I've always had truck with mere idea of male feminists. I'm sure I'm not the only one. I find the concept oddly intriguing, and the reality of it is no where near as the facade they would don. It is like the evangelist that plays the role of the epitome of a great Christian, while living a life of deception on the side and rationalizing any discrepancies.
For one, I'm puzzled at the their incessant agreement with their female counterparts that male privilege exists despite the overwhelming evidence that men simply, on average, don't have it as good as modern day women. Many will point out how women have been oppressed for thousands of years (or whatever amount of time it supposedly is) and almost completely ignore the pitfalls, the adversities, the tedium, the inequalities men face and are expected to accept nary a complaint.
Or, if they are to be acknowledged, it is nowhere near the suffering women go through---women always have it worse. Even gay men don't have it as bad as women, despite political affilations male feminists have with them, women are the ones who are the majority of victims of any form of prejudices down the line. And any incessant and institutionalized discrimination against men is the result or negative manifestation of patriarchy, and no women at all are to blame either . . . whether or not they are complicit in the silence for no outrage against the damning of men and masculinity.
I'm sure that male feminists will have bulwarks that buffer most accusations MRAs and the politically incorrect-minded can muster. My most destructive barbs always include menacing edge that they can't shield themselves against utterly---the hallmark of the good guy badge. And promulgate a good image. Chances are that they are doing very little to clearly help women, but have no problems with expecting---even demanding---men change for women, because, of course, women have it worse and women, despite being strong and independent, need help and protection from big, bad other men.
Male feminists have much to gain by their label, but my questioning of their self-description is thus: what are they really DOING as opposed to the lipservice they give to their position? It often serves to keep them employed in a cushy job that offers no serious challenge. It gives them the attention that many skanks seek---an audience in which they are the cynosure, the counsel figure, the fake post-modern shaman and humanitarian.
But it also gives them much lavished attention from women. Male feminists will deny that their motivation as a penultimate feature; self gain, and with that self gain cock-blocking is an accusation that is supposed be laughable, but let's face it, women will often buy into a proud figure that will promote one's self, whether it is in the college classroom or dance club. "I'M better than HIM" they will boast with an undercurrent of masked self-righteousness, in order to gain favor with women and maybe even prevent access to women from other men by stigmatizing or blasting them. So they rise to the forefront, which is what they wanted, anyway.
Of course, much of them dismiss or try to criticise men's rights activists, and pinning them with a cluster of charges, ranging from approval of wife beating to unilateral misogyny, and what have you.
Male feminists state most men don't believe they want to change (and should), but when they want men to change it is in reference to women and in service to women. Women are infallible, men are flawed and need to personally reshape their social, sexual, and workplace attitudes for women. And after all, men have oppressed women for centuries, right, so it's only right and fair that men should employ adaptive strategies in order to help women. In this regard, male feminists are no different than traditional men who expect men to live up to the standards of chivalry without reward---that women still need to be protected. And men are universally responsible for conduct towards women, and owe women that to fulfill the debt allegedly spawned from "evil" oppressive patriarchy.
Of course, we will call a spade a spade here due to all of the campaigns of "men can stop rape" and such other expressed associative guilt heaped on men from feminists: it's collective bigotry. Male feminists also enjoy using this in order to flash their good guy badges and claim high moral ground.
Continually preaching that men should practice self-sacrifice in regards to women, most don't live up to it in their own life examples. This is the main reason why neither MRAs nor gender feminists, oddly enough, trust male feminists. It isn't just the thinly-veiled invidious remarks towards MRA camps---male feminists grew up not comfortable in their own skin, with other men not like themselves, and may have even lived a life of wanton abandon with women in the past, and expurge their guilt and shame on others by demanding men shape up.
The true believers---which are the most damaging because they believe in their cause---aren't dangerous because tedium of their internal hypocrisy. It is the harm they create for other men, and men who desire women without the hurdles of feminist memes and the distrust fostered between the sexes.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Upcoming policy on trolls
I am going to write a hard and fast handful of rules about posting comments on here. As of late I have had a couple of visitors which my trust level remains very low about. It is nothing against the cyberspace alliances I've made over the years, so for that crowd (including MRAs) they have nothing to worry about. If you have any questions, please feel free to PM me on the main forum I'm a mod on.
For feminists and their mangina cohorts, you will only be allowed to debate on threads I wish, and I will give a curt and main point overview of Dos and Dont's. If a thread gets out of hand, it gets closed. I will not flamebait without giving allowance to speak, but the rules outlined have to be obeyed. There will not be an enormous list here; just a cluster of things I will "lay down the tracks with" so to speak in order to deal with unruly characters, engage in male shaming language, and those who, with ulterior motives and clandestine behavior, betray my trust.
