A response to Amanda Marcotte

 

First of all, let me preface this by stating how honored I am to be included on a list of women as prominent and talented as Christina Hoff Summers, Phyllis Schlafly, Cathy Young, and the Politichicks. Do I belong on that list? Absolutely not. There is only one reason I made it: I have spanked Amanda on my blog repeatedly and it clearly struck a nerve. I have had a small amount of media coverage, but nothing to warrant being included with these other incredibly influential and powerful women whom Amanda doesn’t wike!

 

 

Demonstrating the typical indifference of feminist writers in the media, Amanda took her personal feelings and turned them into an article. If Amanda was truly interested in profiling the most widely disseminated women in the men’s rights movement, she would have put Karen Straughan, who has video views numbering in the millions on YouTube, or Erin Pizzey who is an internationally recognized advocate for men affected by domestic violence or the HoneyBadgers who reach thousands of listeners weekly through their radio show on the list.

But she didn’t.

She put Janet Bloomfield at number 5.

This was personal, and I only have two words for Amanda:

 

 

You just gave me the exposure it would have taken me years of diligent work to get otherwise.

 

Let’s look at Amanda’s piece a little more closely. I am “supposedly” the PR rep for AVfM. And here we have the typical feminist approach to journalism – don’t bother with anything like facts or research. It would literally have taken one mouse click to get to the AVfM Masthead where my position is listed pretty clearly.

 

And I’m pretty sure her little slam at my effectiveness broke the irony meter – uhm…Amanda….you put my name in Salon! Goodness, what if I sucked at irritating feminists and goading them into publishing my name far and wide? I also love the links to David Futrelle, where he argues that pictures of male genital mutilation are abusive – but not the mutilation itself. And the second link to Jessica Valenti? Priceless. The whole point of those quotes, done in the spirit of Poe’s Law, was to make sure lots and lots and lots of people get a chance to see Jessica in her darling t-shirt.

 

For those of you interested, that is how Jessica responds when men attempt to discuss issues that affect them negatively: you know, things like suicide, homelessness, poverty, unfair child custody and family courts, a broken education system, the elimination of due process in campus rape trials … nothing terribly important.

 

 

Amanda, you’re the best! Thank you so much.

 

Amanda goes on to speculate about why anti-feminist women might care about half of all human beings.

 

What makes some women so nasty toward other women that they would actively work to deny women equal rights, or even access to healthcare and basic safety?

Women already have equal rights – in fact they have MORE rights than men. Remember that Futrelle link to male genital mutilation? Yeah, that’s legal to do. FGM may occur but we rightly consider it a barbaric practice and a criminal act. Women have the right to be protected from a knife cutting off parts of their genitals. Men do not.  Hey, Amanda, did you sign a draft card when you turned 18? Just asking…. And can you choose parenthood, Amanda? Of course you can, and you personally oppose a man’s legal right to choose parenthood. You wrote an article about it, filled with nothing but scorn and bullshit.

 

WOMAN

FEMINIST

Let me make this absolutely clear, fighting against feminists, who are standing in the way of equal rights does not equal hating women. Woman is not a synonym for feminist. Get over it. Very few women identify as feminists, and you are a big part of the reason why.

For some, it’s religious conviction. Some like to imagine they’re somehow special and better than all other women. Some enjoy the easy attention they get from sexist men by bashing women and others enjoy the financial perks of being the woman who is willing to speak out against feminism.

Yes, many religions believe in equality. I am personally an atheist but I have no problem with others who are motivated by religious feelings, as long as they do not attempt to deny others X Y or Z based on their religion.

You’ve politely called us attention whores. How charming. What many, many of us are is mothers – and we want a world in which our sons have just as many rights and protections as our daughters. We want our sons to have the same respect and opportunities as our daughters. And we don’t just want that for our children, we want it for all children.

Financial perks? You must be fucking kidding me. There are no financial perks to being anti-feminist. The very small amount of money I have been able to generate with my writing has been paid directly into the AVfM PayPal account, and that will continue to be the case until we are talking dumptrucks of money.

 

But regardless of their reasons, female misogynists are putting personal gain ahead of the health and wellbeing of average women, and for that they should be held just as accountable as men who attack the equal rights of women.

 

Please remember it works both ways. Feminist misandrists are putting personal gain ahead of the health and well-being of average men, and for that they should be held just as accountable as women who attack the equal rights of men. Hint: you’re one of those women, Amanda.

 

And you will be held accountable.

 

Sooner than you think.

 

Lots of love,

 

JB