She Never Fails to Amaze

Posted on | December 24, 2014 | 117 Comments

Amanda Marcotte’s irrepressible weirdness:

Before I take off for the rest of the week, I want to flag this amazing post at Feministing written by Katherine Cross that articulates better than anything I’ve ever read why it is so irritating to women to have men constantly sharing how our appearance makes their dicks feel, even if the determination is that we adorn ourselves in a dick-pleasing manner. Often, women react to this constant judgment by saying, “It’s not about you,” but the counterpoint is always that, in some cases, women are clearly trying to look sexy, and thus it must be because it is a performance solely for the benefit of men. . . .

Really? I mean . . . really?

Who are these “men constantly sharing” their phallic responses with women? Whence this sense of “constant judgment”?

Decades ago, I gave up attempting to explain why women decorate themselves the way they do. It’s utterly irrational.

Yes, feminists have a theory of how the “patriarchy” is to blame for women’s fashion habits, but in all my years of being a male supremacist oppressor, I’ve never understood this.

Consider, for example, the designer handbag. One encounters women who complain constantly about their economic plight but who nevertheless simply must have a $200 designer-label purse.

Likewise, shoes — stand-up comedians have endlessly mined the female obsession with shoes. I’m convinced that every woman, no matter her socioeconomic status or cultural background, secretly yearns to be Imelda Marcos. Even the wealthiest man is probably content with owning two or three pairs of shoes (dress shoes in black and brown for business, plus a pair of sneakers for the weekend) while his female office assistant owns a closet full of shoes in every color and style imaginable.

As I say, feminists have tried to blame women’s fashion obsessions on the patriarchy (Naomi Wolf’s The Beauty Myth was the most famous attempt), but having spent my entire life as a male supremacist oppressor, I’m certain it’s not my fault that women are the way they are. Perhaps I wasn’t important enough to be invited to the secret meetings of the Omnipotent Male Cabal where it was decided that women must be brainwashed into spending all their money on handbags and shoes. Still, I think most men probably share my view that women’s fashion appetites are (a) insane and (b) not our fault. Certainly, no sane man has ever felt an urge to discuss fashion with Amanda Marcotte — telling her how her “appearance makes their dicks feel”? really? — and even less would any sane man wish to discuss such a subject with Katherine Cross:

We can even see this in GamerGater propaganda . . . That movement’s ongoing obsession with dyed hair is premised on a similar belief that all women who disagree with them and color their hair brightly — green, or blue, or pink, for instance — are doing so because they wish to thumb their nose at men specifically, or that they are doing it as an entirely self-conscious, petulant political statement; again, for men’s benefit. One male Gater even described this phenomenon as “having political statements shoved at me just by taking a cursory glance at a person.” To them, women with dyed hair are doing it just to irritate them.

It is interesting to note that many of the “Social Justice Warrior” feminist types assailing the videogame industry as a bastion of misogyny have strange-colored hair. It is also interesting to note that some of these women were born male, for example “Brianna Wu” a/k/a John Walker Flynt, whose Encyclopedia Dramatica file is quite interesting.

You may not be aware that Katherine Cross is accused of unethical journalism, having allegedly failed to disclose her professional association with Anita Sarkeesian’s Feminist Frequency while covering Sarkeesian’s feminist videogame crusade. And you might also be unaware that Katherine Cross was born male and has written at some length about her own transgender status, “the difficult lives we have to live before we can truly be ourselves . . . perpetually battling with a world that despises us,” et cetera. Transgenderism has frequently been a subject of Katherine Cross’s writing at Feministing and, in light of that, let us read more of her column that Amanda Marcotte so highly recommended:

Thus, our appearances are always a complex dance between our own desires and what we think the desires of others are; this is true of all of us. Even when women are performing for others, we do so no more frequently than men do, and often as not are performing for other women . . . We are adrift on the same silken sea of fashion and taste as men are.
To believe that we as women solely adorn ourselves for the specifically sexual gaze of men is, looked at in this way, a denial of humanity.

Yeah. Whatever you say. Dye your hair green and sail away on the “silken sea of fashion.” We don’t care. Really. We’re just so grateful that you gave Amanda Marcotte another excuse to make an utter fool of herself, endorsing a transgender feminist’s critique of how men allegedly judge women by “how our appearance makes their dicks feel.”

How do Amanda Marcotte and Catherine Cross make you feel, guys?

