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Oh pish-posh! What is Arb going on about now? You see bro’s it kinda goes like this. You dudes, especially the liberal progressive privileged ones, often don’t have a fucking clue about what feminism is or why it has come about or some of the neat things that LWD never get to experience. Yes, believe it or not, your experience is not the same experience as everyone else in society(pro-tip: Think in terms of your experience being ‘easy mode‘). Let’s start with a nifty one, and that is the culture of violence rape that is tacitly sanctioned by our society, otherwise known as Rape Culture. The preceding article is lifted directly from the Finally Feminism 101 website, and is also linked on the side bar of this blog. This is mandatory reading for LWD (liberal white dudes) because you of all people, should not have to be smacked so damn hard with the clue-by-four to start to ‘get it’.
No page breaks either, this is all important stuff and nothing should be below the fold. The definition of Rape culture needs to be out there and available for people to refer to because you can’t fix the problem you don’t know about or can identify.
“A rape culture is a complex of beliefs that encourages male sexual aggression and supports violence against women. It is a society where violence is seen as sexy and sexuality as violent. In a rape culture, women perceive a continuum of threatened violence that ranges from sexual remarks to sexual touching to rape itself. A rape culture condones physical and emotional terrorism against women as the norm.
In a rape culture both men and women assume that sexual violence is a fact of life, inevitable as death or taxes. This violence, however, is neither biologically nor divinely ordained. Much of what we accept as inevitable is in fact the expression of values and attitudes that can change.”
But my correspondents—whether they are dewy noobs just coming to feminism, advanced feminists looking for a source, or disbelievers in the existence of the rape culture—always seem to be looking for something more comprehensive and less abstract: What is the rape culture? What are its borders? What does it look like and sound like and feel like?
It is not a definition for which they’re looking; not really. It’s a description. It’s something substantive enough to reach out and touch, in all its ugly, heaving, menacing grotesquery.
Rape culture is encouraging male sexual aggression. Rape culture is regarding violence as sexy and sexuality as violent. Rape culture is treating rape as a compliment, as the unbridled passion stirred in a healthy man by a beautiful woman, making irresistible the urge to rip open her bodice or slam her against a wall, or a wrought-iron fence, or a car hood, or pull her by her hair, or shove her onto a bed, or any one of a million other images of fight-fucking in movies and television shows and on the covers of romance novels that convey violent urges are inextricably linked with (straight) sexuality.
Rape culture is treating straight sexuality as the norm. Rape culture is lumping queer sexuality into nonconsensual sexual practices like pedophilia and bestiality. Rape culture is privileging heterosexuality because ubiquitous imagery of two adults of the same-sex engaging in egalitarian partnerships without gender-based dominance and submission undermines (erroneous) biological rationales for the rape culture’s existence.
Rape culture is rape being used as a weapon, a tool of war and genocide and oppression. Rape culture is rape being used as a corrective to “cure” queer women. Rape culture is a militarized culture and “the natural product of all wars, everywhere, at all times, in all forms.”
Rape culture is 1 in 33 men being sexually assaulted in their lifetimes. Rape culture is encouraging men to use the language of rape to establish dominance over one another (“I’ll make you my bitch”). Rape culture is making rape a ubiquitous part of male-exclusive bonding. Rape culture is ignoring the cavernous need for men’s prison reform in part because the threat of being raped in prison is considered an acceptable deterrent to committing crime, and the threat only works if actual men are actually being raped.
Rape culture is 1 in 6 women being sexually assaulted in their lifetimes. Rape culture is not even talking about the reality that many women are sexually assaulted multiple times in their lives. Rape culture is the way in which the constant threat of sexual assault affects women’s daily movements. Rape culture is telling girls and women to be careful about what you wear, how you wear it, how you carry yourself, where you walk, when you walk there, with whom you walk, whom you trust, what you do, where you do it, with whom you do it, what you drink, how much you drink, whether you make eye contact, if you’re alone, if you’re with a stranger, if you’re in a group, if you’re in a group of strangers, if it’s dark, if the area is unfamiliar, if you’re carrying something, how you carry it, what kind of shoes you’re wearing in case you have to run, what kind of purse you carry, what jewelry you wear, what time it is, what street it is, what environment it is, how many people you sleep with, what kind of people you sleep with, who your friends are, to whom you give your number, who’s around when the delivery guy comes, to get an apartment where you can see who’s at the door before they can see you, to check before you open the door to the delivery guy, to own a dog or a dog-sound-making machine, to get a roommate, to take self-defense, to always be alert always pay attention always watch your back always be aware of your surroundings and never let your guard down for a moment lest you be sexually assaulted and if you are and didn’t follow all the rules it’s your fault.
