The Other McCain

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Feminist Tumblr: Dreaming of Their Journey Across the Mytilini Strait

Posted on | July 5, 2015 | 85 Comments

 

Life is painful for the Tumblr feminist. Alone with her laptop, everything she encounters in her online existence tells her that males are stupid, dangerous and violent. Emotionally immersed in an estrogen-filled echo chamber of Internet activism, she finds feminists eager to offer sisterhood and solidarity — “You are not alone!” — along with constant confirmation of her worst fears and doubts about men. Surrounding herself with True Believers in this digital environment enables the young seeker to obtain “feminist consciousness,” which means learning “to see oneself as a victim” as Professor Sandra Bartky explained. Convinced that she is oppressed by the patriarchy, she begins to behold the world through warped lenses, seeing sexism in ordinary behavior and suspiciously scrutinizing every man she meets for evidence of the misogyny she is certain must be lurking inside him.

As she begins her consciousness-raising journey, we often find the young feminist naïvely wondering why everyone doesn’t support this movement. “What’s wrong with gender equality?” she asks. “Why don’t guys understand this? Why do these ignorant people keep saying feminism is against men?” One of her favorite actresses, like that girl from the Harry Potter movies, makes a pro-feminist statement full of bland slogans and quasi-inspirational gush suitable for a Hallmark greeting card, and the teenager on Tumblr is mystified that anyone could possibly be less enthusiastic than she is.

 

“Like, why don’t they get it? It’s about Equal Rights, you guys!” Oh, look here on Tumblr! She’s going to reblog a simple explanation:

WHY IS THIS SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND?

The naive young feminist at “Dust and Shadows” who reblogged that perhaps did not notice that the original source of the accompanying graphic, asserting feminism is not misandry (man-hating), was The Glitter Clit, a radical lesbian blogger.

We watch with amusement (or dismay) the progress of the young Tumblrina’s feminism over time, as she voyages farther and farther into this ideological sea. She becomes increasingly exasperated that the people who surround her in real life — parents and peers, family and friends — just don’t get it. In early June, “Dust and Shadows” was perplexed and outraged by this:

I seriously just can’t understand people who aren’t feminist or actually say they are anti-feminist. Equality!!! For!!! Everyone!!! Is!!! A!!! Really!!! Good!!! Thing!!!

We smile at her apparent belief that, by the inclusion of additional exclamation points, she could overcome the doubters. She has committed herself to feminism because, hey, if Emma Watson says it’s cool, it must be awesome. It is impossible for her to comprehend that skeptics and critics of feminism have made a more accurate appraisal of the movement and its ideology. Adults who have watched the feminist movement for decades have their own reasons for rejecting it, even if they may not be able to articulate these reasons except by sarcastic jests. For example, we find that as a Yale University sophomore, the future famous “rape culture” crusader Alexandra Brodsky began a letter to the student newspaper by remarking that “my conservative dad calls me Comrade Brodsky” because she voted for Obama in 2008.

Most people who “actually say they are anti-feminist” — with or without Triple!!! Exclamation!!! Points!!! — have never bothered to devote much time to the study of the philosophy they reject. That is to say, anti-feminists (male or female) tend to be conservatives or libertarians who recognize feminism as a movement of the Left, and reject it categorically. Once you recognize certain common patterns about these kinds of movements (e.g., the “Occupy” protests of 2011), and develop a general dislike of radical egalitarianism, the rest is just details.

You’re a conservative and. once you know that the people supporting a particular movement are left-wing Democrats, your gut-hunch reaction is to oppose that movement. Your instinctive conservatism, however, does not supply you with the kind of information and arguments you need to explain to your daughter (who is too young to know what you know) why she should be skeptical toward feminist ideology. Maybe you should buy my book and maybe, if you ask your daughter to read a few recent posts in the “Sex Trouble” series, you could intellectually inoculate her against this dangerous radical virus.

