Manosphere

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===Roosh V (Return of Kings)===
 
===Roosh V (Return of Kings)===
Roosh V aka Roosh Vorek aka Daryush Valizadek is an American [[pick-up artist]] and sex tourist.<ref>[http://takimag.com/article/a_sex_tourist_swallows_the_red_pill_nathan_wyatt/print#axzz2NipbnmQ7 ''Taki's Mag'', "A Sex Tourist Swallows the Red Pill"]</ref> Roosh runs some of the darkest corners of the "Manosphere", including his personal blog RooshV and the repugnant Return of Kings. <ref>[http://wehuntedthemammoth.com/2013/12/16/roosh-vs-return-of-kings-blog-offers-sex-tips-inspired-by-prison-rape/ Roosh V’s Return of Kings blog offers sex tips inspired by prison rape]</ref>
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Roosh V aka Roosh Vorek aka Daryush Valizadek is an American [[pick-up artist]] and sex tourist.<ref>[http://takimag.com/article/a_sex_tourist_swallows_the_red_pill_nathan_wyatt/print#axzz2NipbnmQ7 ''Taki's Mag'', "A Sex Tourist Swallows the Red Pill"]</ref> Roosh runs some of the darkest corners of the "Manosphere", including his personal blog RooshV and the repugnant Return of Kings. <ref>[http://wehuntedthemammoth.com/2013/12/16/roosh-vs-return-of-kings-blog-offers-sex-tips-inspired-by-prison-rape/ ''WHTM'', Roosh V’s Return of Kings blog offers sex tips inspired by prison rape]</ref>
  
 
He was once referred to as "the most-hated man on the Internet",<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/01/24/hunter-moore-is-in-jail-but-that-just-means-some-other-despicable-character-is-the-most-hated-man-on-the-internet-now/ ''The Washington Post'', Hunter Moore is in jail, but that just means some other despicable character is “the most-hated man on the Internet” now]</ref> and while that may not be true, [[Creep shaming|he is possibly the creepiest]].
 
He was once referred to as "the most-hated man on the Internet",<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/01/24/hunter-moore-is-in-jail-but-that-just-means-some-other-despicable-character-is-the-most-hated-man-on-the-internet-now/ ''The Washington Post'', Hunter Moore is in jail, but that just means some other despicable character is “the most-hated man on the Internet” now]</ref> and while that may not be true, [[Creep shaming|he is possibly the creepiest]].

Revision as of 17:28, 5 June 2014

The "Manosphere" is a loose network of websites oriented towards a particular vision of masculinity. It includes men's rights and pick-up artist blogs, as well as some bodybuilding and men’s fashion blogs, although the latter aren’t the ones that draw controversy for having a hateful misogynistic rhetoric.

The thing that ties these boys' clubs together is their collective obsession with feminism and the weird way in which they express both a strong desire and a profound distaste for women. They also share a similar vocabulary and troubling attitudes concerning sexual assault.

Contents

Men's rights movement

See the main article on this topic: Men's rights movement

The men's rights movement (also known as men's rights activism (MRA), masculism or "The Men's Human Rights Movement"[1]) is a movement that believes that social, legal and economic discrimination against men qua men is present in society to the extent that fighting it deserves an organized effort mirroring feminism. Its membership is primarily male (duh), though some women also identify with the movement and are sometimes known as "fMRAs."

Like most social movements, there is no specific agreed upon set of goals and no formal organization. The general movement is an offshoot of the men's liberation movements of the 1970s, and as such, used tactics learned from the feminist movement to attempt to gain equality in several areas. The movement itself split into two groups: one that largely supported feminism, and one that was strongly anti-feminist. Both movements, but especially the latter — which is overtly misogynist — are generally understood to be to some extent a backlash to feminism.

As the movement found the Internet... well, one particular website, a new breed of men's rights proponents found a venue for a highly anti-female view of "men's rights," no longer just focused on generally accepted inequality (like family court issues), but an overall idea that men have it bad because of women. Wonder if they'll miss all the boot-knocking.

Critics of both camps of the movement liken it to reverse racism and argue that men who subscribe to the ideology are merely trying to hold on to privilege granted them by a long history of patriarchal culture. The term "movement" is itself challenged, since "men's movements" function more as a social salve,[2] rather than actually redressing inequality in the overall social structure. There remain relatively few barriers to men's achievement in the world compared to women's, and few real areas where one can demonstrate a "lack of equality."[3]

Men's rights activists have been criticized for privilege blindness and their tendency towards "mansplaining." Frequently, MRA arguments rely on gross generalizations (often extrapolated from anecdotal evidence) and outdated views ("Men do all the hard work and have to work outside of the home, while women get the easy jobs.") Men's rights activists also have a reputation for palpable anger, based on their personal experiences of relationships, divorce, or the law. This stereotype is common to almost all fringe groups, however, as can be seen from the "angry feminist who wants to destroy men" stereotype (which has even greater currency in pop culture).