Rape culture is victim-blaming. Rape culture is a judge blaming a child for her own rape. Rape culture is a minister blaming his child victims. Rape culture is accusing a child of enjoying being held hostage, raped, and tortured. Rape culture is spending enormous amounts of time finding any reason at all that a victim can be blamed for hir own rape.
Rape culture is judges banning the use of the word rape in the courtroom. Rape culture is the media using euphemisms for sexual assault. Rape culture is stories about rape being featured in the Odd News.
Rape culture is tasking victims with the burden of rape prevention. Rape culture is encouraging women to take self-defense as though that is the only solution required to preventing rape. Rape culture is admonishing women to “learn common sense” or “be more responsible” or “be aware of barroom risks” or “avoid these places” or “don’t dress this way,” and failing to admonish men to not rape.
Rape culture is “nothing” being the most frequent answer to a question about what people have been formally taught about rape.
Rape culture is boys under 10 years old knowing how to rape.
Rape culture is the idea that only certain people rape—and only certain people get raped. Rape culture is ignoring that the thing about rapists is that they rape people. They rape people who are strong and people who are weak, people who are smart and people who are dumb, people who fight back and people who submit just to get it over with, people who are sluts and people who are prudes, people who rich and people who are poor, people who are tall and people who are short, people who are fat and people who are thin, people who are blind and people who are sighted, people who are deaf and people who can hear, people of every race and shape and size and ability and circumstance.
Rape culture is the narrative that sex workers can’t be raped. Rape culture is the assertion that wives can’t be raped. Rape culture is the contention that only nice girls can be raped.
Rape culture is refusing to acknowledge that the only thing that the victim of every rapist shares in common is bad fucking luck. Rape culture is refusing to acknowledge that the only thing a person can do to avoid being raped is never be in the same room as a rapist. Rape culture is avoiding talking about what an absurdly unreasonable expectation that is, since rapists don’t announce themselves or wear signs or glow purple.
Rape culture is people meant to protect you raping you instead—like parents, teachers, doctors, ministers, cops, soldiers, self-defense instructors.
Rape culture is a serial rapist being appointed to a federal panel that makes decisions regarding women’s health.
Rape culture is a ruling that says women cannot withdraw consent once sex commences.
Rape culture is a collective understanding about classifications of rapists: The “normal” rapist (whose crime is most likely to be dismissed with a “boys will be boys” sort of jocular apologia) is the man who forces himself on attractive women, women his age in fine health and form, whose crime is disturbingly understandable to his male defenders. The “real sickos” are the men who go after children, old ladies, the disabled, accident victims languishing in comas—the sort of people who can’t fight back, whose rape is difficult to imagine as titillating, unlike the rape of “pretty girls,” so easily cast in a fight-fuck fantasy of squealing and squirming and eventual relenting to the “flattery” of being raped.
Rape culture is the insistence on trying to distinguish between different kinds of rape via the use of terms like “gray rape” or “date rape.”
Rape culture is pervasive narratives about rape that exist despite evidence to the contrary. Rape culture is pervasive imagery of stranger rape, even though women are three times more likely to be raped by someone they know than a stranger, and nine times more likely to be raped in their home, the home of someone they know, or anywhere else than being raped on the street, making what is commonly referred to as “date rape” by far the most prevalent type of rape. Rape culture is pervasive insistence that false reports are common, although they are less common (1.6%) than false reports of auto theft (2.6%). Rape culture is pervasive claims that women make rape accusations willy-nilly, when 61% of rapes remain unreported.