Category: Feminism

Comments

117 Responses to “She Never Fails to Amaze”

Charles G. Hill
December 24th, 2014 @ 9:40 pm

Serious designer bags often go for four figures. A few of them go for five.
Dianna Deeley
December 24th, 2014 @ 9:49 pm

I really don’t get the whole “designer” thing, and shoes defeat me (if it doesn’t go with black shoes of some sort, I’m not buying it), but I will admit that I have what my assistant describes as, “A bag problem.” I don’t expect men to understand. I’m not sure *I* understand my bag problem.

Also, clothes are a necessary social signal. I can’t say that I dress for “the male gaze”, but I definitely try to appear neat, clean, orderly and appropriate for the occasion. Doesn’t everyone? It’s not exactly news that everyone tries to live up to their idea of appropriate, whether that’s to delight a member of the opposite sex or whatever!
Dianna Deeley
December 24th, 2014 @ 9:50 pm

Wow – that’s scary.

And some people have way, way too much time on their hands.
robertstacymccain
December 24th, 2014 @ 9:52 pm

Y’know, I spent all that time setting up the perfect “Einhorn is a man” reaction and what do I get? Charles telling me about handbag prices.

It’s such a shame . . .
DavidD
December 24th, 2014 @ 9:56 pm

Because a man can never give a compliment to a woman without it being his … that’s doing the talking….
Charles G. Hill
December 24th, 2014 @ 10:00 pm

For the record, I own seven pairs of shoes. (Two qualify as sneakers.)
Daniel O'Brien
December 24th, 2014 @ 10:06 pm

“transgender feminist”? Isn’t that an oxymoron?
Political Rift » She Never Fails to Amaze
December 24th, 2014 @ 10:18 pm

[…] Robert Stacy McCain Amanda Marcotte’s irrepressible weirdness: Before I take off for the rest of the week, I want […]
robertstacymccain
December 24th, 2014 @ 10:29 pm

I’m just trying to be … polite.
December 24th, 2014 @ 10:32 pm

I got banned from there for saying this… but that’s not the first place that didn’t like me ;(

I’ma let you finish, but honestly…

Hello Everybody!!

I’m Troy McClure. You probably remember me from such films as ” Aileen Wuornos and Modern Feminism” and “Alice’s Adventures Through The Windshield Glass” and “The Decapitation of Larry Leadfoot.”

We need to take the discussion up a notch and talk about the Eunuchifying™ of the Societal Male.

Make it so Mr. Spock!
Fail Burton
December 24th, 2014 @ 10:40 pm

I swear that Nazi cocktail waitress lives in a diving bell with TV screens. Her world stinks of a person who never goes outside.

Here’s my wish for 2015: delegitimize these autistic hate-filled rabble-rousers out of the public arena. They serve no purpose and produce nothing but aggravation.

Until these morons can produce a cogent ideology that demonizes women and non-whites in film, literature, gov’t, media and academics just see them for the supremacist sociopathic paranoid truthers they are.

Go hike the Inca Trail, Marcotte – alone – with no audience, and a 60 lb. pack. Then learn Indonesian, rent a motorcycle, and ride completely around the island of Bali. Stand in front of the seated colossi of Ramses at Abu Simbel, and just be in awe of beauty rather than rattled by your trivial and endless whining and complaints.

By that time you might have a chance of figuring out the difference between the voices in your head and who you actually are, and what the world is. Because that’s called a rite of passage and it shows you your inner self and the outer world. Trust me, it’s not your rusty diving bell.
Adobe_Walls
December 24th, 2014 @ 10:48 pm

How many pairs of shoes a man needs or should have depends on what he does for a living. Are flip flops considered shoes?
McGehee
December 24th, 2014 @ 10:54 pm

I’m pretty sure the penile reaction of any man to a shrieking harpy is not embiggenment.
Charles G. Hill
December 24th, 2014 @ 10:59 pm

I would say yes.

