The Delusions of MRAs and MRA Supporters

So, I woke up this morning and needlessly checked my social media website only to find that a woman had posted links to blogs of Men's Rights Activists, claiming that they are legitimate and just like a group of feminists, only for "men's rights."

Of course, the woman that posted this appeared to be unaware that MRAs are actually a  response to feminism - an anti-feminist movement. 
It shares absolutely nothing with feminism. 

As if this wasn't cringe-inducing enough, she also posted an MRA website link that supports "gender neutral custody hearings" because you know, female reproductive rights and rights to raise their children are actually unrelated to gender.

What world is this woman, and other proponents of Men's Rights Jackivist groups, living in? 

Are they unaware that the forced sterilization of mentally and physically disabled women, First Nations women, Black women and other women deemed "unsuitable" for reproduction and parenting only stopped in Canada during the 1970s? 
Are they simply ignoring the fact that 98% of rape is perpetrated by men against women? 
Are they turning a blind eye to the fact that poverty has a female face, with 70% of the world's poor being women?

But no, MRAs claim that men are actually oppressed! Here are some slogans from signs posted downtown Vancouver via Jezebel: "90 percent of divorces are initiated by women," "90 percent of homeless are men"

Furthermore, according to Women Views On News.org, an MRA group even went so far to write, "My belief is that 50 to 90 per cent of rape claims are made up, the rape statistics are inflated to make men look more rapey than they really are."

The fact that any woman would perceive MRAs to be a rational, productive and legitimate group of men who are "oppressed" is deeply troubling as is the upsurge of these hate groups. Much of the drivel featured on MRA blogs is blatantly anti-feminist, anti-woman and anti-liberation. They skew reality and misrepresent women's experiences to support their own woman-hating agenda. 

I mean, one doesn't have to put much effort into finding blatant misogyny on these sites - particularly on the MRA reddit pages. Here's a sample of the intellectually-stimulating, politically-relevant postings from the site: 

You know us women, we just go around claiming to be raped by men all the time, just for shits and giggles! We have an unwavering desire to be blamed by the cops, the courts and other male-dominated institutions because we think it's a good way to spend our free time!

However, since there is no great way to end an angry rant, I'll conclude this post by affirming this sentiment:  MRAs perpetuate woman-hating, misogyny, reproductive injustices, rape culture and rape myths.  They are a hate group, plain and simple and any woman who sympathizes with them does so at the expense of her sisters. 

A Solemn Farewell to Savage Death Island

Boner-killing, like other forms of patriarchy-smashing, can make a feminist feel weary. As a feminist, I get that, but the news of the discontinuation of I Blame the Patriarchy is still heartbreaking. 

Twisty Faster aka. The Spinster Aunt aka. the woman whose blog changed my life, has decided to step away from I Blame the Patriarchy and move into a new place in cyberspace. The Dreadful Acres: Cottonmouth County Confidential is the name of the new digs. Here, Twisty writes about her experiences and encounters living in rural Texas.

IBTP will remain accessible indefinitely, which is a relief, as it is a truly valuable feminist resource. Nevertheless, this boner killer will miss the frequent trips to Savage Death Island. While my thirst for Twisty's words will still be quenched by The Dreadful Acres, I will always be hankering for her stink eye and heartwarming nature crap. 

Everything written over at IBTP was incredibly candid and potent and told with such eloquence. Patriarchy was smashed, gender was challenged, sexploitation was critiqued and often, laughter was induced. And so, this phallic-flaccidity facilitator will be sad for a few days.

In the meantime, please keep on blamin' on. 

October 10, 2012 - Links

October 10, 2012 - Links

Feminist Current
A quick note on accuracy & the prostitution debates

The new face of feminism is boobs

Facts and science prove useful after all!

Misogyny and Porn Culture are SO FUCKING IRONIC, says hipsters. Also, fuck hipsters. 

Anti-Porn Feminists
We live in a culture where sexual abuse is the norm

“Lawsuit: Boy, 8, suffered ‘horrific sexual abuse’ from classmates”

Rage Against the Manchine

Just the Tip

Against All Evidence

Gail Dines video: Neo-liberalism and the defanging of feminism

Finn Mackay
Feminist Arguments Against Industry of Prostitution

Talking about Gender by Joan Scanlon and Professor Debbie Cameron  

Weary Wednesdays: Pole-Dancing Fitness Class For Kids

Trends! Don’t you just love them? There is always some new idea, product or activity that is promoted and popularized through mass media. These trends, however, are almost always aimed at women and the majority of them revolve around physical appearance and/or how to better perform one's social roles. While the pressure on maintaining a particular physique may be on the rise in younger men and boys, the majority of the pressure is placed on women and girls. These trends are reinforced through various mediums including but not limited to: websites, magazines, television, film, advertising, and books.