Rape culture is the pervasive narrative that there is a “typical” way to behave after being raped, instead of the acknowledgment that responses to rape are as varied as its victims, that, immediately following a rape, some women go into shock; some are lucid; some are angry; some are ashamed; some are stoic; some are erratic; some want to report it; some don’t; some will act out; some will crawl inside themselves; some will have healthy sex lives; some never will again.
Rape culture is the pervasive narrative that a rape victim who reports hir rape is readily believed and well-supported, instead of acknowledging that reporting a rape is a huge personal investment, a difficult process that can be embarrassing, shameful, hurtful, frustrating, and too often unfulfilling. Rape culture is ignoring that there is very little incentive to report a rape; it’s a terrible experience with a small likelihood of seeing justice served.
Rape culture is hospitals that won’t do rape kits, disbelieving law enforcement, unmotivated prosecutors, hostile judges, victim-blaming juries, and paltry sentencing.
Rape culture is the fact that higher incidents of rape tend to correlate with lower conviction rates.
Rape culture is silence around rape in the national discourse, and in rape victims’ homes. Rape culture is treating surviving rape as something of which to be ashamed. Rape culture is families torn apart because of rape allegations that are disbelieved or ignored or sunk to the bottom of a deep, dark sea in an iron vault of secrecy and silence.
Rape culture is the objectification of women, which is part of a dehumanizing process that renders consent irrelevant. Rape culture is treating women’s bodies like public property. Rape culture is street harassment and groping on public transportation and equating raped women’s bodies to a man walking around with valuables hanging out of his pockets. Rape culture is most men being so far removed from the threat of rape that invoking property theft is evidently the closest thing many of them can imagine to being forcibly subjected to a sexual assault.
Rape culture is treating 13-year-old girls like trophies for men regarded as great artists.
Rape culture is ignoring the way in which professional environments that treat sexual access to female subordinates as entitlements of successful men can be coercive and compromise enthusiastic consent.
Rape culture is a convicted rapist getting a standing ovation at Cannes, a cameo in a hit movie, and a career resurgence in which he can joke about how he hates seeing people get hurt.
Rape culture is when running dogfights is said to elicit more outrage than raping a woman would.
Rape culture is blurred lines between persistence and coercion. Rape culture is treating diminished capacity to consent as the natural path to sexual activity.
Rape culture is pretending that non-physical sexual assaults, like peeping tomming, is totally unrelated to brutal and physical sexual assaults, rather than viewing them on a continuum of sexual assault.
Rape culture is diminishing the gravity of any sexual assault, attempted sexual assault, or culture of actual or potential coercion in any way.
Rape culture is using the word “rape” to describe something that has been done to you other than a forced or coerced sex act. Rape culture is saying things like “That ATM raped me with a huge fee” or “The IRS raped me on my taxes.”
Rape culture is rape being used as entertainment, in movies and television shows and books and in video games.
Rape culture is television shows and movies leaving rape out of situations where it would be a present and significant threat in real life.
Rape culture is Amazon offering to locate “rape” products for you.
Rape culture is rape jokes. Rape culture is rape jokes on t-shirts, rape jokes in college newspapers, rape jokes in soldiers’ home videos, rape jokes on the radio, rape jokes on news broadcasts, rape jokes in magazines, rape jokes in viral videos, rape jokes in promotions for children’s movies, rape jokes on Page Six (and again!), rape jokes on the funny pages, rape jokes on TV shows, rape jokes on the campaign trail, rape jokes on Halloween, rape jokes in online content by famous people, rape jokes in online content by non-famous people, rape jokes in headlines, rape jokes onstage at clubs, rape jokes in politics, rape jokes in one-woman shows, rape jokes in print campaigns, rape jokes in movies, rape jokes in cartoons, rape jokes in nightclubs, rape jokes on MTV, rape jokes on late-night chat shows, rape jokes in tattoos, rape jokes in stand-up comedy, rape jokes on websites, rape jokes at awards shows, rape jokes in online contests, rape jokes in movie trailers, rape jokes on the sides of buses, rape jokes on cultural institutions…
Rape culture is people objecting to the detritus of the rape culture being called oversensitive, rather than people who perpetuate the rape culture being regarded as not sensitive enough.