I have that oddest of jobs: an IT slot that requires me to move about a whole lot. (None of this sedentary stuff.)
Matthew W
December 24th, 2014 @ 11:03 pm

+ 10 for Try McClure (what’s the deal with Troy and fish???)
The Osprey
December 24th, 2014 @ 11:05 pm

In Hawai’i, yes, except the locals call them “sleepahs” (slippers).
The Osprey
December 24th, 2014 @ 11:09 pm

Speaking of women, and shoes, I could really love a woman who’d buy me a pair of Courteneys.
Federale
December 24th, 2014 @ 11:13 pm

Can a trannie be a feminist? Aren’t they part of the patriarchy? LOL!
Kaiser Derden
December 24th, 2014 @ 11:30 pm

I’m hearing aloooooot of penis envy in Marcotte and Cross … (although in Cross’s case I’m not sure why)
December 24th, 2014 @ 11:33 pm

Trannies get more P than Hetero’s. so they got that going for them
K-Bob
December 25th, 2014 @ 12:03 am

I keep a pair of work boots, some muck boots, a pair of steel-toed, “around the farm” shoes, a pair of dress shoes for my coffin wear, slippers, a “casual dress” pair of leather deck shoes, some old sneakers for painting stuff in, and a newer pair of sneakers for daily wear.

So that’s what, eight pairs. Haven’t bought new in two or three years. The coffin shoes are twenty-five years old, and in fine shape for when everyone gathers to send me off.

I know this makes women’s hoo-ha’s feel just swell.

It’s when I take them off that things go downhill.
K-Bob
December 25th, 2014 @ 12:06 am

I knew they smelled funny.
K-Bob
December 25th, 2014 @ 12:11 am

“First I look at the purse”
NeoWayland
December 25th, 2014 @ 12:36 am

Pardon, but your argument works better if you don’t use “autistic” as an insult.
Adobe_Walls
December 25th, 2014 @ 12:54 am

It’s some kinda moron.
Adobe_Walls
December 25th, 2014 @ 12:55 am

”It’s a holly jolly feminist minefield”
”Christmas is filled with one patriarchal construct after another”
http://news360.com/article/271364150
Evi L. Bloggerlady
December 25th, 2014 @ 1:00 am

Men need five pairs shoes: A black pair, a brown pair, a pair of sneakers, a pair of boots, and something for summer/boat wear.

You can skip the black and brown if you go with a pair of fancy boots and working boots.
Daniel Freeman
December 25th, 2014 @ 1:29 am

It is common to confuse “social blindness” with sociopathy. The former is like the guy who wore the special shirt that a gal friend made for him, because it was a special day, where he was going to land a probe on a comet. The latter is like the people who attacked him for going on TV wearing a shirt depicting strong, independent women that were also sexy. #shirtstorm
Fail Burton
December 25th, 2014 @ 1:48 am

Go read somebody else’s mind.
Daniel Freeman
December 25th, 2014 @ 1:50 am

Here, The Christmas [Noun] will make you feel better. I recommend reading them all in order, so they make a little more sense, but “Attack of the Social Justice [Noun]” is particularly satisfying.
Daniel Freeman
December 25th, 2014 @ 1:57 am

Here’s my wish for 2015: delegitimize these [sugarplum] hate-filled rabble-rousers out of the public arena.

Sorry, but it’s still an insult, no matter what you put in there. I like you, but we’re interpolating, not mind-reading.
Dodd
December 25th, 2014 @ 2:05 am

If I were Amanda Marcotte, I, too, would probably get tired of being told how her appearance makes men’s penises feel (limp, strongly desiring to crawl up inside their owner’s abdominal cavity).
Daniel Freeman
December 25th, 2014 @ 2:30 am

I don’t know about a contradiction in terms, but when some seem to prefer the men’s rights movement, you know it can’t all be butterflies and rainbows over there.
Daniel Freeman
December 25th, 2014 @ 2:44 am

Also, what?

Similarly, “White Christmas” resolves with the Hanes sisters teaching Bob and Phil that what they need is the love of a good woman to be happy — enough already with the emptiness of workaholism and playing the field! On its own, this might not be so problematic, but when you run into the same thing in myriad other classics, you wonder if it’s possible for kids to grow up NOT believing that girls should be men’s emotional handmaidens.

Sure, riiiight… Because there’s no personal self-interest there whatsoever. Ha! Does she not know how advertising works? You create the demand. “Emotional handmaidens” my ass, those are PR reps for what women want.

