More Feminist Fear and Loathing

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Do you remember @RebeccaWatson? In case you’ve forgotten, she was the total smokin’ hotness of atheist chickdom whose encounter with a nerd in an elevator became a feminist cause célèbre in 2011: “Stop sexualizing me!”

I’d forgotten all about her until today, while mining for insanity on Feminist Tumblr, I saw a quote (tagged #rape culture”) that began, “Men who want to flirt with women have to realize: Women live in a state of continual vigilance about sexual safety.” And when I clicked on the source, I discovered that this was a commentary (by Lindsay Beyerstein) about Watson’s 2011 “ElevatorGate” encounter. The claim that women — all women — “live in a state of continual vigilance about sexual safety” is a typical expression of the feminist paranoia I’ve called “Fear and Loathing of the Penis.” Men are required to compensate for this irrational attitude, Ms. Beyerstein insisted:

If a female stranger is wary around you, it is not because she suspects you are a rapist, or that all men are rapists. It’s because a general level of circumspection is what vigilance requires. Don’t take it personally. . . .
Vigilance isn’t just a game or an arbitrary set of social conventions. It’s imperfect insurance against being raped with impunity. . . .
So, guys, if you want to flirt with a woman, your job is put her at ease, not to ratchet up her anxiety level.

Ms. Beyerstein, and feminists generally, lack empathy. A guy with harmless intentions is aware of his own innocence. It is insulting to accuse an innocent man of bad motives when he has done nothing wrong, and when there is no reason to suspect that he would do something wrong, other than the fact that he is male. Feminists are constantly lecturing about pervasive male evil in this insulting way, as in the case of Liat Kaplan ranting about “street harassment” in New York City:

There’s no point to a guy yelling, “Hey sexy baby” at me out of the passenger window of a car as it speeds past. Even if I was into creepy misogynists and wanted to give him my number, I couldn’t. The car didn’t even slow down. But that’s okay, because he wasn’t actually hitting on me. The point wasn’t to proposition me or chat me up. The only point was to remind me, and all women, that our bodies are his to stare at, assess, comment on, even touch. “Hey sexy baby” is the first part of a sentence that finishes, “this is your daily message from the patriarchy, reminding you that your body is public property”. This so-called “minor” sexual harassment is the tax you pay for daring to exist as a woman in public. . . .

(Guys yelling rude things out of car windows are “the patriarchy.”)

Even the most “minor” street harassment is a tile in your mental mosaic of fear and distrust and vulnerability. Piece by piece, it builds into a picture of some larger violence always lingering on the edge of your thoughts. I’m by no means comparing a guy yelling, “hey, sexy baby” to sexual assault, but the culture that makes this man feel entitled to comment on your body, on your existing in public as a woman, is the same one that makes men feel entitled to sex, and makes some feel entitled to take it by force. “Hey baby” is a symptom of the disease of rape culture.

Let me give you a hint, Ms. Kaplan: Guys who yell rude things out of car windows don’t read feminist blogs. You are directing your lecture toward the wrong audience, don’t you see? But certainly you must realize that guys in New York City yelling out of car windows are not “the patriarchy” — these are lower-class men, not beneficiaries of “privilege.” And what are the chances your lecture about “the disease of rape culture” is going to be read by any actual rapists? Very close to zero, I’d guess.

However, there are no feminists crazier than Canadian feminists, and Canada’s leading feminist is Meghan Murphy:

Female students are under constant threat on college campuses — afraid to walk home at night, raped at parties, after the bar, and in their dorms.

Fear! Fear! Fear! Ms. Murphy calls for a “feminist revolution . . . a cultural shift that addresses male entitlement, porn culture, and the objectifying male gaze; an end to masculinity and, more broadly, gendered socialization that says men are actors whereas women are passive recipients of men’s ‘action’ — that is, the idea that men are to ‘get’ sex from women, which positions coercion as a normal and expected part of heterosexual relations.” After more than four decades of radical feminism, this “revolution” hasn’t materialized, however, and Ms. Murphy is not optimistic:

In the meantime, women live in fear. . . .
And who is it we fear? Is it other women? . . . Is it a genderless, faceless, bodiless being? No. It is a male. A male with a penis that he may or may not use as a weapon.

She proposes a curfew for men. Yes, Canadian men, your nation’s leading feminist wants you kept off the streets at night.

David Thompson comments:

Why, it almost sounds like a gratuitous power fantasy, the product of an unwell mind. . . .
Clearly, Ms Murphy is determined to upend idle stereotypes of feminists as batty misandrists unmoored from reality.