Rape culture is the myriad ways in which rape is tacitly and overtly abetted and encouraged having saturated every corner of our culture so thoroughly that people can’t easily wrap their heads around what the rape culture actually is.
That’s hardly everything. It’s merely the tip of an unfathomable iceberg.
The MRA ideological axis seems to twirl around the idea that because MRA’s act like anti-social butt-pustules with severe Neural Fecal Disability, they never get laid, and this sad state of affairs is women’s fault! If women were just less picky and more submissive things would be great(?).
In cautiously interacting (read derisively poking holes in their fatuous bullcookery) with MRA’s one rotten plank in their prolapsed rectum of a platform seems to be based on an erroneous study of wolf psychology(See what actually happens in wolf families here).
Using flawed wolf psychology as a ideological basis for your movement is just one among the myriad of ways that MRA’s fail.
But let’s focus on this small polished facet of their earth shattering stupidity: the reliance on the idea that there are classes of men, known as Alpha’s and Beta’s. Woe be it unto you if you are Beta, as because you are weak and show emotion and do not act like a complete bag of dicks toward women. The Gold Standard or the alpha is the converse of the Beta, and thus realizes his full potential by embracing full sack-of-dicks status. It’s okay though because both Alpha’s and Beta’s blame women for their lack of proper socialization and inability to use key social lubricants such as empathy, respect, and altruistic behaviour.
But we should leave the other unsavoury trappings of MRA ideology at the wayside and delve deeply into the magical basis of the Alpha and Beta Male phenomena. As mentioned earlier, the alpha/beta classification hierarchy is based on studies of wolves that were desperately flawed. The wolves being studied were in captivity and being in captivity deforms the traditional family structure of the wolf pack into the perverted form(alpha/beta dominance based structure) recorded by the biologists studying them at the time(1948 to be exact).
Read how flawed this alpha BS male is:
“The alpha myth is everywhere. Google “alpha dog” on the Internet and you get more than 85 million hits. Really. While not all the sites are about dominating your dog, there are literally millions of resources out there – websites, books, blogs, television shows, veterinarians, trainers and behavior professionals – instructing you to use force and intimidation to overpower your dog into submission. They say that you, the human, must be the alpha. They’re all wrong. Every single one of them.
The erroneous approach to canine social behavior known as dominance theory (two million-plus Google hits) is based on a study of captive zoo wolves conducted in the 1930s and 1940s by Swiss animal behaviorist Rudolph Schenkel, in which the scientist concluded that wolves in a pack fight to gain dominance, and the winner is the alpha wolf.
Bad Extrapolation
Schenkel’s observations of captive wolf behavior were erroneously extrapolated to wild wolf behavior, and then to domestic dogs. It was postulated that wolves were in constant competition for higher rank in the hierarchy, and only the aggressive actions of the alpha male and female held the contenders in check. Other behaviorists following Schenkel’s lead also studied captive wolves and confirmed his findings: groups of unrelated wolves brought together in artificial captive environments do, indeed, engage in often-violent and bloody social struggles.
The problem is, that’s not normal wolf behavior. As David Mech stated in the introduction to his study of wild wolves (Mech, 2000), “Attempting to apply information about the behavior of assemblages of unrelated captive wolves to the familial structure of natural packs has resulted in considerable confusion. Such an approach is analogous to trying to draw inferences about human family dynamics by studying humans in refugee camps. The concept of the alpha wolf as a ‘top dog’ ruling a group of similar-aged compatriots (Schenkel 1947; Rabb et al. 1967; Fox 1971a; Zimen 1975, 1982; Lockwood 1979; van Hooff et al. 1987) is particularly misleading.”
What we know now, thanks to Mech and others, is that in the wild, a wolf pack is a family, consisting of a mated pair and their offspring of the past one to three years. Occasionally two or three families may group together. As the offspring mature they disperse from the pack; the only long-term members of the group are the breeding pair. By contrast, in captivity unrelated wolves are forced to live together for many years, creating tension between mature adults that doesn’t happen in a natural, wild pack.”