From how to stop one’s skin from wrinkling, drying, flaking, sweating, sagging –to how to lose 2 pounds a day before your big day! All the way to strip aerobics fitness DVDs, the neo-burlesque movement, 50 shades of grey, vampire stalker movies, anti-aging products, celebrity-endorsed diets, and "body shapers" aka. suction undies. 

It is likely that all of these fads are connected to one another as women are sold the same idea with each one; that our physical appearance is paramount in defining our value as people. The companies behind these trends inform us that it is empowering to be within the male gaze, to put all of our energy into arousing heterosexual male desire, to be detached from our whole selves rather than be respected for our minds, our ideas and our actions. 

This, they say, is power for women.

Marketers and their focus groups inform us, and the rest of the society, that our bodies need to be sculpted, surgically altered, constrained, whitened, waxed, and objectified. Porn culture, or the the normalization and infiltration of porn into everyday life, has lead to activities such as stripping/pole-dancing, lap-dancing, and burlesque becoming popular within the dominant culture and among some middle to upper-middle class women.

However, due to today’s limitless marketing as well as the ubiquitous presence of mass media and social networking, children are taking up some of these trends themselves. 

Pole-dancing fitness classes gained popularity with adults several years ago; some were even setting up poles in their homes and attending stripping aerobics classes, granted they had the funds to do so.  Now some fitness instructors have been inspired to start up pole-dancing fitness classes for children as young as five. 

Yup! You read right, children's pole-dancing classes. The class circulating through the media is being offered on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. It costs about $70 per one hour class and explicitly intended for children. Unlike "spinning classes" which usually refer to riding a stationary bicycle, this pole-dancing class is euphemistically named “Little Spinners” and involves nothing sexual, according to the instructor. In fact, owner Kristy Craig claims that it is a great workout for kids. 

Photo from National Post - I altered the photo to protect the identity of the child.

Nonetheless, according to the Toronto Sun, Craig is shocked by all of the negative attention that her classes have received. She told the media that she teaches gymnastics moves but instead of a horizontal bar, she uses a vertical pole. "It’s nothing new,” Craig said, remarking that pole-dancing competitions are already offered in Russia and the U.K. “People need to really look into it before jumping to any conclusions about what I’m offering.” She argues that pole-dancing has "evolved" into a sport just like any other. “For competitions they actually have rules and regulations that there can be nothing sexual, or any article of clothing removed, and in some you aren’t allowed to wear high heels,” she adds. “The sexuality is being taken out of it. It’s highlighting the gymnastic, athletic and circus acrobatics aspect.”

Another supporter of Craig’s classes, Tammy Morris owner of Tantra Fitness, told the National Post in regards to sexualization that “they have no association with it or think there is anything wrong or bad about it. That’s an adult putting that on them.” In 2010, her Vancouver fitness studio roused public anger when she offered classes to children, predominantly girls, as young as nine and private classes to those as young as five. Morris defends these pole-dancing classes, claiming that the children “love it” and it is not problematic as the girls do not learn how to strip or grind.

Interestingly, on Craig's company's website she features almost only photographs of adult women and adult classes. From the main webpage, which features an advertisement for pink glittery 9 inch stilettos, one would think that the studio was exclusively for adults. Some of the classes listed on the website have names like "Sexy Flexy," "Babes on Bikes," and "Bunny Bootcamp." And yet, all of these classes appear on a posted weekly schedule alongside a class for children.

So, where does the sexualization start and stop? Are there a few days of the week for "Sexy Flexy" classes that are adult-only and one other day of the week that is for a non-sexualized sport class for kids? These are all taught by the same instructor and yet are both, apparently, different. How does one shift from a consciously sexualized pole-dancing class for adults one day to a "this is a serious sport in Russia" class for kids the next day? Why is the class not sexualized when the kids are doing it? Is it because it doesn't have porn-inspired name like "Bunny Bootcamp" which, I'm sure, would have never been considered for the title of the kid's class.

What seems to be missing from the conversation, however, is the realization that everything that circulates in our culture–all activities and all of what we see in the media–have been constructed within a specific society; in a highly pornified and highly misogynistic social environment that is driven by money and dominated by rich white men. 