Feminism is totalitarian. On Tumblr, a feminist argues that “women’s studies classes should be sex-segregated” to provide “women an invaluable opportunity to speak freely about their oppression . . . With men in the room, no healing can take place.” This prompted others to say that men talk too much in class, an experience that one woman said made her want “to tell them to shut the f–k up, and then throw myself in the sun.” Feminists cannot stand to hear men talk, you see.




 

101 comments

  1. But the women were silent because they did not feel safe talking about their oppression in front of a man. I’m surprised men don’t do 100% of the talking when surrounded by these paralyzed, oppressed snowflakes

  2. If a female stranger is wary around you, it is not because she suspects you are a rapist, or that all men are rapists. It’s because a general level of circumspection is what vigilance requires. Don’t take it personally. . . .

    Let’s change “female stranger” to “Caucasian stranger, ” “rapist” to “mugger/assailant” and address that letter to all black people.

    As for the rest of it, note Ms. Murphy studiously ignores the common denominator of the Cologne attacks in arguing for her “curfew.” Evidently “maleness” is more significant than the Islamic immigrant culture which deems gang sexual assaults to be suitable recreation. If there’s a better example of displacement, I don’t know what it is.

  4. Is it just possible that they have managed to confuse #rapeculture with the biological imperative to reproduce?

  8. This is just flat out full bore 100% stupid. There’s no other word to describe this kind of idiotic babbling. The insanity and fantasy come in when none of these stupid people stop in mid sentence with a stricken expression and say “Holy crap, I just said something incredibly stupid and none of you stopped me! WTF is wrong with you people?”

  9. Notice that she only posted that she wanted to tell him to shut up. She didn’t actually tell him to shut up.

    Because patriarchy, I guess.

  11. When I first heard of Ms. Murphy’s curfew proposal, my reaction was “And who’s going to enforce it? Not you, surely?”

    My second reaction was that a better solution is to put all women under curfew. For their own good, of course.

    Anyway, these SJWs much prefer to fight imaginary foes than real ones. Colleges in North America? Total rape culture. An actual rape culture? Ummm… For another example, take note of the obnoxious militant atheists out there, trashing Christianity with every breath. Very few of them (there are a few notable exceptions) say anything about Islam. Nope, run down the faith that preaches forgiveness, not the one that demands death.

  12. Naaaah… it’s simply their anger that reality does not conform to their petulant demands. If they can’t be princesses, then nobody can be a princess.

  13. I am woman, hear me whine!

    To be fair, I understand the paralysis, at least in my presence. No getting around the fact that I am one intimidating mofo.

  16. Offtopic: apparently Sarah Palin has endorsed Donald Trump.

    IMHO, this is going to hurt her more than it’s going to hurt Ted Cruz or help Donald Trump.

  18. Yes, Canadian men, your nation’s leading feminist wants you kept off the streets at night.

    And next, they’ll not let you drive, or walk around outside without a female relative. Then comes the penisectomy.

    Sucks to be a patriarch. : )

  19. Why don’t these tough-talking feminists put themselves at ease by wearing brass knuckles and learning how to deliver a straight right-hand lead? That way you can punch people who actually are doing something wrong rather than blathering on about all men on Earth. If you’re worried about a burglary are you going to create an ideology blathering about the evil potential of all people on Earth, or lock your doors? Go take some self-defense classes if you’re so worried about this, because there’s no such thing as a rhetorical defense against pre-bullying based on profiling all of humanity.

    I surprised these stupid muffins even leave the house.

    “My house was robbed. OMG! A planet of burglars! What evil force could create such a thing? Am I the only noble being left? The only one? (sob).”

    Good thing these folks are against profiling.

    As for that insane goof Murphy, I left a comment saying she substituted the word “men” when she meant “criminals” in the same way people have substituted “Jew” for “greed” and “black” for “lazy.”

    Naturally my comment was removed because she’s completely full of shit and a supremacist Bizarro-Superman neo-Nazi.

    As for “an end to masculinity,” that would also mean an end to bridges. A good thing if you’re on the feminine side of the bridge.

  21. Feminists like to say the reaction to feminism explains the need for feminism, an Orwellian black hole of a perpetual motion machine if there ever was one.

    The truth is that feminism explains itself. They are flat out morons.

  23. Safer for the edgy brave gays to have a Hunky Jesus Contest than Hunky Mohammed. In that sense that particular gay San Francisco group are endorsing Christianity. They’re just too stupid to know it.

  25. If heterosexual behavior is “unnatural” and therefore “coerced,” then there is no biological imperative and all heterosexual behavior is rape by definition. The fact that such a view conflicts with the Darwinian view of the world which they undoubtedly embrace is . . . just shut up, OK? Where’s my safe space?