The Policies with be modified if need be, and a continual series of "Feminist and Guilty" is in the works, in part, of societal malaise I've observed.
And BTW, those I'm calling out here as trolls and backstabbing fools are proving me right; men are truly shit upon in this gynocentric culture---by gender feminist women AND mangina men.
For feminists and their mangina cohorts, you will only be allowed to debate on threads I wish, and I will give a curt and main point overview of Dos and Dont's. If a thread gets out of hand, it gets closed. I will not flamebait without giving allowance to speak, but the rules outlined have to be obeyed. There will not be an enormous list here; just a cluster of things I will "lay down the tracks with" so to speak in order to deal with unruly characters, engage in male shaming language, and those who, with ulterior motives and clandestine behavior, betray my trust.
The Policies with be modified if need be, and a continual series of "Feminist and Guilty" is in the works, in part, of societal malaise I've observed.
And BTW, those I'm calling out here as trolls and backstabbing fools are proving me right; men are truly shit upon in this gynocentric culture---by gender feminist women AND mangina men.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
My Review of Neil Marshall's "The Descent"
The Descent has some of basal elements that make up the so-called branch of horror, often termed survival horror. But unlike it's precursor cinematic cousins, it dives deep into its cavernous abyss and remains there, never hinting that hope and nobility will ever win out. This is not a fun flick, or a feel good movie of the summer. And in the face of all the flicks featuring women kicking ass, being all-too competent and cool, and triumphing over struggle (often at the expense of men . . . again), it delves into hysteria and the macabre.
And like many movies of its ilk, it begins with friends having a good time, laughing amongst each other and taking on one of many adventures, and quickly after which, the main character, a Scottish young woman named Sara (Shauna Macdonald) loses both her husband and young daughter in an abrupt and brutal accident that will leave her haunted and traumatized.
Fast forward a year later, where the friends gather again in order to present her with some sort of therapy, Juno (Natalie Mendoza) style, for a spelunking expedition somewhere amongst the Appalachian caverns (echoing hints of Deliverance and The Howling). Her closest friend from England, Beth (Alex Reid), is not too keen on the idea for herself or for Sara, especially considering Sara is still raw from her ordeal, but she goes along anyway because despite Juno's alpha female goading and prodding, Sara seems to be okay with it at first. And since they are professionally equipped and fairly athletic, all pretty much everything appears to be well, even though we are treated to a brief nightmare to suggest a bad omen, and Sara imbibing psychotropic drugs to remain psychologically balanced.
Gradually, over time, things start to unravel. Sara gets a bind that displays her claustrophobia wasn't merely in her head. The ever hyperactive Holly (Nora Jane Noone) breaks her leg in a zeal to find a quick exit. Rebecca (Saskia Mulder) confronts Juno's overt deception when they find out that they are not in a tourist trap, but an (allegedly) unexplored cave that yields no sign of daylight the further they press on. Accusations fly, and the young gals are often at each others throats, in anxiety, what to do next. They had been strong, independent, fun loving young women at the onset outside of damaged Sara and the weight of her tragedy. Now they are encompassed by a sense of impending doom. And worse, Sara seems to be hallucinating---at first, until the others discover to their horror---in the dank caverns they have entered a lair at their own peril---they are being stalked. And their adversaries aren't human.
What are we to make of The Descent and its characters? What is it trying to say? It's clear that the alpha female of the pack is their Captain Ahab---Juno willingly or not, sets up betrayal after betrayal, including a hint that she had an affair with Sara's late husband (Oliver Milburn). She leads them into serious danger and even death when entering a cave unlisted and unnamed for the sake of high adventure and risk taking, and even involves one of them in an unsettling accident, the only truly nurturing friend that is Sara's rock. It's that event which sets the pivotal tone for Sara's psychological crack up. In a way, The Descent unveils its dark motivations for the women just as it pits them against a primal and fierce backdrop; the women are, in the beginning, rather giddy and shallow, only to expose their other (true?) selves when adversity strikes: adulterous, backstabbing, jealous, vengeful, fearful, and panicky.
And once Rebecca's sister Sam (MyAnna Buring) discovers the nature of their predatory terror, and the rest try to take a stand with Juno in a damaged need for redemption, it is perhaps way too late---Sara becomes horror incarnate (recalling Carrie and perhaps Predator in the visuals). Call me reaching and playing the role of a pseudo-Jungian philosopher, The Descent is just as a metaphor for abysmal feminine lunacy, a trek downwards into the psyche in which Woman cannot truly escape her suffering from Pagan Earth without the archetype of The Male Principle, whether it is savior, warrior, hero, or magician. It is devolution, a one way trip into the underworld.
