Even if vulgarity could be removed from language, it cannot be removed from people, it is a futile struggle as language is constantly evolving. At worst it would be counterproductive by being boycotted, at best it would just be another step in the euphemism treadmill.
Appealing to origins doesn't work very well either. People use those words with a clear concrete meaning and all their listeners understand it perfectly well, intentionally misrepresenting it because of its etymology will only get hostility.
In my experience it’s not just emotional vulnerability, but any kind of weakness which is a huge turn off for women. Last time this happened to me was when I had Covid and depended on my girlfriend to pick stuff up from the store for me. She dumped me right after I’d recovered.
This place on Kbin already seems to have more activity than the old r/LeftWingMaleAdvocates did. That place is basically dead now. It's a shame it fractured the community, but at least this place won't be upended in the future by a greedy and clueless corporation.
Agreed. Worst case scenario if we were kicked off of here (which I don't think will happen. we're not a hate sub), we could migrate to a dedicated instance hosted by one of our own members. But I don't think that will ever be necessary.
Can't tell you how many admin responses i've gotten that said "Hate or bigotry towards men is not covered by our anti-discrimination or hate speech policies. Please read our policies before submitting a report about hate speech."
Yeah at some point I just have to laugh about it or I'd lose my mind. So seeing the destruction of Reddit is immensely gratifying. I hope all social media users migrate to the Fediverse eventually, and I also hope that more people will just publish content on their personal websites/blogs instead of posting exclusively on social media.
I appreciate that they try to highlight some male issues. But they subjugate them to feminist ideology, which I think is the wrong approach. They control the conversation very tightly and do not allow general criticism of feminism (especially the widespread misandry), nor specific topics such as legal paternal surrender. For that reason I consider the MensLib sub "controlled opposition". Even tho many members may have the heart in the right place, there is a high degree of self-censorship going on. Or you find yourself, as I did, quietly shadowbanned.
Thank you for sharing your viewpoints (side note, this is my first time really reading reddit in a while and it's crazy how many accounts have been overwritten or [deleted]). I was active in the early redpill community, years ago, and watched in horror as it got taken over by right-wing protofascists. So I'm a little gun shy when it comes to men's spaces. I think, getting meta for a moment, there's something to be said for policing your own community a little over-zealously to keep out the misogynists...but then again, there's also something to be said for being honest in your beliefs, even if that means alienating an ally (like feminists).
I've subscribed and I'll keep a close eye on this community. You've got a difficult job; there's a lot of angry, misogynistic men and angry, misandrist tumblristas in the fediverse who would love to take over the discussion.
Hopefully it will be like the subreddits he moderated. They turned out quite nicely. Unapologetically advocating for men from an egalitarian perspective while also being unapologetic about defending against the misandrist detractors, a large number of whom call themselves feminists and leverage feminist ideology.
I'm in a similar boat as you, and watched TRP go from "this is info men need to know, and soon" to religious conservative grifters, and similarly upset about it
And then watching menslib and others get setup so men could talk in "approved" ways
But all of that makes it even more important to me not to abandon other labels to grifters. It just makes it easier for them to dissipate any momentum we might accrue for social change.
If the moderation is bad, it's a lost cause. The mod here removed a couple of comments I had calling out blatant misogyny, while leaving the misogyny. This space is doomed. I'm not wasting any more effort on it.
I have removed comments for personal attacks, as per our rules.
Where is the misogyny? I mean, it is possible I may have missed it, as I am human and fallible. But make sure to differentiate feminism from women. Feminism is an ideology, not a gender. Attacks on women as a gender will not be tolerated.
So, if you want to call out bad behavior here, call out the specific statements ("That statement is misogynistic" or "Saying that is bigotry"). Do not use personal attacks ("You're a misogynist" or basically any form of "you are X") as they will be removed.
They hosted an AMA with a guy who minimizes/denies that men can be victims of women aggressors. They tried to walk back some of the stuff he said, but didn’t outright apologize. They censor/minimize/deny a lot of other men’s issues. They are counterfeit, perhaps even a calculated disinformation campaign to co-opt the men’s movement.