Pick-up artists

See the main article on this topic: Pick-up artist

A pick-up artist (PUA) is a man (or very rarely, a woman) who systematically studies ways to hopefully improve their success rate with women, which are very often sleazy and sexist. Pick-up artistry, often referred to as the "seduction community," has developed its own terms and lingo which members use with each other. The claims and goals of the subculture are often controversial, with criticisms ranging from those who think the subculture consists of tasteless assholes to those who are skeptical of the claims made by proponents.

The PUA community likes to make various unproven claims, and there is notable influence from neuro-linguistic programming, self-help, pop evolutionary psychology, misapplication of game theory, and woo ideas (most notably those of Ross Jeffries).[4] Typically in PUA literature a model or protocol is prescribed as a one-size-fits-all method of generating attraction from the opposite sex, falsely assuming that complex human interaction has constant and unchanging 'laws' that can be studied and thus exploited to the PUA's advantage. Many have accused the subculture of misogyny[5] and objectification'.

PUAs share the same distaste with Feminism that MRAs do. However, the issue PUAs have with the promotion of equal societal rights for women seems to be more related to it being more difficult for them to gaslight and emotionally abuse women after Feminism, whereas MRAs are convinced that the movement infringes on their own civil rights.

Inside the Manosphere

Paul Elam (A Voice for Men)

See the main article on this topic: Paul Elam

Paul Elam is a men's rights activist who founded and runs what is more or less the men's rights movement's flagship website, A Voice for Men. In many respects, he could be considered the unofficial leader of said movement, if not for the infighting between him and other 'Manosphere' mullahs such as W. F. Price (The Spearhead) and Daryush Valizadeh (Return of Kings).

Register-Her.com

In 2011, Elam established the site Register-Her.com, which publishes the personal information of women the site claims "have caused significant harm to innocent individuals either by the direct action of crimes like rape, assault, child molestation and murder, or by the false accusation of crimes against others".[6] While the list includes women who have been sent to prison for various crimes, it also includes others who were acquitted, and some who have not been accused of committing any crime,[6] and lists any female rape victim whose court case results in anything but a full conviction, sentencing them as a "false accuser".[7]

Elam showed shown zero concern over the fact that his site targets only one gender or that doxxing innocent people has (or could potentially have) real-world consequences like harassment and stalking. In fact, he has stated that the site could feature a listee's "name, address, phone number … even her routes to and from work," though to date he has not gone so far as publishing addresses and phone numbers.[6] He also once offered a cash reward to whoever was able to discover the real name of an anonymous feminist blogger.[6]

Rape apologism

Elam once accused women who've been raped of bringing the crime committed against them upon themselves because "they are stupid (and often arrogant) enough to walk though [sic] life with the equivalent of a [sic] I'M A STUPID, CONNIVING BITCH – PLEASE RAPE ME neon sign glowing above their empty little narcissistic heads."[8] He has also stated that he would vote to acquit in the event he were called to serve on the jury in a rape trial even if he knew for a fact that the accused were guilty.[9]

Reddit

See the main article on this topic: Reddit

Social media website Reddit contains many forums dedicated to "Manosphere" topics. Some of the most notorious include:

r/men's rights

Reddit is one of the top gathering points for MRAs. It is Essentially full of broscience and whiners about being "friendzoned", while contributing fuck all to any gender debate. It is here that the misinformation and falsified statistics are spread to the widest audience.

r/theredpill

/r/MensRights but actually worse. More open in their hatred of women and "betas", with quoting and mocking what male posters say in /r/relationships. Described on /r/TrollXChromosomes as "a place where bitter divorcees and young ugly dudes meet up to discuss strategies of making themselves feel better."[10] Even denounced as misogynist... by /r/MensRights, no less.[11] (It's unclear whether /r/MensRights users genuinely dislike TRP or are just (badly)[12] trying to hide their own sexism.)