So this bit about Alpha Males and Beta Males has roots in bad science and thus the argument has a faulty premise which leads, of course to a faulty conclusion. This untidy little fact won’t faze the Red Pill types though, they’ve left reason far behind, now only a distant memory (like leaving your child at the last rest stop *whoops!*). Thus we are left with the baseless lack-wit MRA dogma that is swimming in confirmation bias with nebulous goal of trying to justify treating women poorly because MRA’s fail at being good human beings and thus their willies are sad.
Who knew that the Manosphere was so entertaining?
The RPOJ comes for thee DC.
A previous encounter with this fine individual has inspired me to go to his blog and deconstruct all the vile shite that he churns out on semi-regular basis. Douche-Canoe (DC) is a dyed in the wool homophobe, misogynist and whinger makes for some fantastic laughs as this prime MRA supplicant seeks to reaffirm his place in the manosphere.
This post, “Take hold of the Wheel” is the genesis of this particularly foul weed that seems to build, self-referentially (image someone pooping in the same spot over and over) on itself and as usual, no reference to facts or reality required.
But that is the basis of MRA mythology, constructing a skewed version of the world in which somehow the white dude is the persecuted minority. This shallow ploy reminds me of christian’s in the USA that do the same thing when their odious views are challenged. In any case, no sympathy shall be offered to the “persecuted majority” only derision and scorn as their fatuous arguments are laid bare. Unleash the Red Pen of Justice.
Let us begin.
“Three days ago I gently urged my weathered Ford down snow-covered roads on my way home from work. The fear and hysteria of other drivers stood out to me. [Fear and hysteria eh? Oh! You’re setting up a crappy analogy, got it.] And then I wondered, how many actually practice “driving?” How many people associate skill behind the wheel with a necessary survival mechanism improving your chances of getting home safely [Reasonable people would assume that safe driving = getting home in one piece and thus a rational standard to strive toward, of course in shitty-analogy-land, simple, logical explanations, be damned! ]? How many just associate it with F1 and street-racing?”
“Game” strikes many as a synonym for hookup culture, however, this is disingenuous [ as is most of what you write, “Game” is nothing more than treating women as objects and manipulating them into having sex with your sorry ass] as suggesting that the skill of driving makes one a participant in race culture.”
In the 21st Century, a necessity for both arises out of the dangers of dealing with others [sentence with no subject is confusing, ignoring crappy construction]. With obstacles like the divorce court racket [citation needed, specifically how Divorce Court is a racket, oh and anecdata from other MRA whingers doesn’t count], the low societal standards for females [they seem high enough to know to stay the frak away from the likes of you; oh but I keep forgetting you have “game”, LOL.] , the feeling of entitlement for the average woman to a movie star husband [I think by this he means someone that will treat a woman with respect and care, but of course citation needed cause right now you’re just whinging out of your butthurt MRA arsehole], and the venomous atmosphere [*Sniff*, oh the cruel hard world in which you reside in a class that has every societal advantage, we should all share in Douche-Canoe’s pain] in which boys grow up the world has no shortage of dangers for men who wish to find a woman [Wow, you think that treating women like people was some sort of magical voodoo. Pro-tip: show people respect and you’ll likely receive the same treatment in kind. Of course that wouldn’t serve the poor me whinge-festival, now would it?] These are the potholes, slick roads and ice on our roads. How does one ensure his safety in a world of potential crashes? [Not acting like how you advocate is great place to start.] He learns. [Hopefully not from you, because unlearning BS is much harder than learning the proper way in the first place.]
Some men learn through experience: watching, listening and observing the movements of others on the road seeing what leads to safe passage or fatal crashes. Others study vigorously from experts until they too have the skills necessary to provide comfort and safety in the volatile environment of the road.
But for every man who has skill behind the wheel, several dozen sad men sit slumped in defeat [Err…or they don’t have licenses]. They never learned to drive; they never paid attention to the road [They never embraced the patriarchal nonsense you espouse, lucky them]. They took it for granted as something natural that needed no thought. They took the television and film portrayals of it as Gospel truth [Our culture is rife with patriarchal messages and memes, so I’m not really sure what you’re referring to, but then again neither are *you* since you habitually make shit up.].