These classes, despite the Craig’s assertions, are products of a patriarchal, misogynistic industry that thrives on the bodies of women and girls. The sex industry is a daily reality for many women around the world, often as a means of survival and yet, it is becoming a popular fitness trend among privileged women who can afford 120$ pole-dancing classes. 

If fitness and children’s well-being are really the goals of these classes then why not encourage these children to join a sport, go swimming, or explore the outdoors? Why is a sexualized class that costs 70$ an hour better than playing tag or throwing a ball around?

Critical thought is essential when it comes to these issues and all of the messages that we receive through patriarchal popular media. Children are cannot think critically about their activities and the world around them in the same way that adults can. This is why we have an age of consent and why we don’t leave life-altering decisions up to children who have had limited life experience and cognitive development. As adults, as a larger community, we need to step back and question the growing commercialization of childhood and of children. We need to start questioning why children are being so sexualized in the media and why it is being normalized. This normalization impacts children's lives and the way they explore and understand their world. 

Post-Secondary Pimping: Strip Clubs Recruiting at Ontario High Schools Now Targeting Colleges

It appears that sleazy male strip club owners in Ontario and around Canada are angry about the conservative government’s decision to ban stripping and sex industry related visas as it limits their “supply” of migrant sex trade workers. Now don't get me wrong, the conservative party of Canada is on my shit-list and their opposition to the sexual exploitation of women is not feminist in any way, shape or form as they want to criminalize women in the sex trade and promote the patriarchal capitalist status quo. Further, their overall foreign temporary workers program is exploitative and problematic as are their policies and beliefs surrounding labour rights in this country.

from the Windsor Star

But I digress,

Rob Katzman, the 50-something male owner of the Leopard's Lounge Broil Strip Club in Windsor, Ontario casually told Global News that there is a growing “need” for local “talent” in Canadian strip clubs due to the ban on foreign stripping visas. The search, they affirm, should be conducted on campuses.

The media, being the patriarchal institution that it is, is assisting in promoting such a recruitment campaign. The news is portraying this as nothing more than a simple economic issue – a question of supply and demand. Evoking the economic-rationality argument is commonplace in media discourses around the sex industry as it allows for normalization and the invisibilization of harm. 

In the same news segment, young women are talked about as commodities, existing only to meet the sexual demands of male strangers. They are not discussed as though they are full human beings. This is yet another tactic used in normalizing the sex industry. 

Katzman's reasoning for this post-secondary recruitment includes the issue of expensive tuition in Canada, especially for those women just moving to the city for the first time. He boasts that this campaign to get young women interested in stripping is rational and sound, especially when looked at through a neo-liberal economics standpoint. The strip club even hired their own sleazy lawyer to further their cause, stating that they are willing to take the issue to court to ensure the adequate supply of sexually available young women. Previously, however, Ontario strip clubs were targetting high schools and young girls under 18, hoping they would change their future aspirations and opt for stripping after graduation. Nevertheless, preying on high school students created too much controversy, so now their focus has shifted exclusively to post-secondary students. With this, flyers and pamphlets are to begin circulating throughout Ontario campuses. 

Katzman is seemingly satisfied with his hunt for college-aged strippers, claiming that these “entertainers” will be “classier” and “smarter." Clearly, those women working through temporary foreign visas were just not meeting the qualifications of classiness. Now, Katzman and those who frequent his club represent not only blatant misogyny, but also classism and racism.

The Global News story, which focuses predominately on the pro-sex industry perspective, two female college students (the first and only ones featured in the entire segment aside from random clips of women stripping) were asked what they thought of strip-club owners coming onto campuses to recruit students. One woman responded positively, stating that she needed the money – so why not? The other woman said that the whole thing was inherently predatory as it took advantage of young women who may have just moved to the city for the first time.

It is predatory, but it also assumes that women should consider stripping, lap-dancing and other forms of “sex work” as inevitable, rational, and even liberating employment options. It normalizes the patriarchal notion that men are entitled to women’s bodies on demand and that women can and should only find power through their appearance and ability to provoke erections.

This is a feminist issue and I hope that all feminists, particularly those living in the province of Ontario can speak out about this as it is unacceptable. Educational institutions and all public spaces for that matter, should be free of predatory pimps. 