Roosh V (Return of Kings)

Roosh V aka Roosh Vorek aka Daryush Valizadek is an American pick-up artist and sex tourist.[13] Roosh runs some of the darkest corners of the "Manosphere", including his personal blog RooshV and the repugnant Return of Kings. [14]

He was once referred to as "the most-hated man on the Internet",[15] and while that may not be true, he is possibly the creepiest.

Roosh has self-published fourteen nausea inducing books, most of which are sex tourist 'advice books' (such as Bang Colombia: Textbook On How To Sleep With Colombian Women and Bang Lithuania: How To Sleep With Lithuanian Women In Lithuania and Don't Bang Denmark: How To Sleep With Danish Women In Denmark (If You Must)). These sex tourist 'advice books' have faced criticism from the majority of the countries that they focus on, and publications in Norway,[16] Lithuania,[17] Colombia[18] Denmark,[19] Poland,[20] and Iceland[21] seem to find him as revolting as we do. An Icelandic organization even labelled Bang Iceland a "rape guide."[22]

Men Going Their Own Way

See the main article on this topic: Men Going Their Own Way

The Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW) movement is a weird offshoot of the men's rights movement resembling some kind of straight male separatism. Basically, MGTOWers buy into the same rhetoric MRAs spread ("society is actually biased against men, not women!" etc.), but instead of doing something about it (what MRAs mistakenly imagine themselves to be doing), MGTOWers have decided to stay away from women altogether, or, since that is hard, not entering romantic relationships with women (hence "going their own way"). In other words, it's a hilarious analog to the lesbian separatism movement. It's unclear if the movement has any power beyond "disgruntled douchebags talking shit about women (in general) on the Internet." As a general rule, the reaction of sane people is "Sure, do go your own way and stop whining already!"

The "going their own way" part is often framed not just as self-preservation, but as some kind of "strike" that is supposed to punish women. Apparently in the worldview of some (if not most) MGTOWers, women are some kind of succubi-like creatures, seducing men with their feminine wiles in order to exploit them and unable to live support themselves without men to exploit. (It's worth mentioning that there's a strong whiff of literal misogyny wafting around many in the movement.) There are amusing parallels here with the notion of "going Galt" that is popular among wingnuts who overestimate their importance in the grand scheme of things.

Love-shy.com

See the main article on this topic: Love-shy.com

Love-shy.com is a website ostensibly dedicated to supporting people who are suffering from social anxiety and are therefore incapable of forming romantic relationships. Nothing nefarious about that, right?

In reality, as a quick stint at Fundies Say the Darndest Things will deftly reveal, the website is a hangout for unwashed, basement-dwelling Nice Guys™ who are bitter about their inability to get laid and who use it to support each other's vomit-inducing, fury-invoking sexism. In the minds of this website's users, all women — and particularly all American women — are heartless, gold-digging whores and cockteases who foolishly deign to date Bad Boys™ who beat them instead of poor, sweet Nice Guys like them, and thus are to be held in contempt. How very nice.

F. Roger Devlin

See the main article on this topic: F. Roger Devlin

F. Roger Devlin is a white nationalist and men's rights activist. He is a contributing editor for racist screed The Occidental Quarterly and writes for VDARE.

He is particularly noteworthy for his essay Sexual Utopia in Power, which is the origin of many MRA subcultural memes, jargon and special definitions of words.

Chateau Heartiste

See the main article on this topic: Chateau Heartiste

Chateau Heartiste is an MRA/PUA blog run by a guy named James C. Weidmann, formerly known as "Roissy" or "Roissy in D.C." One of the sneeriest and most vicious websites of its ilk, arguably even nastier than its compatriot Roosh V, and written in a bombastic, overheated ramble, Roissy's speciality seems to be evolutionary psychological woo. He rants at length about how women having careers, not marrying at age 13,[23] and not looking like airbrushed supermodels[24] is a violation of evolutionary principles, and how women's economic freedom leaves the majority of men with no means of attracting or attaining sex from them, thus leaving them with no incentive to work, thus leading to the collapse of civilizations.

Roissy also is a White Nationalist. He says he opposes the movement, but only because the it is not sexist enough for him [25]. Otherwise, his talking points are the same. He does not even try to hide his racism: He thinks "white civilization" is getting destroyed [26] as it is "overran by Uruk-Hai" [27]. The only solution to the terrible prospect of Whites becoming a minority is, according to Roissy, to forcefully deport all minorities. [28]. However, this will not happen as, according to him, the "elites" have an "anti-white ideology" and plan to plan to destroy the white race. [29][30].

Criticisms

The "Manosphere" has received negative press from news outlets positioned across the political spectrum.

