing, where they filk Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" into the story of American women's suffrage.  It takes all sexes and genders to improve society.  Some people are authentically getting on with it.  MRA misogynists howling menz are the real victims and women have run a global conspiracy to kick men around are not them.

Don't be That Guy or Gal*.

*No, I don't find 'girl' to be literately equivalent to 'guy' for meaning. In modern informal usage, guy can be any age.  Girl is still a juvenilizing term, especially when attaching it to the subject of false rape accusations.  Also, did the counter-campaign include a same-sex consent poster ala the original campaign? Or was it all about casting doubt on sexual assault reports by women against men?

Update:  The woman in the CTV video linked above, identified as Karen Straughan, the 'unofficial spokesperson' for the Edmonton group, is better known to the intertubes by the 'nym "GirlWritesWhat" a voluble token woman MRA.

A Canadian, she's a contributing editor to the notorious "A Voice for Men" website and its spinoffs.  AVFM's  head is Paul Elam, taken to task above.  AVFM is crowing about the press the Edmonton event has garnered.

exerpted from the piece because I don't really want to link there.

"...Editorial note:  These events are, by far, the most widely covered men’s rights efforts by the media to date.  For the next several days members of Men’s Rights Edmonton and by extension the broader MHRM will have exposure they have never had before.  It is important that those reading this post contact the above mentioned news sources and educate them about our movement in order to strike the iron while hot.  Below are links to other articles concerning this issue and their numbers are growing by the hour.  Lets keep it going, shall we!!!!...." 

...strike the iron while hot?....oookay then.  So, no, I don't think the Edmonton group nuts fell far from the MRA woman-hating tree.

/edited for update and to see if I could work the quote code

8 comments:

fern hill said...

Hiya, Niles, good to have you back.

Maybe DJ! can host an ongoing series of 'why XX can't have nice things'. Because it's clear quite a lot of us can no longer have nice things.

Anonymous said...

When feminists are stark raving mad, you know someone did or said something right. Kudos MRA Edmonton. You done real good. ;)

fern hill said...

Aw, look at that. We got our own little men's rights nut. But he didn't call us feminazis. *sadface*

Niles said...

Being attacked by biotes has been my hobby for far too many months now. I just couldn't brain becuz I had dumb. Of course, I still had dumb when I first wrote the post because I totally missed Straughan being "GirlWritesWhat" despite nigglings of her seeming familiar.

It wasn't until I put on hip waders to venture into the MRE website (which is contaminated with higher fecal content than the present Bow River and thousands of Calgary basements) I was confronted with her preferred identity and facepalmed, 'duh!'.

Given how the media as yet still hasn't delved into the 'spokesperson's' past declarations (at least from what I can tell) blogs like this and the AVFM watchers in the US are needed to make people consider the source of this.

AVFM Central members are even now in the act of villifying and image-degrading the women featured in the print/video interviews. They've gone full iron-hobbed boots on the Women's Studies professor and her bright red hair.


Niles said...

I wouldn't be at all surprised if more flying monkeys show. The only thing that seems to draw them faster is saying Ophelia Benson, Rebecca Watson and/or PZ Myers. It's like BeetlejuiceBeetleJuiceBeetleJuice, only without the funny parts.

fern hill said...

You're right, Niles. Comment from another one or the same one just hit the trash.

Niles said...

Ah. Well, we should be hearing about freeze peach any moment now, you horrible hypocritical censor, you.

fern hill said...

Freeze peach. Love it.

So far no more. Our blog, our censorship.

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