“Masculism”
I mentioned in an earlier post that there is a movement called ‘masculism’ that “consists of social theories, political movements, and moral philosophies primarily based on the experiences of men.” (From Wikipedia).
First of all, what’s up with calling it ‘masculism’? That’s not even a word. To be a word, there would have to be something called a ‘mascule,’ which there is not. It’s very interesting that the beliefs I find offensive are often espoused by people that are complete idiots and have only a dim understanding of the English language.
‘Masculists’ (and yes, I will continue to put these terms in quotes, as they are not real words) also have a very tenuous grasp on basic logic. For example, they believe that violence against women is frowned upon by society but violence against men is encouraged; that legislation such as VAWA (the Violence Against Women Act) is discriminatory against men, even though, in the words of Twisty Faster, “violence against women is a fucking global humanitarian crisis, yo”; that the tendency of advocates to believe women when they say they have been abused means that men don’t receive fair trials; that higher auto insurance rates for men constitutes discrimination (that argument is my personal favorite); and a whole bunch of other asinine crap that anyone with the power of observation and more than 3 firing synapses could deduce is nothing more than asinine crap.
Furthermore, what “social theories, political movements, and moral philosophies” are not based primarily on the experiences of men? Other than feminism, I’m struggling to come up with any. How is violence against women not completely sanctioned, and practically required of men? The most popular movie at the box office this past weekend is about guys trying to have sex with drunk girls - sex that the boys admit would be a ‘mistake’ for those girls. That is violence against women, people. Getting a female drunk, or taking advantage of her drunkenness, to have sex is not just ’sex that was a mistake,’ it is fucking rape and it is a completely socially condoned act of violence against women. A guy who killed his ex-wife is writing a book detailing how he would have done it - but, haha, it’s just ‘If I did it, this is how I would have done it’ so he’s not really admitting to it. These are two examples from this week, but any other week would yield the same old shit.
You just have to open your eyes (and maybe your mind, just a little bit) to see all the examples of socially acceptable and encouraged violence against women. It is a fucking global humanitarian crisis. Asswads who argue that violence against women is frowned upon by society are so indoctrinated into society that they can’t even see how violence against women is neutralized and excused to the point that it becomes invisible.
August 22nd, 2007 at 11:47 pm
Are you purposely misspelling it? When I started reading this post I was like “yeah, masulism isn’t a word, so when do we start discussing masculinism?” Sorry to be a spelling schtickler.
I generally like when the term masculinism refers to masculine ways of being that are valued over feminine in society, as in “disregarding emotions as invalid or irrational thoughts is a masculinistic way of being.” And for some reason, I always thought the mens movement was more about males being able to express the feminine sides of themselves that are socially unacceptable and devalued, since obviously the masculine attributes are rewarded from birth.
August 23rd, 2007 at 10:48 am
That’s how the ‘masculists’ (still in quotes, because it’s not a word) spell it. I kept spelling it their way to emphasize how stupid they are.
I think the other meaning of masculinism, and analyzing the ways in which we value masculine traits over feminine, is very interesting.
There may be men’s movements that are about men being able to express emotion and express their feminine side - but I haven’t found them yet. Just dudes who sit around bloviating about how hard men have it in society and how women run the world.
April 20th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
[…] “Masculism” verdict: Male for formal, weak male for informal. […]