Shameless self-promotion aside (this is a capitalist blog), there is a legitimate danger that adults who do not understand feminism will find themselves unprepared to effectively oppose feminism. This anti-male movement, having entrenched itself in the academic Feminist-Industrial Complex of university Women’s Studies programs, is currently in the midst of a Zombie Apocalypse resurgence. Everywhere we turn, we encounter wild-eyed fanatics ranting about “objectification” and “heteropatriarchy” and, of course, RAPE! RAPE! RAPE!

The young newcomer to feminism, who thinks she is supporting a movement about mere “equality,” would likely be shocked to encounter the vindicitve anti-male sadism of Jenika McCrayer, a graduate student of Women and Gender Studies who gleefully boasts that she “feels powerful” because she “makes heterosexual men cry.”

Why would anyone say such hateful things? Because inside the feminist echo chamber, this is all she ever hears and she becomes convinced that every man she meets is part of a conspiracy to oppress her, to discriminate against her, to deprive her of her rights, to rape her. She succumbs to a paranoid delusion — Fear and Loathing of the Penis!

It’s as if a clock begins ticking the minute she starts talking about “equality.” Soon she’ll be on Tumblr reblogging her intention to “Smash Patriarchy” or deliriously ranting on Twitter about her joy in making “heterosexual men cry.” Because dissent is forbidden on the contemporary campus and feminism’s critics are demonized as misogynists and “rape apologists,” the young feminist never confronts an informed and articulate skeptic of the movement. So it is with “Dust and Shadows,” the Tumblr blogger who in early June used Triple!! Exclamation!!! Points!!! to express her frustration that anyone could be against feminism. Scarcely three weeks after that post, however, the same young feminist had apparently surrendered to anti-male paranoia:

“Can every feminist join together, and we can section off
like an island or something, and we will all be safe and
happy and Emma Watson, Lily Collins, and Anne Hathaway
can be our presidents and we can call the island Genovia
and I don’t want to have to worry about the percent
of men who are dangerous anymore holy crap”

Oh, an island? You want to have an all-female island? A gynocracy ruled by your favorite feminist celebrities, a utopia where you will “be safe and happy,” nevermore to worry about all the “dangerous” men out there?

 

Yes, that island is legendary. Many feminists have made that metaphorical voyage because, as the late Professor Joyce Trebilcot explained, patriarchy “depends on the ability of men to control women through heterosexuality.” Once she is convinced that “male supremacy” makes every man her oppressor, how can a feminist ever respect a man or trust a man? If trust and respect are impossible, then how can any feminist ever be expected to love a man? She began her journey ignorantly parroting slogans about “equality” and “rights” and did not realize what the movement would ultimately require of her.

“Lesbians are the women who potentially can demonstrate life outside the male power structure that dominates marriage as well as every other aspect of our culture. Thus, the lesbian movement is not only related to women’s liberation, it is at the very heart of it.”
Sidney Abbott and Barbara Love, “Is Women’s Liberation a Lesbian Plot?” in Woman in Sexist Society: Studies in Power and Powerlessness, edited by Vivian Gornick and Barbara Moran (1971)

Bon voyage and farewell! Depart! Set sail! Let no man delay or hinder you as you board the ship bound across the Mytilini Strait to that fabled place near the coast of Asia Minor! Just as soon as a young woman decides she is a victim of male oppression, she should buy a one-way ticket to that Aegean isle. If ever any man loved her, his love was wasted, for once she reached “feminist consciousness,” she could feel nothing but horror and contempt for him. Thus, like so many others before her, she will “demonstrate life outside the male power structure.” The young feminist may plan her trip and anticipate the sites she’ll see when she arrives Lesbos. Yet this is not the last stop on her journey.

When she reaches her final destination, the feminist may convey my salutations to those who have gone before her. Valerie Solanis (1936-1988), Mary Daly (1928-2010), Andrea Dworkin (1948-2006), Joyce Trebilcot (1935-2009), Joanna Russ (1937-2011), Julia Penelope (1941-2013) and alas, poor Sidney Abbott (1937-2015), who died in a fire.

