(Some) Men Are Real Buffoons.

I loved this rant I found on the blog "The Girl Works" (http://thegirlworks.wordpress.com). We at RF have posted some of her other entries before. (One about what she wants to do with her life that was amazing called "The Way My Mother Was When She Was Young" that was posted on Rough Fractals on March 28, 2009 and can be found in the archives on the right side of the page or at http://roughfractals.blogspot.com/2009/03/way-my-mother-was-when-she-was-young.html). She is a young woman who lets words rip and is smart and funny and observant.

"Just listened to the most infuriating segment on Tell Me More: the flaccid opinions of two advocates for men. Never have I ever witnesses such a potently impotent admixture of chauvinism, racial ignorance, homophobia, lack of self-knowledge, and whining. In fact, sexism might be the least of the charges to lay at the door of this group of selfish motherfuckers.*

Sample soundbytes:

“All this talk today about rights for this group, rights for that group… when I was growing up we didn’t talk about rights; men in my day had responsibilities.”

Yeah, you had the responsibility of a high-paying, secure white collar job because you and your cracker family never lacked any of those rights you now sneer at women and people of color for working so damn hard to achieve. Responsibility? You don’t even know how light your burden is. You find it so easy to dismiss the value of your rights because no social majority ever dictated that you earn them to its satisfaction.

And:

“Tell us about your book, The Myth of Male Power. What exactly do you mean by power?”
“What I mean by power is the responsibility to work hard at making a living and earning money that is then spent by other people.”

FUCK you. I can’t come up with an applicable epithet that doesn’t also denigrate women, so just… fuck you.

“Its not about entitlement.”

The hell it ain’t. I feel real entitled to punch you in the face for that statement.

Oh, and I’m calling it homophobia but not sexism because the entire conversation was couched in terms of the supposed enmity between men and women, in which men are alleged to be losing. “The women’s liberation movement has done so much for women’s confidence and success in education, business, and other fields, that we wanted to form an organization that could do the same for men.” Are you extending the disadvantages you perceive and the brotherhood you offer to gay men as well as straight? And do you hate lesbians for ostensibly bringing you down, or is that rancor (strong words for such a weak sentiment) reserved for straight women?

I’m guessing more eloquent representatives of the White Male Empowerment Movement could have been dug out from under a rock somewhere, but next time let’s focus on statistics for men of color, and see how much you white boys have to complain about then.

It’s a blessing I didn’t destroy my car radio with evil looks. The funny thing, though, is that I rather like men. They make excellent snacks.

*My mom’s got better taste than that, I like to think."