And now the sad reality: if you did not learn by experience or have a skilled teacher, you are doomed to crash [Hello, driving lessons!! But there I go again being oblivious to the deep subtleties of this analogy. DC is inferring that if you don’t have someone to act as your douche-yoda, “trouble you are in”.] . Not if, but when. Sincere danger [as opposed to insincere danger? DC’s fabulous word-smithing demonstrates an exemplary command of the language] whisks past on either side and surrounds us. Perhaps the greatest danger rests in the sheer ignorance and denial of this reality [You are, by far, a qualified expert on ignorance and denial of reality] by pacified drivers, the willful ignorant [see previous statement of mine].
The clouds gather over the West and flurries fall. Soon all men[because you have the authority to speak for all men?] behind the wheel without
some semblance of skill will wish they could learn[Learning to be a douche? Why not learn compassion, empathy and respect for others, it will take you much farther than the hate being preached.]. The young men are watching the crashes of their fathers, uncles and bosses. They’re not buying the 50-year feminist lie anymore[citation needed of the great lie perpetrated by the evil feminist hoards; or did you mean the funny notion that women are people too?]. Thankfully, we get more new driving instructors every day with a red pill prescription in hand [Which sounds an awful lot like whinging and blaming women for your failing at life] for the curious.
The Manosphere [Is the manosphere kinda like Thunderdome? Two whiners go in, one whiner comes out? Can we make bets on this fun game?] is about to get a slew of applicants for Gender Studies 101[Clearly, because learning how not to be a douche is obviously the wrong way to go about things].
‘Nuff said.
A big thanks to Sexgenderbody from the Daily Kos.
men –
we are the problem. all of the problems. and not just some of us – all of us. we are bullies, rapists, murderers and we live off the sweat and pain of anyone we can. you may not have raped or stolen land but you sure as hell dine off the privilege of being a member of the rape and murder class.
and the biggest problem are those of us who say nothing. we are the grease for the machine. we are cowards because we don’t want the brutality of other men to be focused on us. we are taught as children to play along with the rape and murder class rules or be punished.
so we keep our mouths shut when we should protest. we laugh at sexist jokes. or racist jokes. or we just slink away and say “I’m not like that”.
well guess what assholes – we are like that.
all of us.
so, if you’re not throwing yourself and every other man you see under the bus – you’re just another chickenshit rapist happy to skate by while others do the raping and live the fat life that buys you.
we don’t know 10% of how shitty it is to have to listen to the crap that comes out of our mouths every day. street or office harassment, stupid jokes at the dinner table, loss of money or healthcare or whatever simple autonomy we enjoy being denied to women, queers and people with less money or darker skin.
at every injustice of bloodshed and starvation, there is a man causing pain to someone else.
it’s a man’s world alright – and all this shit is man’s fault.
silence is consent motherfuckers. this shit doesn’t end so long as you stay quiet (and saying “I’m not like that” or “men get hurt too”…by men, btw – doesn’t count.)
speak up cowards. act up. yeah, and your life will be harder. you will lose shit. but that’s shit you stole – it ain’t yours. so buck up and make the term “act like a man” mean something other than rape or murder or violence.
Rattle a few cages? I certainly hope so.
I’m not really into the whole prostitution is what happens between consenting adults argument. I find that it reeks with the notion that the experiences of a lucky few, a sub set of a sub set, somehow overlays what happens to most people who get involved in prostitution; that would be degradation, pain, and suffering. Layer that with helplessness, fear and shame and you have a tried and true recipe for broken human beings.
Prostitution is not okay. It is never okay and thus the topic is set for your Thursday DWR PSA.
Thank you to Buy Fair: Fight Slavery for hosting the video.
Oh, those women, they just want to have power over men. Evil feminists that don’t see the FACT that men and women are treated equally now…
Pardon me while I expunge the neurons used to formulate those sentences… *splork*… Ahh…all better. Like it or not, video games are a fairly big part of our culture, and unsurprisingly, the women featured in many video games conform with traditional patriarchal roles.
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
Your opinions…