Feminism is obviously NOT organized enough to do anything like that, which tells me you're too paranoid to be worth listening to. Take a chill pill dude, not everything is a conspiracy.
I’m not sure how you got that from my comment that I was talking about feminism as a whole. You asked what we think about r/MensLib and that’s what I answered.
However, I did address feminism as a whole in the post I just made in this magazine.
And here I thought you were against the whole "never say anything negative about any member of our community, no matter how wrong they are" moderation stance that most feminist communities use.
If you don't nip the "it's a conspiracy" types in the bud, you become the nazi bar. Because there's a very thin line between "it's a conspiracy", "this is all their fault", and "we should do something about those people".
Calling another community "counterfeit" and a "calculated disinformation campaign" is dangerous, inflammatory language. If the mods or the community don't call it out, it encourages worse things to be said.
Not to mention it's clearly not even close to the realm of reality. It's not a rational statement at all. Pointing that out is not a personal attack.
Anyway, I'm not signing up to fight a losing battle against incel types taking over this space, so if this is how it's gonna be, I'm out.
We don't accept calling members of this community "too paranoid to be worth listening to". That is a personal attack. And we don't call them incels either. This is a place for civil discussion. Not for calling each other names. Our sidebar specifically states: "Attack the argument, not the person."
Just curious, is it possible to see Kbin comments/posts that were deleted by a user or moderator like Removeddit for Reddit (supposing they haven't been archived to the wayback machine)?
There is modlog (linked in the sidebar), but it doesn't appear to give access to the full comments, just the first couple of lines or so, unless it's a very short comment.
Firstly the act of a man approaching me, even with the motive being a date, isn’t inherently an issue. If a guy approaches me, while I’m waiting for a coffee, chats me up a little, and then slips in an ask for a date, it’s awkward at worst, hell, maybe I’m interested too. No harm, no foul. It’s becomes creepy/scary when the guy doesn’t take no for an answer, or becomes aggressive when you say no.
Also, the whole know your audience thing comes into play too. If I’m in a bar, or waiting in line, or idk any number of other things it’s one thing. But if I’m clearly in a hurry, or in the middle of doing something like loading my car full of groceries. Not now. Seriously.
One of the biggest reasons “men are scary” is that I KNOW how much stronger a man is, than I am. I’d put up a hell of a fight, if it ever came down to it, but I won’t win on power or speed (and I’m a runner). Then add in the experiences we all have, with creepy dudes, at best, and downright belonging in jail dudes at worst.
Not every man is bad, and we all know that academically. The issue is you never know what you’re going to get, so you go into every situation cautiously. I am in NO way calling men dogs, it’s simply a metaphor everyone knows. If you’ve been bit by a dog, even if it’s a chihuahua, won’t you be extra cautious around ALL dogs after that?
It’s becomes creepy/scary when the guy doesn’t take no for an answer, or becomes aggressive when you say no.
Most women won't be saying no and for good reason. They will just try to excuse themselves out of the interaction, or give out a fake number to temporarily satisfy him until they get away from the situation or anything along those lines. Very rarely they'll say no because dudes will then overreact to being rejected and sometimes act violent (no doubt this comes from the ideas implanted in their heads by TRP/PUA). Many guys, when women exit the convo without actually saying 'no', end up confused what happened in those interactions. They don't know if they should've asked for a number or not, or if doing so would make women feel uncomfortable as maybe she thought it was just a harmless conversation as they're trying to be careful not to make anything sound sexual at the beginning. But the guys who do, they already reached a point where they don't care about what she thinks.
Also, why couldn't you start a conversation with a guy you find attractive in those exact same situations?
Also, the whole know your audience thing comes into play too. If I’m in a bar, or waiting in line, or idk any number of other things it’s one thing. But if I’m clearly in a hurry, or in the middle of doing something like loading my car full of groceries. Not now. Seriously.
This one I agree with but you can still feel unsafe in a bar or waiting in line if you don't particularly want to talk to a guy. Obviously if you're in a hurry and have your hands full with heavy bags then that's a no. It still doesn't change my point though.