They left behind no children to mourn their deaths, and it is to be doubted many men ever missed them. So when someday the young feminist is united with her glorious predecessors beyond the grave, she will congratulate them on their success. Where they are now, no mortal man may oppress them, and everyone is equal in Hell.




 

Comments

85 Responses to “Feminist Tumblr: Dreaming of Their Journey Across the Mytilini Strait”

  1. Bob Belvedere
    July 5th, 2015 @ 12:41 am

    The ‘Mytilini Strait‘?!?…oh…that word has to go.

  2. Daniel Freeman
    July 5th, 2015 @ 1:02 am

    Well, from the map, it’s also across the Makrygialos Gulf, which may be a more appropriate description of the gap between them and us…

  3. Jason Lee
    July 5th, 2015 @ 1:06 am

    What if someone’s toilet gets clogged?

  4. Fail Burton
    July 5th, 2015 @ 1:44 am

    If the West is a house then gender feminism is the suicide cult of termites eating away at its foundations. I’m not a psychologist but one has to wonder how much radical feminism represents a group of humans dedicated to their own demise.

    In nature organisms do two things: they reproduce and survive. Gender feminism is capable of neither. If there ever was such a thing as a Patriarchy, it at least had the sense to keep out failure and build on success.

    Modern feminism is dedicated to building on the failures of the “marginalized” as a goal and importing failure in its millions. The fact feminism so compassionately sees success and failure as the opposite to reality tells me this is a deadly virus out to exterminate itself.

  5. MaMcGriz
    July 5th, 2015 @ 1:45 am

    Quickly! Away with them!

  6. DeadMessenger
    July 5th, 2015 @ 1:53 am

    …solidarity — “You are not alone!”…

    This is what I like about this blog, and why I keep hitting the tip jar – solidarity is totally dependent upon not being an idiot. While unlikely (lol), that I do say something asinine, I know I can count on guys who shall remain nameless, but whose names start with “Q” or “D” or “R” or “Daniel” to point out my idiocy, and sometimes in an embarrassing, yet instructive, fashion.

    Or even – dare I say it – our host.

    Oh wait, am I even allowed to call him that anymore? Is that not PC? Will I piss off a “Tumblrina”? Should I call him Blogger Guy…no wait…Journalisimo McCain?

  7. DeadMessenger
    July 5th, 2015 @ 1:54 am

    You should quickly rinse your eyes and brain with water, and make sure it’s running clear before you stop!

  8. DeadMessenger
    July 5th, 2015 @ 2:00 am

    Equality!!! For!!! Everyone!!! Is!!! A!!! Really!!! Good!!! Thing!!!

    I know, right? Bet you never thought you’d read that here, huh?

    Of course, I’m a devout Christian woman, and God considers me completely equal to a man. However, like my Savior, I choose to take a subordinate, submissive role.* Am I still equal?

    * God defined the man as the protector and provider, and the woman as the nurturer and, some here might say, thinker, but we won’t get into that…at the moment. 😀

  9. DeadMessenger
    July 5th, 2015 @ 2:09 am

    intellectually inoculate her against this dangerous radical virus.

    While I did buy the book, it turns out I didn’t need to inoculate my daughter. I believe I passed her those antibodies in the womb. I show her the feminist nonsense, and she says, “This is the stupidest crap I ever read.” I say, “Don’t you want to read it to know how to warn your friends about it?” She replies, “I wouldn’t have friends who believe that garbage. Now leave me alone, I’m texting Doug and Mike.”

    I couldn’t be prouder. For the most part.

  10. DeadMessenger
    July 5th, 2015 @ 2:10 am

    And other…like…gulfs.

  11. DeadMessenger
    July 5th, 2015 @ 2:12 am

    I’m not a feminist, so I would wring my hands and say, “I want to finish making this PIE but the toilet’s clogged! Who could possibly help me so I can finish this PIE. And put large SLABS on plates?” Then magically…

  12. DeadMessenger
    July 5th, 2015 @ 2:14 am

    Seems to me like gender feminism is proof of the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

  13. concern00
    July 5th, 2015 @ 2:39 am

    This feminist island ‘utopia’ would be the antithesis of Galt’s Gulch. It would truly be amusing to observe…possibly even making great reality TV.

