You are currently browsing the daily archive for December 26, 2018.
I’m following the Meghan Murphy Twitter-ban debacle and one of the places where I landed was the Quillette. As it turns out, Megan Murphy has written a piece describing what happened to her and her struggle with the totalitarian ideology of transactivism. I liked what MM wrote, but I found the comment section more interesting as the user base seems to self describe itself as the ‘rational middle’. I worry when I see phrases like that because often they end up in the barren hellscape known as American Libertarianism. *shudder*
Now there was some back and forth in the comment section, but generally the tone was, “well this is what feminism has wrought and it’s bastard child has come home to roost”. I’m not sure how the fight for female liberation begat the current state of trans-insanity, but for many commentors the two movements are intrinsically linked.
A couple of radical feminists made an appearance, one I suspect is a dude sponsored sock, as the claiming to be a rad-fem and then conforming almost exactly to the male approved stereotype of what a rad-fem is, just cannot be real.
A second rad-fem entered the debate and this is her comment:
“I enjoy how afraid you are of losing your job for telling jokes. I also enjoy how thoroughly you & other men take on this specific tone—have you noticed yet? It’s the “rational” tone. Literally every male commenter has used it thus far. Men can be rational about women’s issues as they experience almost no part of them. What you’re really saying when you cry about the change in feminism is that women don’t worship the ground you walk on anymore, & this has had repercussions for your ego & your sense of place (ie perceived significance) in the world.
I, for one, don’t really enjoy self-application of the title “man-hating”… feels very corny to me. What I do enjoy is speaking with women who are enlightened to the fact that they, unlike their mothers, do not have to settle for second best, settle for a man who disrespects her, hurts her, abuses her.
I think it’s telling that you’re so afraid of a world where men are not the main axis of women’s orbit. What exactly are you scared of? That women will make men walk on all fours with studded leashes around their necks? Get a grip dude. There is nothing women could do to men that is worse than men have done to women. With 90% of all violent crimes committed by men, your son has a greater chance of getting murdered by a man than getting falsely accused of sexual assault at the workplace.
Ultimately, the weird, fantastical fears you harbor are just excuses. Justifications for choosing to sit back & whine about what feminism has apparently “done” to men, when despite feminism’s very best efforts, men continue to harass, assault, abuse, rape, mutilate, & kill women. What you’re afraid of is change. Not feminists. At least own up it.”
Of course, none of the centrist rationalists have responded. Funny that, when confronted with someone knowledgeable who is quite willing to charitably engage the response is crickets.
Tanya correctly observes the near thematic use of the “rational tone” and how problematic it is trying to deal with people who, calibre of intellect notwithstanding, don’t get the fact that the societal experience for men and women is quite drastically different.
I’ll finish with the thread now, but I thought it would be good to share some perspectives from the ‘rational middle’.
bleatmop
Mystro
The Arbourist
Dead Wild Roses 
Tanya’s Comment on Twitter’s Trans-Activist Decree on the Quillette