It has been suggested that Sara may have died in the vehicle with her family and she is in an astral Hell, or that she was engulfed by her own insanity and what we see is that made manifest. Director Neil Marshall only implies these theories, never answering the dark enigma but leaving us with our own thoughts of its onscreen violence and treachery, and while I am not certain it's what he truly intended, the largely all-female presence leaves us to speculate that a post-feminist matriarchy, as a closed circle, Western women, American, British, or what have you, would be left to their own devices . . . engaging in in-fighting in a decaying coven that would implode upon itself in the face of feral nature and predation.
And like many movies of its ilk, it begins with friends having a good time, laughing amongst each other and taking on one of many adventures, and quickly after which, the main character, a Scottish young woman named Sara (Shauna Macdonald) loses both her husband and young daughter in an abrupt and brutal accident that will leave her haunted and traumatized.
Fast forward a year later, where the friends gather again in order to present her with some sort of therapy, Juno (Natalie Mendoza) style, for a spelunking expedition somewhere amongst the Appalachian caverns (echoing hints of Deliverance and The Howling). Her closest friend from England, Beth (Alex Reid), is not too keen on the idea for herself or for Sara, especially considering Sara is still raw from her ordeal, but she goes along anyway because despite Juno's alpha female goading and prodding, Sara seems to be okay with it at first. And since they are professionally equipped and fairly athletic, all pretty much everything appears to be well, even though we are treated to a brief nightmare to suggest a bad omen, and Sara imbibing psychotropic drugs to remain psychologically balanced.
Gradually, over time, things start to unravel. Sara gets a bind that displays her claustrophobia wasn't merely in her head. The ever hyperactive Holly (Nora Jane Noone) breaks her leg in a zeal to find a quick exit. Rebecca (Saskia Mulder) confronts Juno's overt deception when they find out that they are not in a tourist trap, but an (allegedly) unexplored cave that yields no sign of daylight the further they press on. Accusations fly, and the young gals are often at each others throats, in anxiety, what to do next. They had been strong, independent, fun loving young women at the onset outside of damaged Sara and the weight of her tragedy. Now they are encompassed by a sense of impending doom. And worse, Sara seems to be hallucinating---at first, until the others discover to their horror---in the dank caverns they have entered a lair at their own peril---they are being stalked. And their adversaries aren't human.
What are we to make of The Descent and its characters? What is it trying to say? It's clear that the alpha female of the pack is their Captain Ahab---Juno willingly or not, sets up betrayal after betrayal, including a hint that she had an affair with Sara's late husband (Oliver Milburn). She leads them into serious danger and even death when entering a cave unlisted and unnamed for the sake of high adventure and risk taking, and even involves one of them in an unsettling accident, the only truly nurturing friend that is Sara's rock. It's that event which sets the pivotal tone for Sara's psychological crack up. In a way, The Descent unveils its dark motivations for the women just as it pits them against a primal and fierce backdrop; the women are, in the beginning, rather giddy and shallow, only to expose their other (true?) selves when adversity strikes: adulterous, backstabbing, jealous, vengeful, fearful, and panicky.
And once Rebecca's sister Sam (MyAnna Buring) discovers the nature of their predatory terror, and the rest try to take a stand with Juno in a damaged need for redemption, it is perhaps way too late---Sara becomes horror incarnate (recalling Carrie and perhaps Predator in the visuals). Call me reaching and playing the role of a pseudo-Jungian philosopher, The Descent is just as a metaphor for abysmal feminine lunacy, a trek downwards into the psyche in which Woman cannot truly escape her suffering from Pagan Earth without the archetype of The Male Principle, whether it is savior, warrior, hero, or magician. It is devolution, a one way trip into the underworld.
It has been suggested that Sara may have died in the vehicle with her family and she is in an astral Hell, or that she was engulfed by her own insanity and what we see is that made manifest. Director Neil Marshall only implies these theories, never answering the dark enigma but leaving us with our own thoughts of its onscreen violence and treachery, and while I am not certain it's what he truly intended, the largely all-female presence leaves us to speculate that a post-feminist matriarchy, as a closed circle, Western women, American, British, or what have you, would be left to their own devices . . . engaging in in-fighting in a decaying coven that would implode upon itself in the face of feral nature and predation.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Standing up for Masculinity
Voodoojock, of his own site I linked to as well as others, enjoyed this response to "I am a feminist" so I am reproducing it here.