  14. HaroldLDavis
    July 5th, 2015 @ 3:58 am

    Next few days start your new life…theothermccain… < Find Here

  15. Adobe_Walls
    July 5th, 2015 @ 4:19 am

    Do not question the existence of Patriarchy (blessed be it’s name)

  16. DeadMessenger
    July 5th, 2015 @ 4:29 am

    Harold…you look so…feminine. Dad and I knew you were having psychological problems, but we never knew it had gone this far. Please…we all miss you…just come home and we’ll work this out. There’s no need to prostitute yourself in your new identity.

  17. pabarge
    July 5th, 2015 @ 4:49 am

    , ????? ,
    Where is my island? I want it. And I want to call it Heterovia. A place where straight men and women can be left alone to boink in freedom, without the shrill, shrieking, whining, caterwauling of lesbos and feminists and white knights and beta males.

    Long live Heterovia!!

  18. robertstacymccain
    July 5th, 2015 @ 6:23 am

    Keep an eye out for Doug and Mike. You don’t want them imposing their heteronormativity on her, IYKWIMAITYD.

  19. Phil_McG
    July 5th, 2015 @ 6:30 am

    “Lesbians are the women who potentially can demonstrate life outside the male power structure”

    Note that, for all their brave talk of feminist/lesbian seperatism, even the raddiest of radfems seem to like living within the “male power structure” – in male-funded academia, for example – just fine.

  20. robertstacymccain
    July 5th, 2015 @ 6:37 am

    An unyielding rigidity of male/female roles within marriage — or an insistence that one’s spouse must follow a certain predetermined “script” in order to be a good spouse — gives rise to unnecessary conflicts in the family. Trying to be a totalitarian dictator in marriage is generally a bad idea, and expecting your spouse to live up to some idea of “romance” you got from watching soap operas or movies (or reading psychological self-help advice books) will produce constant disappointment.

    Marriage works best when we see the principle of voluntary cooperation for mutual benefit. Men and women who love each other are engaged in a project — the family — where everyone must work hard and assist each other.

    Hostility between male and female, where everyone is trying to shift the blame for failure to the opposite sex, is harmful and unnecessary.

    DO NOT FAIL. If you don’t fail, there is no need for blame. Winners don’t make excuses or seek scapegoats. Winners win. Life is a team sport.

  21. Zohydro
    July 5th, 2015 @ 8:01 am

    ??? ???????!

  22. Jeanette Victoria
    July 5th, 2015 @ 8:10 am

    I’ve lost track of all the things that are hateful. Let be honest the truth is now hate

    The media and public education has raise a culture group of professional looney’s who deny reality at every chance they get; being Heterosexual in now evil, Natural marriage between a man a woman as designed by biology is hateful. Women do not have a penis but to deny that obvious fact will render the person the target of verbal attacks.

  23. Jeanette Victoria
    July 5th, 2015 @ 8:13 am

    Perverts trying to make themselves feel important cause they know down deep inside that homosex is against nature’s design

  24. Art Deco
    July 5th, 2015 @ 8:23 am

    I appreciate you’re wading through this. Just to point out something.

    1. The arts and sciences faculty I know best used to hand out seven hundred diplomas per year. The number of women’s studies majors among them was in the low single digits. These young women are just not interested; women’s studies is a supply-side phenomenon in academe. Keep in mind, this is the arts and sciences faculty. Young women sensible enough to study accounting or nursing were not represented in the pool of graduates. The ‘women’s studies’ program had 38 ‘corresponding faculty’ (and this sort of thing does tend to influence course approvals and faculty recruitment in disagreeable ways). I knew some of these profs personally; I can almost guarantee you it was the local equivalent of wearing a flag pin on your lapel for many of these professors, who had serious research programs in other disciplines.