One of the biggest reasons “men are scary” is that I KNOW how much stronger a man is, than I am. I’d put up a hell of a fight, if it ever came down to it, but I won’t win on power or speed (and I’m a runner). Then add in the experiences we all have, with creepy dudes, at best, and downright belonging in jail dudes at worst.
Then what's the point of having courtship rules if it means being in a situation with a man that's much stronger than you if he decides to become aggressive at some point? Couldn't you make the first move while having escape options? I know women plan escape routes before going on dates with men, could you not do the same here? For dudes that belong in jail, most men are not gonna be like this. The experiences you have with creepy men I guarantee comes with their facing these exact expectations I was talking about earlier. I genuinely don't think most men would feel the need to do this if we actively told society not to make them conform to those expectations.
Why not start a conversation with a guy I find attractive? I’m married so I can only speak for myself in the past, but I did. It’s how I met my husband, in fact. Personally I have no problem doing so, and have done so many times in the past.
As for why women might give an excuse, I can say for myself, because the guy was giving off the vibe that it was going to go sideways if I flat out said no thank you. But I have flat out said no thank you, I’m not interested. That goes one of two ways. An ok and he walks away, or more commonly, some variation of “ fuck you bitch, who do you think you are?”
As for feeling unsafe in a bar or in line, sure. I can, but I’m typically in a public place, with other people around, and the likelihood being lower that guy will do something. From personal experience, it doesn’t stop every guy, but it lowers the risk.
Courtship rules only apply if ALL parties act in good faith, not just the ones at that particular date together.
As I said, I had no problem pursuing, and point blankly saying what I want and don’t want. But there are instances where, for my own safety, I have to “sugarcoat” my actions/answers.
Again, I can only speak from personal experience, but old men started commenting on my body, or touching me, or implying the things they wanted to do to me when I was like 10 or 11. It never got better. It still happens, but I was catcalled FAR more when I was like 16 than now, many years later.
Unfortunately, almost all women have more than a few stories about creepy aggressive guys. I’m confident that has nothing to do with societies expecting for men to be the perused and all about me me me me. I want, so I should have. Not all men are this way, but there are enough.
Okay, so you're a more assertive woman then. It's not common I meet a woman like this. The majority of the women I've met and spoken to don't start conversations first, and many guys I know share that same story too. I think it's once in a while we'll meet someone who will outright tell us no but most of the women we try shooting our shot with won't be like that and you already know the reason why.
Also I didn't ask why they give an excuse so not sure why you brought that up.
Wouldn't the public space thing apply in the street as well, esp in well-populated areas on the street and not alleyways where there's no one around? Or maybe it depends which part of the street you're on.
As for the good faith thing, people are already mistrustful of men right from the get-go, so we're assumed to have bad intentions until we prove that we don't. This post covers that topic. https://www.instagram.com/p/CrQRpqUtbDz/?img_index=1 but yea it def makes it harder for us.
How many men did you have hitting on you when you were 10 or 11? Cuz that guy sounded like a real pedo. 16 I can understand, I had instances where I entered into conversations with women and then I found out they were under 18 which made me wanna exit the convo and end it on a non-awkward note quickly.
Also, why does the creepy aggressive guys have to be about male entitlement? I don't think most guys actually feel entitled to your time, but maybe it feels like that as that's mostly the kind of guy you're exposed to in that situation, whereas most non-entitled guys don't even try (or they did but have a lot of nerves in them that they end up saying the wrong things?). I think you're downplaying the effect these expectations have on men. A lot of dating advice for men is geared towards them being the pursuer and leading the interaction. In some instances, they're being encouraged to shoot their shot with a woman on the street (which has the potential to turn into street harassment if not handled properly.). Men are told repeatedly they have to play a numbers game, that they're inevitably are gonna make a woman feel uncomfortable (and unsafe) as we can't control how she would feel in those situations. Mainstream advice isn't giving men the proper tools they need to meet expectations, which is the huge reason they turn to the redpill. I'll share this video here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVdu74BYTwQ&ab_channel=AbaNPreach
So rather than just slapping 'male entitlement' onto this issue, I think it's worth considering why men are going to these lengths in the first place. Media has been encouraging mainstream dating advice such as be yourself, work on yourself, the right person will find you, just be friends, etc. It didn't stop men from going to the redpill and living with the problems we currently have right now as they feel they've been doing that their whole life and nothing really happens here.