I am masculinist because of the following:
-It was obvious that I would be subject to more violence (across the board) because I am a man, and our justice system is more protective of women and the local authorities more reticent to look out for men.
-I had to pay much of my college courses and programs out of my own pocket, and special funds for my own sex simply did not exist.
-When I woke up to the fact in high school the elitist young women, whether they were sluttish or prudes would never consider me as a love interest because of my working class male status.
-I am a masculinist because women believe they have an inherent right to demean my sexuality and masculinity without consequences, or without protest, and if I do, I am considered a misogynist by default.
-I am masculinist because the Supreme Court historically favors American women in spite of feminist propaganda claiming otherwise.
-I am pro-male because I know that false charges of DV, sexual harassment, rape, and paternity fraud possibly leveled at me women are believed even in the face of ZERO evidence, the former three of which far outweigh any ersatz charges by men.
-I am this way because I will have to work harder than any female for recognition, job security, and status, and that employers are more fearful of firing and laying off women than men. When women can take more time off OUTSIDE of just pregnancy and use sick leave as an excuse more than I can.
-I am pro-masculinity when I know that women in clubs or lounges will always believe they know me, men, and relationships despite never truly accepting me for the holistic totality of my being, and would rather dismiss me out of hand than face true intimacy.
-I am pro-men because I realize that men's health, their pain and suffering, their burdens, and their loneliness and alienation is still overlooked, ignored, or even invisible according to this culture.
I AM A MAN, Virginia . . . deal with it.
I am masculinist because of the following:
-It was obvious that I would be subject to more violence (across the board) because I am a man, and our justice system is more protective of women and the local authorities more reticent to look out for men.
-I had to pay much of my college courses and programs out of my own pocket, and special funds for my own sex simply did not exist.
-When I woke up to the fact in high school the elitist young women, whether they were sluttish or prudes would never consider me as a love interest because of my working class male status.
-I am a masculinist because women believe they have an inherent right to demean my sexuality and masculinity without consequences, or without protest, and if I do, I am considered a misogynist by default.
-I am masculinist because the Supreme Court historically favors American women in spite of feminist propaganda claiming otherwise.
-I am pro-male because I know that false charges of DV, sexual harassment, rape, and paternity fraud possibly leveled at me women are believed even in the face of ZERO evidence, the former three of which far outweigh any ersatz charges by men.
-I am this way because I will have to work harder than any female for recognition, job security, and status, and that employers are more fearful of firing and laying off women than men. When women can take more time off OUTSIDE of just pregnancy and use sick leave as an excuse more than I can.
-I am pro-masculinity when I know that women in clubs or lounges will always believe they know me, men, and relationships despite never truly accepting me for the holistic totality of my being, and would rather dismiss me out of hand than face true intimacy.
-I am pro-men because I realize that men's health, their pain and suffering, their burdens, and their loneliness and alienation is still overlooked, ignored, or even invisible according to this culture.
I AM A MAN, Virginia . . . deal with it.
Friday, April 20, 2007
A Rant; Just a few words to the wise and the foolish
People will probably ask me what drove me to to do blogging myself, and why I didn't just stick with writing occasional commentary on feminism, the current male-female dynamic and state of affairs, and how our culture seems to support certain observations I've made despite repugnant justifications for the way men are (mis)treated and how it keeps skirting the issues . . . and not declaring what's wrong.
I honestly didn't want it to come to this, but I am fed up with so many things I see that I can't ignore any longer. Burying my head in the sand will not do; not anymore.
Without going into vast detail, after my rather troubled high school years, I wanted to attend college, excel and obtain a degree in a profession that would satisfy me. Eventually, I would enter another completely unrelated field and pick up a far different sheepskin. Along the way, for those early years that I struggled I yearned for a significant other, a woman that I could truly declare as a soul mate and live the rest of my days with. While I dated and even had a few relationships, it would never manifest. For whatever reason---I will list some of my own foibles as well as factors against it beyond my own experience alone---without being totally fatalist, it seems that I am destined to be without. So be it.
But I will save that for now. Currently, I am fed up with a myriad of anti-male attributes our American society seems to either overlook or even thrive on. There is a large truism that much of our existence is dependent on the blood, sweat, and tears of the men that came before us and the men that quietly uphold and maintain the mechanisms of anything to higher institutions to sanitation and the dirty jobs no one wants to do. That's part of my reasoning to create this blog---men have been voicing their opinions online because other outlets in the media simply refuses to do so or simply doesn't care enough about men from most walks of life. Plus, I relate to certain injustices men face because I have endured them myself.