    2. I think a more salient problem (because more prevalent) is the sort of feminism trafficked in by creatures like Anna Quindlen and Ellen Goodman (both of whom are now old and retired for the most part, to be sure). Read a cheap novel like One True Thing or just gag your way through the feature film made of it if you want an example of a malignant and obtuse view of human relations.

  25. CrustyB
    July 5th, 2015 @ 9:08 am

    If you think Tumblr is bad you should hold your nose and dip your toes into Imgur. It’s a cesspool of Socialism, homosexuality, made-up racism, atheism, anti-religion. Basically, anything wrong with America and popular with dumb, young people.

  26. Dana
    July 5th, 2015 @ 9:15 am

    Having checked real estate prices on Santorini, they’re still pretty high, despite Greece’s economic crisis. The prices are still in euros, and with the improved exchange rates, the prices are better for Americans, but, assuming that the European leaders don’t cave, and Greece exits the euro and returns to the drachma, there could be some real bargains. The Lesvos Estate Agency has some listings.

  27. Jim R
    July 5th, 2015 @ 9:17 am

    All is not lost. By coincidence, this was posted on another blog I like. This girl probably makes men cry, too…

    When she beats them in a fair competition because she’s worked and trained and practiced to master the skills.

    http://olegvolk.net/blog/2015/07/04/cheyenne/

    I would also observe that an AR-15 is excellent medicine for would-be rapists, though I imagine that they also cause feminists to collapse into quivering heaps of helpless jelly.

  28. Jim R
    July 5th, 2015 @ 9:18 am

    Even worse: what if there’s a spider around?

  29. Dana
    July 5th, 2015 @ 9:19 am

    An AR-15 is excellent therapy for rapists, but is too clumsy a weapon for very close quarters. A handgun is much easier to use if your assailant is physically close.

  30. Dana
    July 5th, 2015 @ 9:21 am

    I have seen women plumbers, and there is absolutely no reason a woman cannot unclog a toilet . . . as long as she is willing to try.

    A male plumber once told me that the reason he made so much money was that he was willing to stick his hands in other people’s [insert slang term for feces here.]

  31. Jim R
    July 5th, 2015 @ 9:24 am

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but you are an engineer by trade, no? That sounds rather MORE equal, IMO.

    Upon reflection, one would think that these crazed “feminists” would embrace the idea of equality before God, but I believe that the majority of them don’t. Nor do they accept equality of “outcome”, i.e. demonstrating that they are the equals of men by PROVING it (such as by getting an engineering degree). Their idea of “equality” seems to be along the lines of “give me whatever I want, whenever I want it because EQUALITY”, which is… not really equality.

  32. Zohydro
    July 5th, 2015 @ 9:27 am
  33. Zohydro
    July 5th, 2015 @ 9:35 am

    Being the legendary armchair commander that I am, I must wonder if some resurgent nearby empire just might take advantage of the Greek crisis to claim some of that prime real estate…

  34. Phil_McG
    July 5th, 2015 @ 9:56 am

    I think it’s quite likely that some folks are born that way, but the aggressive lesbian recruitment drive of radical feminism is another matter altogether.

    Whenever you see pictures of academic feminists, you can’t help but notice that most of them are horribly unattractive. Lesbianism, for someone like Andrea Dworkin, was less of a choice and more of a necessity. So what came first – the bitter rage against men (and conventionally attractive women), or the bitter feminist politics?

  35. Matt_SE
    July 5th, 2015 @ 9:56 am

    Back in the 90s, they used to call this the “click experience.” The moment when something “clicks” in you, and suddenly a woman starts seeing the insidious hand of the patriarchy everywhere.
    To others, this is known as a psychotic break.

  36. Matt_SE
    July 5th, 2015 @ 10:05 am

    We already have an island of gayness. It’s called “San Francisco.”

  37. Matt_SE
    July 5th, 2015 @ 10:13 am

    If the Patriarchy actually existed, the first thing it would do is round up the RadFems and exterminate them.
    It’s odd that never seems to happen.

  38. Matt_SE
    July 5th, 2015 @ 10:14 am

    What if there’s a spider behind the stuck pickle jar on the highest shelf?
    Game over.

