Althouse: "I call it the evil empire."

June 29, 2014

"I call it the evil empire."

"We need to go after them. We cannot allow this to continue. And if we don’t stop it, I don’t see a future for marriage, for love, or for anything."

27 comments:

Michael K said...: Some of these people are lunatics but there are real issues, One is Title IX which destroyed mens sports.

Another is the real bias in divorces. I've been there.

Boys are being raped by college administrators who have set off the hysteria about "rape culture." My sons got through before the hysteria. My grandson is only 8 so I hope it will be over by the time he is 18. I compare the present furor to the recovered memory hysteria in the 80s.; 6/29/14, 5:10 PM
Fandor said...: The PILL changed everything.; 6/29/14, 5:24 PM
sean said...: It's characteristic of Prof. Althouse's friends, and the movements with which she identifies, be it feminism or gay marriage, that they consistently endeavor to shut down their opponents and prevent them from even being able to speak or present their ideas.; 6/29/14, 6:23 PM
CWJ said...: It's "more than a hundred" people meeting in a VFW post in Michigan. We had more than that at our monthly ski club meetings.

The issues are worth discussing, but C'mon. The link is just MSNBC clickbait.; 6/29/14, 6:28 PM
rhhardin said...: Find Thurber's cartoon series The War Between Men and Women. It's been done better before.

Not the movie, not the tv show, but the cartoon sketches.; 6/29/14, 6:28 PM
Saint Croix said...: Rape on college campuses, she added, was a myth

Somehow I doubt that's what she said.; 6/29/14, 7:03 PM
Big Mike said...: I agree with Michael K about the bias in divorce law. I'm still waiting to see what happens when a same sex couple divorces. How do they decide which member to discriminate against if they're the same sex?; 6/29/14, 7:08 PM
Saint Croix said...: Although generally understood as an ideology of equal rights for women, at the conference such feminists were called “equity feminists,” discussed the way Democrats might refer to “sane conservatives” or Republicans to “good liberals.” In other words, a largely fictional exception whose purpose is merely to define the whole as extreme. Feminists, for many of the speakers, were the enemy.

It's bizarre how men's rights activists know more about feminism than the reporter. The split in feminism between equity feminists and women's rights feminists (or "difference feminists") has long been identified by feminists themselves. They talk about it a lot. And this reporter has never heard of this philosophical and legal dispute? Weird.

Equity feminists think that there should be no difference in the law between men and women. There are some logical flaws to this position--namely that men and women are different, pregnancy being an obvious example--but equity feminists often try to be fair to both sexes. I would characterize Althouse as an equity feminist, for example.

Difference feminists have some valid points--namely that men and women are biologically different, and this difference is relevant. The problem with difference feminists is that they tend to be batshit crazy.

You could be a difference feminist and be normal, it seems to me. For instance the early feminists might very well have been difference feminists, people who thought women were gentler than men, nicer than men, and this femininity should be recognized and respected in our laws.

But difference feminists today spend an inordinate amount of time focusing on rape, and calling all men potential rapists.

Also abortion would obviously fall under difference feminism, not equity feminism. I don't see how it could fall under equity feminism, since we obviously are not equal when it comes to sex, reproduction, and pregnancy. We are radically different. That's some intellectual stress on Althouse's position (as I see it), but I still prefer the nice equity feminists (who tend to love the free speech clause) to the batshit crazy division.; 6/29/14, 7:23 PM
Saint Croix said...: Focusing on the difference between the sexes only works if we have chivalry in our culture. The equity feminists mocked and destroyed chivalry. This in turn has made the difference feminists batshit crazy (i.e. hostile to men, since there is no need to respect and revere the opposite sex).

And we see too a similar anger from men directed at women. Although I believe this anger is not organized. I think a lot of men view the men's rights groups as whiners. It's not masculine to complain about what a victim you are. This male pride has made this fight as lopsided as a Georgia Tech-Cumberland football game. Feminism dominates this particular sport.; 6/29/14, 7:31 PM
Phil 314 said...: Packed house; 6/29/14, 7:37 PM
Darleen said...: Equity feminists are "a largely fictional exception"?

Well, I know a lot of #radfems & gender feminists would like to dismiss Christina Hoff Summers as fictional.; 6/29/14, 7:43 PM
Ann Althouse said...: The article talks about eating hippo:

"During experiments with electric fences a while ago, he recalls, someone misjudged the voltage and electrocuted one of the Hacienda Napoles hippos. "What did the local people do? They took him, they chopped him up, they barbecued him and they ate him!" The animal is said to have tasted similar to pork.