Other women. Not Latham Hunter. Since despite having a daughter herself, she seems to have no idea why those other women would want a man.
richard mcenroe
December 25th, 2014 @ 3:01 am

Well, my dolphin is washing its mouth out, if that makes you feel any better…
Daniel Freeman
December 25th, 2014 @ 3:01 am

Goodness. I hope she doesn’t go to Times Square on New Year’s. It would be a shame if she kept even just one ball from dropping in New York.
richard mcenroe
December 25th, 2014 @ 3:04 am

I’ll let you know how my dick feels about Amanda Marcotte as soon as it unlocks the bathroom door (seriously, a little help, guys? This is NOT COMFORTABLE…)

Merry Christmas, Stacy and Crew, and if I don’t catch up with you tomorrow I’ve posted a cascade of Christmas classics on Three Beers Later…
concern00
December 25th, 2014 @ 3:35 am

Shows you just how little these feminists actually understand men, even the ones who are only pretending to be women.
Phil_McG
December 25th, 2014 @ 4:36 am

Merry Cisgendered Patriarchal Christmas everybody.
Phil_McG
December 25th, 2014 @ 4:51 am

“It is interesting to note that many of the “Social Justice Warrior” feminist types assailing the videogame industry as a bastion of misogyny have strange-colored hair.”

It’s a useful marker for broken girls. Art famously imitated life on this point in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”.

Just as a man who tattoos his face is telling you something about himself – WARNING! AVOID! – a girl with chopped hair dyed in weird neon colours is also sending out a message.
Evi L. Bloggerlady
December 25th, 2014 @ 5:42 am

http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/382320/slide_382320_4545212_free.jpg

gift ideas for Amanda
Evi L. Bloggerlady
December 25th, 2014 @ 5:43 am

http://www.kaseyedwards.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/femanist_sticker.jpg

Gift ideas for readers of TOM
Evi L. Bloggerlady
December 25th, 2014 @ 5:45 am

http://skreened.com/render-product/s/i/s/sisaghgycnuqqviucaos/image.american-apparel-unisex-baseball-tee.white-evergreen.w460h520b3z1.jpg
Adobe_Walls
December 25th, 2014 @ 7:05 am

I don’t know, one of my grandmothers had sorta blue hair.
As for guys with tattooed faces, if one of those tattoos is MS-13 one should just start shooting and call it self-defense.
Fail Burton
December 25th, 2014 @ 7:52 am

You are mind-reading since I think they actually may be autistic if not flat out retarded. If you want to police someone’s language you have plenty of dyke and trannie comments to keep you busy plus the Brianna Wu link which is remarkable to put it mildly.
robertstacymccain
December 25th, 2014 @ 9:05 am

“It’s a useful marker for broken girls.”

It’s related to the whole “goth” phenomenon we’ve witnessed in youth culture the past 20 years or so. The “broken girls” (and boys) slide into an occult-influenced fantasy subculture of horror movies and videogames and their personal appearance — the weird hair, clothing, jewelry, etc. — is a way of advertising their membership in the clique. Sometimes it’s just an adolescent phase; sometimes it’s a sign of serious psychiatric problems. Either way, they’re hanging around a bunch of losers and misfits, and this behavior pattern is not something any parent would want their own child to adopt.

As to the relationship between weird hairstyles and feminism, (a) losers and misfits are easily persuaded that they’re victims of oppression, and (b) one notices that many feminists admit they are struggling with mental health issues, particularly depression, which fits the “broken girls” profile.
K-Bob
December 25th, 2014 @ 9:09 am

Merry Christmas! Get off the dang computer and conspire with the patriarchy.
Daniel Freeman
December 25th, 2014 @ 10:00 am

You are mind-reading since I think they actually may be autistic if not flat out retarded.

No, the question was whether you were using “autistic” as an insult, not whether you meant it, which you have now dismissed. Your reasoning is irrational.

If you want to police someone’s language you have plenty of dyke and trannie comments to keep you busy plus the Brianna Wu link which is remarkable to put it mildly.

But even if I had an ambition to join the language police, “autistic” is not an objectionable term. Again, your reasoning is irrational.
Daniel Freeman
December 25th, 2014 @ 10:12 am

To clarify, “autistic” is a medical term. There is nothing inherently objectionable about it, but it’s wrong to use it wrongly, as a shorthand for things that it doesn’t mean. That’s my issue with your usage.
NeoWayland
December 25th, 2014 @ 11:23 am

Sorry, I never picked up practical mind reading.

Look, your issues are with radical feminists, not autistic people. I understand and I agree with most of what you say. The misuse of one word undermines everything else you say and makes you enemies you do not need.

That’s all I meant.