  39. MaMcGriz
    July 5th, 2015 @ 10:14 am

    You betcha….and I followed it up with a good boric acid chaser!

  40. M. Thompson
    July 5th, 2015 @ 11:24 am

    The problem with “Equality,” as these people define it, is that it rapidly becomes Procrustean in nature.

    There must be equality in outcomes as well as inputs!

    If you want to see painful examples of the Diversity Industry, see the “Diversity Thursday” series over at cdrsalamander.blogspot.com.

    And don’t bother the Front Porch Regulars too much.

  41. DorothyDRivera
    July 5th, 2015 @ 11:50 am

    Next few days start your new life…theothermccain… < Find Here

  42. Buffalobob
    July 5th, 2015 @ 12:19 pm

    The feminists make up too many seven syllable words for me to remember the meaning of. When I read or hear them I just chalk them of as bat shi& crazy.

  43. DeadMessenger
    July 5th, 2015 @ 1:58 pm

    You’re right about their concept of “give me”. I worked two jobs (at once) in order to pay for engineering school. While I took classes, too. I worked my ass off. Nobody “gave” me diddly, and I didn’t expect them to. And ultimately I had a lot of accomplishments as an engineer. My male counterparts liked me personally and respected my technical chops. I think that’s the difference between feminist and not.

  44. DeadMessenger
    July 5th, 2015 @ 2:04 pm

    Hi Dorothy. Or is it Tiffany? That was the name you used when you took $500 from my boyfriend for your “date”. Now it turns out he has syphilis and our engagement is off! You’ll be hearing from the health department AND the cops, you b1tch!

  45. Art Deco
    July 5th, 2015 @ 2:10 pm

    DO NOT FAIL. If you don’t fail, there is no need for blame. Winners
    don’t make excuses or seek scapegoats. Winners win. Life is a team
    sport.

    Actually, failure is pretty unremarkable among parents with normal-range shortcomings. I seen that up close and personal. You make a great many mistakes and you look back and you say, “well, that seemed like a good idea — then”. Recrimination does little good, of course (though it helps to avoid it if offending parties are cognizant of what they could have done better).

  46. DeadMessenger
    July 5th, 2015 @ 2:14 pm

    There’s no gay gene that’s for sure. Perhaps some people, maybe even most, are born with a tendency for this or that, but ultimately they do have a choice, and some make the choice to be gay, as some make the choice to be alcoholic, etc.

  47. robertstacymccain
    July 5th, 2015 @ 2:44 pm

    Provincetown, Massachusetts,
    Austin, Texas
    Eugene, Oregon

    Shall I name others?

  48. Finrod Felagund
    July 5th, 2015 @ 2:57 pm

    Old cowboy saying:

    Good judgement comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgement.

  49. robertstacymccain
    July 5th, 2015 @ 3:08 pm

    “this sort of thing does tend to influence course approvals and faculty recruitment in disagreeable ways”

    1. Yes, I get your drift. It’s a quota-hiring scheme for women and especially lesbians.

    2. Women’s Studies is more often a minor rather than a major. Common commonly, this minor is combined with a major in psychology, sociology, history, literature, political science or communications. However, even counting the number of Women’s Studies minors (usually at least five times more numerous than majors) tends to seriously understate the influence of these departments on campus, and nationwide. Every year, about 90,000 students take at least one class in Women’s Studies (or Gender Studies, or Sexuality Studies, etc.). Most of these students neither major nor minor in the subject, but take an introductory class (or a class like “Women in Film”) as an elective credit or to fulfill some requirement for another degree. Thus the ideas and jargon of feminism diffuse outward from the Women’s Studies program.

    Incidentally, I can tell you that in researching the campus “rape culture” hysteria, I sometimes come across news articles and photos that name the students leading these protests. A little Googling reveals how the extent to which Women’s Studies majors are driving that particular crazy train off the rails.

  50. Matt_SE
    July 5th, 2015 @ 3:08 pm

    Uh oh, it’s spreading!