"Valderrama doesn't recommend eating the meat, in case it is infected with a transmittable disease - one dead hippo was found to be carrying leptospirosis which can cause meningitis - but he does see the complete elimination of male hippos as the most practical solution."; 6/29/14, 7:56 PM
n.n said...: Saint Croix:

Men, fathers still follow the now antiquated adage "lead by example". Women, some women, have an ambition -- and ego to match -- to take the reigns, but they are unprepared for the task. Modern feminism has demonstrated in spades their poorly conceived (pun intended) tactics.

Anyway, it is in the best interests of women and men to return to a civilized state. The real and manufactured conflict between women and men has been a disaster on an unprecedented scale, which has little redeeming value, and real consequences, for society and humanity.; 6/29/14, 8:24 PM
Bobber Fleck said...: @ Althouse

The article talks about eating hippo

I was trying to wrap my mind around that post when I realized it was intended for another thread. It was quite a visual image as I considered the feminist movement.; 6/29/14, 9:14 PM
Saint Croix said...: Far better journalism from Glenn Reynolds, who was also there.; 6/29/14, 9:33 PM
samanthasmom said...: The Title IX issue with sports could have been avoided if colleges recognized football as a fundraising and/or PR function of the college and not part of their athletic departments. With football out of equation maintaining equity in sports programs is fairly easy and would not have much impact on the number and variety of sports for men. Men and women can play basketball on the same court.; 6/29/14, 9:40 PM
Saint Croix said...: Women, some women, have an ambition -- and ego to match -- to take the reigns, but they are unprepared for the task.

I don't think women want to be single moms. They would much rather be married, or at least have an active father who has a relationship with his children.

I think feminism has done real damage to fatherhood. 11% of births were to single moms in 1973. Now it's over 40%. Feminism has seized power over human reproduction. And feminists think this is good because it's "empowering" for women. But the upshot is that men think they are not needed. Pregnancy is a woman's issue that doesn't concern us. This is the way we talk. And so fathers disappear.

This is a disaster. We can blame fathers for disappearing, but they disappeared because of the power grab by women.; 6/29/14, 9:45 PM
David said...: Real men eat hippo!; 6/29/14, 10:00 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "I was trying to wrap my mind around that post when I realized it was intended for another thread. It was quite a visual image as I considered the feminist movement."

LOL; 6/29/14, 10:21 PM
Gahrie said...: But the upshot is that men think they are not needed

Only because that is what women have been telling us all of our lives. And from the perspective of the women, we aren't. After all Uncle Sam will step in.; 6/29/14, 10:32 PM
Paul Mac said...: MSNBC's analysis of a men's right conference? Seems legit.; 6/29/14, 11:54 PM
Michael K said...: " With football out of equation maintaining equity in sports programs is fairly easy and would not have much impact on the number and variety of sports for men."

I'm afraid your ignorance is showing. At most big football programs the entire athletic department is supported by football. The teams that have been devastated are sports like wrestling and crew.

If enough women were interested in collegiate sports it would be less of a problem. Girls and boys are not identical in the level of interest in sports. No matter what you wish.; 6/30/14, 12:13 AM
stlcdr said...: But do they have any cool slogans?

'Man up!'

'I don't normally whine, but when I do it's with a Don Equis'

'Can we get some pussy in here?! Please?!'

'We don't care about hang nails. But it hurts :('

'My wife took away my man-cave.'

'hammers are too heavy.'

'Does this drill make me look fat?'; 6/30/14, 5:20 AM
sakredkow said...: 'That Giants jersey would be so cute if it were cuter.'; 6/30/14, 7:59 AM
SGT Ted said...: "The KKK reports on the first NAACP conference."

Yea, it's like that.

That's what I get out of the MSNBCs usual bullshit spin.

The idea that the modern gender feminists, who are currently waging the war against being male on a college campus via their "rape culture" misandrist propaganda, are concerned about the rights of men at all is a sick fucking joke.; 6/30/14, 8:05 AM
sakredkow said...: Dear God,
Please don't ever give me cause to worry or whine about my "rights."

Keep me focused on my responsibilities at all times.; 6/30/14, 9:35 AM
n.n said...: Saint Croix:

Yeah, there is an incentive for men to revert to boys. However, this regression was lead by women as they struggle to understand the responsibilities and distinction of adulthood. It will be a terminal regression if it is a progressive condition as it appears to be. Notably, there is a demand for instant or immediate gratification and dissociation of risk. The bounty of childhood innocence and adult libertinism.

From observation and anecdotal evidence, I am confident that "women" is not a representative category in this context. I think most women are reasonable individuals, who are capable of moderating their egos and choices, and plan their lives without resorting to extremes. In this respect, I do not perceive women as so different from men.

That said, it seems self-evident that our dysfunctional relationships are both a product of imprudent normalization and individual and group activism, especially for securing leverage (e.g. political). Although, I suppose this is merely the status quo of the human condition. There really is nothing new under the sun. Still, while normalization does not guarantee an outcome, it would be helpful to at least promote functional behaviors.; 6/30/14, 9:49 AM