A street is different because usually, you’re doing something, or moving somewhere when you’re walking on the street (see my “read the room” statement earlier). It’s about the approach too. If you’ve paced me for like 5 blocks, already me feel uncomfortable, and then catch up to me and start trying to immediately get my number, it comes off as aggressive and not cool. Why use this example? It’s happened more than once’s.
Regardless of instagram statistics, 1 in 6 women has been the victim of rape, or attempted rape. And 9 out of 10 rape victims are women. Think about 6 women you know, at least one have been a victim already. There’s a reason women are distrustful of men. See my dog metaphor earlier.
I didn’t say hitting on. Like they weren’t asking me out, but they were DEFINITELY gross and some DEFINITELY belonged in jail. It wasn’t a one time thing. It happened a lot. Partly different time (I’m older than standard here). Partly there wasn’t anyone to tell dudes to fuck off back then (“you minded your own business back then” is a total bullshit cop out but it was kinda true). Possible some cultural things at play, but I don’t think much has really changed. Like I said it STARTED when I was about 10 or 11 and never stopped/got better. As a teen it was infinitely worse. According to RAINN: A majority of child victims are 12-17. Of victims under the age of 18: 34% of victims of sexual assault and rape are under age 12, and 66% of victims of sexual assault and rape are age 12-17. That pretty much backs up what my experience was.
As explained above, if it was 100% “dating culture” that caused women to be afraid of men, then why are men aggressively perusing/catcalling/raping/grooming/etc children they aren’t supposed to date? What else would creepy entitled guys motive be? I honestly, can’t think of another logical conclusion. He’s just an asshole? Yeah sure, but they aren’t mutually exclusive.
I have had enough experience where guys DO think they are entitled to your time, or to date you, or that you ARE their possession (see stats on domestic violence) so I can only draw conclusions from personal experience.
Let’s also not forget that that 1 in 4 women have been the victim of severe physical violence by an intimate partner. Again, think about those 6 women from earlier. At least 2 of them have been the victim of domestic violence.
Again, it has NOTHING to do with modern dating culture. As I said I’m older, and ALL of these things existed LONG before the internet.
I can see that. Even in bars, for example, if you're just out to grab dinner and go about your business, even you wouldn't want someone coming up to you and talking to you. I guess technically speaking, even street approaches aren't bad if you approach it properly. I've had a few instances where I've had great conversations with women on the street, I wouldn't recommend it though so maybe I just got lucky.
Those statistics from RAINN are a compilation of multiple NCVS studies consisting 9 years of data (it had years 2005-2014 listed there), whereas if you look at the NCVS (the study RAINN sources), it does list out statistics of incidents from both reported and unreported incidents, sure, but it also provides more information to look at. The total population in the US (as well as the total population of males and females) are listed there. The number of incidents that happened are a lot lower when you compare that to the general population, so the stats you're displaying right now are stats out of those incidents, not of the general population which was the point insta-stats were trying to make. Crime in general is very hard to measure as you have to look at multiple factors. However, most stats comes from what the victim reports, but many of these incidents could be done by the same perpetrator (or repeat offenders if you will).
On RAINN, it states that 433,648 Americans 12 years or older were sexually assaulted or rape per year. Now of course there are margin of error for these numbers since crime is very hard to measure but let's go with that number. The total population reported on the NCVS in 2021 are 279,188,570. If we do the math, then 433,648 / 279,188,570 (could be higher or lower as of this year) = 0.16% per year. It's likely the numbers presented on RAINN are coming from this 0.16%. The number of incidents that happened annually are roughly 4M (when these account for both men and women). Even in the FBI stats (another source RAINN looks at), the number of offenders are actually small compared to the number of victims on those incidents which would imply repeat offenders.
And both NCVS and NISVS shows that domestic violence, even severe, are 50/50 so this isn't a gendered issue.