Links - August 18, 2012

Links - August 18, 2012

Alice Walker, Recently I Wrote A Letter

Owen Lloyed from Deep Green Resistance, The Feared and the Fearful

Rooted in Being, High End Prostitution

Margot Magowan, NYT reports on link between toys and grown-up inequality

Gender Boxes Limit All Kids

Gender-fluid piece in NYT insulting to girls and women

Feminist Current, Being porn: On boudoir photography and sad stagettes

Dude throws tantrum on account of 'sexism'; feminists laugh their faces off

A baby wont make the lady (so get over it)

The Melissa Harris-Perry show talks circles around the porn industry

Twisty Faster, Chick blog post

Spinster aunt is informed that Pussy Riot’s ideological carpet doesn’t match drapes

The Root, Is Misogyny the New 'I Love You"?

Sexual Harassment and a Culture of Misogyny In the RCMP Pt. 3: Cpl. Brown's S&M Photos

Trigger Warning: Violence against women and sexualized violence

The RCMP tries to portray itself as a noble, courageous, and moral institution that upholds “the rule of law” and strives to “serve and protect” all citizens, but this is an illusion as the previous posts confirm. However, recently there has been even more controversy facing the force. When RCMP Cpl. Jim Brown’s photos were found on a bondage/sadomasochism website, many began to question his ability to appropriately oversee an investigation on murdered and missing women.

Once the images of the corporal were made public, many Canadians were disturbed to find an officer featured online in photos that fetishize violence against women. One photo shows Brown posing next to a woman bound in saranwrap and another displays him stepping on the back of a woman with his mountie boots. The narrative under the saranwrap photo was reiterated by Dr. Mike Webster, “He comes upon a woman on the street. He stalks her, he captures her, he takes her somewhere, it’s a private location, he wraps her in cellophane … he puts his feet on her, he cuts her, she bleeds.” 

Cpl. Jim Brown image found on AM980

The website even featured a photo of Cpl. Brown holding a butcher knife to a naked woman’s throat.  According to the National Post, “The narrative of the still photographs, posted on an S&M website, progresses from an apparent street scene of the woman walking past Brown sitting on a wall; he overpowers her; he hog-ties her, he imprisons her in a cage, he threatens her with a large butcher knife and he slashes her.”

Hilla Kerner, a worker at the the Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter told the Vancouver Sun “It is absurd to think that his [Cpl. Brown] personal, private behaviour has nothing to do with his professional role as a police officer.” 

But those coming to Brown’s defense believe that his private life is based on individual choice and utterly detached from his public life. Psychology professor,  Del Paulhus (I know, I know it does look a lot like phallus) affirms that folks who are sadomasochists or those who “practice” bondage in their “home” life do not neccesarily behave that way in their careers or public lives. “In particular, the S&M community seems to be a group of people who are normal in every respect, except for their interest in sadistic and/or masochistic activities.” However, many that know that this is not entirely true, as several ex-BDSM aficionados have recently spoken out about sexual assault and a lack of real consent in some S&M circles. 

But I digress

Paulhus’s public/private theory suggests that we are all to believe that Cpl. Brown’s private activities (though they were published online by Brown) have no influence whatsoever on his ability to successfully and responsibly investigate a serial murder case involving 49 women.

Feminists are familiar with this notion that the public and private spheres of one's life are disconnected and detached. We argue, however, that they are connected and very intimately so. It does not take much brain power to understand how domestic battery and marital rape are not merely "private" matters, for instance. Feminists have long argued that this notion of a public/private divide is harmful to women as a class and further perpetuates a culture of misogyny, where violence against women is considered "a family matter" or a "private affair." Nevertheless, as per-usual under patriarchy, Cpl. Brown’s job will remain secure and he will continue to inhabit a place of authority despite this blatant conflict of interest. 

Cpl. Brown’s fetishizing of violence against women when placed alongside the workplace sexual harassment, rapes, verbal abuse, “fat parades,” and porn consumption, it is suffice to suggest that the RCMP is very anti-woman work environment.

But, what now?

How can the RCMP change when the misogyny is so deeply embedded as a part of the “culture?” What hope should we have, if any, in real change when the RCMP simply blames the women reporting abuse?

Cpl. Galliford’s courage to come forward with what she endured in the RCMP has inspired many other women to come forward, but what will be next for future female officers? For the missing and murdered women all over the country? The workplace harassment coupled with the violent photos of a male corporal merely makes a joke out of violence against women. This type of behaviour in the RCMP perpetuates a culture that views misogyny and violence against women as sexy, fun, and harmless. It pushes domestic violence, rape, and femicide into the private sphere and further discourages women from reporting abuse or safely escaping male violence. 

We must ask ourselves if a mere reformation of an institution that was founded on male-supremacy, colonialism, power, punishment, and social control is enough to put an end to a culture of misogyny.