Caitlin Dewey of The Washington Post accused them of being misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic... basically everything that we've been saying for the past few years.[31] Meanwhile, Orthodox Christian Rod Dreher of The American Conservative wrote that the movement "dehumanizes both men and women".[32] Jeez, that's stronger than what we write about them.

The Southern Poverty Law Center

In their Spring 2012 Intelligence Report the Southern Poverty Law Center published an article called Misogyny:The Sites.[33] Here, they wrote on various 'Manosphere' websites, writing that it is "peopled with hundreds of websites, blogs and forums dedicated to savaging feminists in particular and women". This detailing included content on MRA websites including A Voice for Men, r/mensrights and The False Rape Society, and pick-up artist (and sex tourist) Daryush Valizadeh's blog RooshV.

The SPLC's Mark Potok compared the forums of the Manosphere to white supremacist websites and claimed that they contained "pure unvarnished women hatred".[34] The SPLC later expanded on their initial Misogyny:The Sites post, asserting "It should be mentioned that the SPLC did not label MRAs as members of a hate movement; nor did our article claim that the grievances they air on their websites – false rape accusations, ruinous divorce settlements and the like – are all without merit. But we did call out specific examples of misogyny and the threat, overt or implicit, of violence."[35]

We Hunted The Mammoth

See the main article on this topic: We Hunted The Mammoth

We Hunted The Mammoth (formerly Man Boobz) is a feminist blog dedicated to poking fun at various instances of egregious sexism on the Internet (and sometimes outside of it[36]). Its usual targets include many manosphere blogs, including MRAs, PUAs and MGTOW. It is probably the best up-to-date source on 'Manosphere' goings-on.

See also

Footnotes

  1. "Entering a new era"
  2. For those who don't know what "salve" means...
  3. Michael Messner, Politics of Masculinities: Men in Movements (1997), Sage Publications
  4. The Guardian, Ready, steady, flirt
  5. SFGate, Ahead of the game / Rock scribe Neil Strauss became an unlikely master of seduction, and he's helping other shy guys do the same
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Arthur Goldwag, "Leader’s Suicide Brings Attention to Men's Rights Movement", Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report
  7. David Futrelle, "Register-Her is a Fake “Offenders Registry” Run By Misogynists, Designed to Vilify and Intimidate Women", Manboobz.com
  8. Paul Elam, "Challenging the Etiology of Rape"
  9. Jaclyn Friedman, "A Good Men’s Rights Movement Is Hard to Find", The American Prospect
  10. r/TrollXChromosomes, When visiting /r/TheRedPill for the first time
  11. It's seriously that bad.
  12. A Voice for Men, Red pill prescription: take em all
  13. Taki's Mag, "A Sex Tourist Swallows the Red Pill"
  14. WHTM, Roosh V’s Return of Kings blog offers sex tips inspired by prison rape
  15. The Washington Post, Hunter Moore is in jail, but that just means some other despicable character is “the most-hated man on the Internet” now
  16. Kvinneforakten på nett
  17. Amerikiečio knygoje – patarimai, kaip permiegoti su lietuvėmis
  18. Estadounidense vende por internet 'manual' para acostarse con colombianas
  19. Derfor skal du ikke knalde danske piger
  20. Jak zaliczyć każdą Polkę - Amerykanin wyjaśnia w książce. Włoch mu odpowiada: Im chodzi o romantyzm
  21. Ráðleggur fólki hvernig á að sænga hjá íslenskum konum
  22. Femínistar fordæma flagarabók Vöreks
  23. Heartiste, March 2008 Comment Winner
  24. Heartiste, Before and After: The Hilarity of Self-Deception
  25. Heartiste, White Woman
  26. Heartiste, Comment of the Week: 60 Years of Shivving
  27. Heartiste, White on White War
  28. Heartiste, White Majority in the US gone by 2043
  29. Heartiste, Parade of Humiliations
  30. Heartiste, Do the White Elite Dream of Mulatto Sheep
  31. The Washington Post, Inside the ‘manosphere’ that inspired Santa Barbara shooter Elliot Rodger
  32. The American Conservative, Girls Who Are Boys Who Like Boys to Be Girls Women Who Love Men Who Hate Women
  33. The Southern Poverty Law Center, Misogyny: The Sites
  34. Yahoo News, Santa Barbara killings: Did misogynist hate groups play a role?
  35. The Southern Poverty Law Center, Intelligence Report Article Provokes Fury Among Men’s Rights Activists (lol)
  36. Such as when he commented on a Victorian painting.
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