  27. You know what the funny thing is? Watson and her ilk perpetuate the fear even more by advocating gun control, so women definitely can’t defend themselves against rapists and thugs.

  28. I’d like to see the feminists’ heads explode when I advocate the death penalty for actual rapists, especially when I point out their illogical anti death penalty stance.

  30. No, no they’re not; they’re rabidly for it.

    It makes perfect sense for this logical discrepancy once you realize that radfeminism is a power grab.

  32. Sorry about the accidental downvote; Disqus won’t really let me click on the link.

    Edit: I got it. Terrifying article, but not really that surprising.

  34. “…while mining for insanity on Feminist Tumblr…”

    Mining? Really? What rare isotope were you looking for?

  35. “Mining for insanity”
    That’s one of the “advantages” of the internet over the old communications systems. Since virtually everyone has access and can make a mark on the wall, you get the six sigma types who prior to the internet would have been told by their immediate peers they were, in fact, nutjobs and to either get help or would become effectively hermits with cats. Now, these creatures can group together to not only form a “movement” but can actually colonize pre-existing movements = 3rd wave feminism.

  36. The practical problem with the death penalty for rapists is that there becomes no longer any deterrent to the rapist simply killing his victim when he’s done. After all, you can only be executed once.

  37. “City yelling out of car windows are not “the patriarchy” — these are lower-class men, not beneficiaries of “privilege.””

    Actually, this is EXACTLY the problem: By yelling “hey baby” out car windows, a working class male gets to reduce an upper middle class woman by “sexualizing” her. Most of these Twitter feminists you cover are at good (Ivy or close) schools. When a non-privileged male seeks to figuratively “drag her through the mud” by yelling sexual comments at her, the feminist female is not really afraid of rape but furious that her social class is not being respected.

    This is, of course, why working class guys yell at women above them in class. Women usually learn to ignore it, laugh at it, or even take it as a compliment. I know women in their 40s who are happy when guys yell “Hey baby” out of car windows. Of course, they’re at a different stage in life.

  38. Rapists murder their victims for power and to not get caught period, not because they could get life in prison or the death penalty. They are often that arrogant and impulsive to not plan ahead; they pretty much rely on their lies and charm/manipulation to get out of trouble.

    To me, it’s pointless to let them live after such a horrendous crime and it wastes taxpayers’ money.

  39. Isn’t Murphy afraid a Sundown Town for white straight men is exactly what we want? NFL, poker, smoking nasty cigarettes. I’m pretty sure gnats like Murphy would hear all the laughing and demand to be let in because diversity and feminism. Be careful what you wish for.

  42. Well, obviously, they don’t actually care about rape, because if they did, they wouldn’t alienate the decent elements of the so-called patriarchy.

    Reason being, that’s who you rely on to protect you from rapists ans other evil freaks of nature. Like feminists.

    p.s. You left Murphy a comment? Wish I’d have gotten a screen grab of that. Did she delete it in under 5 minutes? Bet she did, the crybaby.

  44. You’re overgeneralizing. Your description doesn’t and can’t fit every single rapist in the entire country, and it’s a Really Bad Idea to give rapists an incentive to murder their victim, since dead victims can’t provide eyewitness testimony.

  46. Actually, I don’t think guys who yell “hey, baby” are seeking to degrade women. I think they are just exhibiting bad manners. But you see how feminists have made “sexist” a synonym for “rude,” creating a political interpretation of bad manners.

  47. RSM: “Do you remember @RebeccaWatson? In case you’ve forgotten, she was the total smokin’ hotness of …”
    I’m getting up there in years, and I don’t always see so well. That *was* said tongue-in-cheek, wasn’t it?

  48. I think it’s not so much that he’s a wuss, as that he’s trying, however ineffectually, to limit his future paternity obligations — ’cause, for all its power and control and misogyny, Teh Patriarchy somehow slipped up and demands that men support their offspring (and the mothers), even the female ones.

  49. Our esteemed host quoted:

    If a female stranger is wary around you, it is not because she suspects you are a rapist, or that all men are rapists. It’s because a general level of circumspection is what vigilance requires. Don’t take it personally. . . .

    Vigilance isn’t just a game or an arbitrary set of social conventions. It’s imperfect insurance against being raped with impunity. . . .

    Let me fix that for her:

    If a white stranger is wary around you, it is not because he suspects you are a thug, or that all black men are thugs. It’s because a general level of circumspection is what vigilance requires. Don’t take it personally. . . .

    Vigilance isn’t just a game or an arbitrary set of social conventions. It’s imperfect insurance against being mugged with impunity. . . .

    Now, what would the reaction of the left be to that one? After all, even the Rev Jesse Jackson made a similar statement!

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