Thanks to #me too I think we're going to more often see men jumping the sinking ship of patriarchy. Not just the legions of liberal men who claim to be feminist to manipulate leftist 'chicks' or as virtue signalling, but men who go through a transformation, break the man code and renounce their privilege in order to stand on the side of what's right.
This comment, left by a man on the Feminist Current site under a post about Rose McGowan's NYC book signing, is an example of man who's jumped ship and has aligned himself with women and other oppressed people. Check it out:
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Robert Gonzalez • 3 days ago
Rose McGowan is doing something right if she is angering so many indoctrinated people. She is relentless and persistent. And in my opinion, there is nothing that scares men more than sustained and organized female rage.
I sincerely hope that she never stops her brave pushing. She does not need to alter or soften her approach in any way. Fuck that rapist, Andi Dier. How dare he do that to a rape victim.
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Elara • 3 days ago
I think you're right about sustained and organized female rage being something scary to men. Them spending so much time trying to convince everyone that female rage is hysteria or that angry women are irrational just proves it. They have to make female rage something that can be laughed at and not taken seriously.
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Robert Gonzalez • 3 days ago
Exactly. The male tactic is to minimize it and quell it whenever it arises before it ever gets out of hand. Society is set up to take care of most of that anger without ever lifting a finger. However, the patriarchy also implements gas-lighting, physical violence, fear and other abuses to keep women firmly in their place.
I believe that men are all aware of their own privilege (yes, even TIMs). And it is for that reason that they don't want women to be angry or questioning, unless it suits their purposes (i.e. sexual empowerment movement). We men sit in a position very similar to that of a slave owner in the Old South. Just as slave owners didn't want an empowered, dominant and self-sufficient slave, nor do men want to see examples of empowered, dominant and self-sufficient women -- as much as they may claim otherwise. Men know that their sustained anger can lead to the upheaval of the established order of things, if it is sustained long enough.
I also believe that all men are taught to be manipulative of the women around them. I remember being keenly aware of my own privilege before I accepted feminism. I had these instilled cues in my mind that I should maintain dominance at all costs. Without a thought I would lie and say whatever needed to be said to get my way with women. You see these attitudes reflected in popularized male hook-up culture, especially. I remember feeling especially threatened and angry when a woman questioned the established misogynistic order of things in a way that affected me. The combination of my insecurity and strong feelings of perceived powerlessness often fueled angry yelling and long-winded arguments with my female companions.
Having known that anger intimately, I can recognize it amplified in these numerous examples of male violence that we are constantly seeing in the news (i.e. mass shootings, rapists, serial murderers, etc.). These men are angry because they feel like they are being robbed of their birthright privilege and assumed dominion over women. Andi Dier was expressing that same privileged rage when he screamed at Rose. To me it is hardly any different than the sheer rage the slave owners must have felt when they were dared to be asked to free the human beings they enslaved. Unrestrained women are, in their eyes, dangerous.
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Elara • 20 hours ago
Thanks for the insight! It's the ugly truth that men benefit from and women fear telling. When it's so ingrained, women disconnect from the realness of it and instead, doubt themselves and their instincts.
note- For those who don't know, the acronym TIM stands for Trans Identified Male
http://www.feministcurrent.com/2018/02/ ... -no-woman/
Luther Blissett » Sat Feb 17, 2018 12:32 pm wrote:That’s exactly what the toxic qualifier is. Women don’t commit mass shootings.
It’s like what Jeff posted: we might be witnessing a culture reacting to strange gods that punish us in insane ways by entering the ritual sacrifice phase of collapse.
I’m optimistic, though. This is why a good deal of my avocation involves constructive and positive community organizing. My practical reaction to mass shootings, if I ever figure it out, will probably be something like “car free cities” or “self-directed pedagogy.”