Perusing and catcalling when done towards adults I'd say do come from male expectations, not when it's directed towards children (tho there have been times where girls who are the ages of 14-17 look like adults so confusion can come from there, it doesn't excuse the crimes tho) Even raping depending on how it's done could be due to male expectations. PUA/TRP do teach men many ways to get sex from women, even if it's through manipulation. And many of them have tips on how men can be "dominant" which I wouldn't be surprised if it does lead into rape.
if it was 100% “dating culture” that caused women to be afraid of men, then why are men aggressively perusing/catcalling/raping/grooming/etc children they aren’t supposed to date?
Maybe they reached a point where they're tired of putting themselves out there and went off the deep end from there. Notorious incels such as Elliot Rodger and Alek Minassian were both involved in PUA spaces before eventually reaching a point where they're out there killing people. And these are the extreme cases, most incels are not gonna reach this level. So I wouldn't be surprised if these men started off trying to go for grown women but then later on decided to target children instead for some power trip. I'm not saying this is a good thing and I think if you're intentionally going after children then this goes beyond male expectations and more of a mental issue with these men.
So all these numbers on RAINN are coming from that 0.16% incidents per year, but the reality of women is that they have to deal with men coming onto them based on the 2 videos I shared? I'm not saying that dating culture (or male expectations) are 100% the culprit, but I think those situations specifically are due to male expectations society has on men. This doesn't just include men who are out there targeting children (which becomes a completely different issue once they start going for children), but men as a whole.
Women's dating coach Matthew Hussey actually has a chart explaining this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9ONWHXCsrk&ab_channel=BrandonJohnson. A small minority of men are out here doing creepy shit, the rest of the men do approach women but oftentimes wait for the right moment. But it doesn't change the fact we still expect men to do the heavy lifting initially.
I agree with a lot of what you're saying, but some of your stats are just propaganda. For example:
And 9 out of 10 rape victims are women.
This is absolutely false. Mary P. Koss doctored the stats, because she does not believe that women can rape men, or that that would be serious. But if you take forced penetration into account, then suddenly it is roughly 50-50 and no longer a gendered crime.
That may be true. I don’t know enough to say for sure or not. I googled stats and multiple places said the same thing, so I assumed it true. My mistake if not.
So, rhetorical take away from that seems to be lots of women are raped annually, or had some form of coercion, domestic violence, but men are underreported, which I never argued. That article says 2 million women were sexually assaulted whatever year they did the article off of. Regardless of whether the exact numbers given are accurate or not, and when you factor in people that don’t report, it’s a SIGNIFICANT number of women, spiritually, since that’s what this conversation is about, who suffer. Nothing in my statements changes.
The "9 out of 10 rape victims are women" should change.
Every single victim of rape is one too many, of course. But by presenting this as a gendered crime, we would erase the male victims. They suffer in silence. But what happened to them is a crime too.
These suggestions are pretty mainstream and probably reflect my age demographic:
Bob's Burgers - This might be a bit debated but it's still going, and I find this show to be such a refreshingly non-dysfunctional take on a family cartoon sitcom. Rather than an incompetent idiot or antagonist, the Gen-x Bob takes the role of the set-upon dad who occasionally gets a bee in his bonnet in a very relatable way. His relationship with his son, Gene, is beautifully honest and direct.
husband-and-wife team action comedies - You may have noticed a recent, small genre of these, including Shotgun Wedding, Murder Mystery 1&2. They're not great action movies and they're very formulaic. But they depict couples who actually respect eachother (or come to do so) working as a team, without gender politics being a thing.
Star Trek Picard (seasons 1 and 3) - after Discovery, I was ready to give up on the whole franchise. Season 3 particularly gives us old and new male characters with depth and heart. I particularly like it when a male character is introduced as if he will be a one-dimensional stereotype, but then we get to relate to his point of view.
These are slightly older, but I can't go past the Lord of the Rings trilogy (positive, wise, strong male characters to balance the negative), Disney's Onward (surprisingly sincere story about two brothers), and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (depicts the handover from one era's masculinity to another with grace and honesty).
Because sex, and to some extent religion, are the biggest taboos in many places. So, such words entice the strongest feelings. Read cognitive scientist Steven Pinker's book The Seven Words You Can't Say On Television.
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