. . . and ruminating why I have decided to become active in some ways, and withdraw myself in others.
There's many other items I could go over here, but one thing I'd like to discuss is the most hot one---women. On occasion, I will make comments about female behavior. Just like other blogs/websites, I'm sure some people will claim I'm overgeneralizing and being harsh. I'm not taking every single woman on earth to task, but just writing about what I see and from a man's viewpoint, no matter how subjective. Yep, the cry that "All women aren't like that" is fine and well, but it doesn't help much if there are women that ARE just like I write about.
I make no apologies, however, for revealing things people don't want to hear. They don't want to hear that chivalry favors women at the expense of men. So does marriage. So does divorce. So does the "save the children" spiel that politicians and the clergy touts in order to prey on men's guilts and shame. And why feminism just might be tearing men and women from apart than bridging the natural desire they should have for each other.
Some will believe that I'm a bitter old man raving about the opposite sex and had no luck with them. That doesn't quite wash---I'm in my thirties, and had women desire to marry and have children with me, and even as I write this, despite my reservations, I have a couple of women curious about me. Since feminist bloggers have deemed my serious questions and remarks as "anti-feminist bromides" and male victimhood at times and either resorted to ad hominem tactics or simply zapping what I said, I have no problems with establishing groundwork rules.
I make no bones that will happen here---if you are a MRA, a father fighting for custody, a man sitting out/on the marriage strike, or a woman truly trying to understand why men are becoming like myself and the others, you will be allowed to comment. Others playing around will be kicked off. There are plenty of sites praising women at all costs and hailing feminism, while damning men wholesale for every evil underneath the sun. Use them to vent your spleen instead of wasting your time.
I honestly didn't want it to come to this, but I am fed up with so many things I see that I can't ignore any longer. Burying my head in the sand will not do; not anymore.
Without going into vast detail, after my rather troubled high school years, I wanted to attend college, excel and obtain a degree in a profession that would satisfy me. Eventually, I would enter another completely unrelated field and pick up a far different sheepskin. Along the way, for those early years that I struggled I yearned for a significant other, a woman that I could truly declare as a soul mate and live the rest of my days with. While I dated and even had a few relationships, it would never manifest. For whatever reason---I will list some of my own foibles as well as factors against it beyond my own experience alone---without being totally fatalist, it seems that I am destined to be without. So be it.
But I will save that for now. Currently, I am fed up with a myriad of anti-male attributes our American society seems to either overlook or even thrive on. There is a large truism that much of our existence is dependent on the blood, sweat, and tears of the men that came before us and the men that quietly uphold and maintain the mechanisms of anything to higher institutions to sanitation and the dirty jobs no one wants to do. That's part of my reasoning to create this blog---men have been voicing their opinions online because other outlets in the media simply refuses to do so or simply doesn't care enough about men from most walks of life. Plus, I relate to certain injustices men face because I have endured them myself.
. . . and ruminating why I have decided to become active in some ways, and withdraw myself in others.
There's many other items I could go over here, but one thing I'd like to discuss is the most hot one---women. On occasion, I will make comments about female behavior. Just like other blogs/websites, I'm sure some people will claim I'm overgeneralizing and being harsh. I'm not taking every single woman on earth to task, but just writing about what I see and from a man's viewpoint, no matter how subjective. Yep, the cry that "All women aren't like that" is fine and well, but it doesn't help much if there are women that ARE just like I write about.
I make no apologies, however, for revealing things people don't want to hear. They don't want to hear that chivalry favors women at the expense of men. So does marriage. So does divorce. So does the "save the children" spiel that politicians and the clergy touts in order to prey on men's guilts and shame. And why feminism just might be tearing men and women from apart than bridging the natural desire they should have for each other.
Some will believe that I'm a bitter old man raving about the opposite sex and had no luck with them. That doesn't quite wash---I'm in my thirties, and had women desire to marry and have children with me, and even as I write this, despite my reservations, I have a couple of women curious about me. Since feminist bloggers have deemed my serious questions and remarks as "anti-feminist bromides" and male victimhood at times and either resorted to ad hominem tactics or simply zapping what I said, I have no problems with establishing groundwork rules.
I make no bones that will happen here---if you are a MRA, a father fighting for custody, a man sitting out/on the marriage strike, or a woman truly trying to understand why men are becoming like myself and the others, you will be allowed to comment. Others playing around will be kicked off. There are plenty of sites praising women at all costs and hailing feminism, while damning men wholesale for every evil underneath the sun. Use them to vent your spleen instead of wasting your time.
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