7 Arguments Against Male Privilege, And Why They're Bollocks

So let's have some fun today, shall we? Whenever the topic of white/male privilege comes up, you're bound to hear this at least once: "But what about situation X where this one guy faced some sort of adversity?" as if that actually means anything. This time I'm gonna take some of the most common arguments against male privilege and dispel them one by one. Before I start, understand the idea that having male privilege does not in any way mean that men have perfect lives. It means that they're at a systemic disposition to have better lives than women. Now that I've clarified that, let's begin the epic takedown. 

1. Men Take Up The Majority of Combat Deaths in the Military

Might as well start with quite possibly the first thing out of anti-feminists' mouths as soon as you bring up male privilege. Firstly, this is true. Men do in fact die more in the military than women. However, let's look beneath the surface here. And to do that, we'll have to use facts, something antis claim to care about until the facts are used against them. The most glaring flaw with this argument is that men are the overwhelming majority in the military. Women only take up 15% of the US Military, whereas men take up 85%. Furthermore, women were barred from combat roles for the longest time. And to cap it all off, you can't really be oppressed by something you chose to be in. No I'm not saying that soldiers deserve to die, not in the slightest, but they can't be oppressed if they willingly enlisted, trained, and dedicated their lives to being in the service. Before anyone brings up military conscription, literally no one of this generation has been drafted into war. That shit died in the 70s. If it was still around you'd maybe have more of a case to go off of. But it's not around, and you don't have a case. So shut up. 

2. There Are More Men In Jail Than Women/Men Get Harsher Sentences Than Women For Identical Crimes

I always laugh whenever this gets thrown at my face. Why is that? Because it's incredibly clear that antis didn't research a bloody thing about the issue. Whilst it's true that men take up the prison population more than women, it certainly isn't a result of sexism. It's no secret that just about almost every perpetrator of crimes is a man. As of 2014, men committed 98% of rapes, 90% of homicides, 77% of assaults, and 87% of robberies. Assuming these convictions were true, as they come from the FBI, it's hard to consider that oppressive. These men could've easily not killed, raped, or robbed anyone, but they chose to ruin others' lives. On the flip side, most of the crimes committed by women were nonviolent offences, such as shoplifting or vandalism, which normally carry much more lenient sentences. As far as identical crimes go, I have absolutely no idea where they're getting that from. Whenever a woman rapes a young teenage boy, usually in those statutory rape cases, the woman's rightly carted off to jail for a few years. I cannot say the same for men because they either never get convicted or only serve a few months. Or ya know, become elected officials. Sure, sometimes women get off easier, but that is not the norm. In the case of violent crimes, the reason women are likely to get more lenient sentences, especially when it comes to domestic disputes, is because 9/10 women who hit their husbands, or anyone else for that matter, do so in self-defence. 

3. The Majority of Workplace Deaths Are Men

This is probably one of the easier ones to debunk. Mostly because the main reasons for these workplaces fatalities is due to a failure of equipment, aka accidents. The biggest way to solve this issue is just to take the proper safety precautions, which can be done by dismantling the idea that men taking steps to make themselves safer is wimpy. What's more is that the number one cause of workplace fatality for women is homicide. No really.  Can only imagine what they'd say to that. However I have a feeling I may not like the answer. 

4. Men Are Victims of Homicide More Than Women

Ok can I just say that it's incredibly dumb how much dying is a motif for MRAs and such? It's getting to a point where I literally am starting to hypothesise that they think women are immortal or something. As stated above, men are the primary cause of these homicides happening in the first place. Also, women are statistically just as likely to be a victim of a homicide as men, and this isn't even including how many women are murdered as a result of intimate partner violence. In fact, the stats for that are just gutwrenching. Like, there are more women killed in domestic disputes than there are soldiers killed in the Iraq war. One can only imagine what the stats were for any other time. 

5. There Are More Homeless Men Than Women 

Yes, but women are also more likely to live in poverty. The difference here is that women are more likely to seek out resources for their situation. This, as you could guess, is a result of patriarchy backfiring on men. If you want to solve the homelessness situation, encourage men in financial turmoil to seek benefits and tell them that it's ok if they do so. This also applies to suicide. I'd bring that up, but I already made a blog post about that a while back. 

6. More Men Are Raped Than Women If You Include Prison Rape

This is merely bollocks since the claim itself is based on incomplete data, or at the very least the data was highly misinterpreted. You see, the Daily Mail article this originated from is not only a Daily Mail article, which therein is a good indicator of quality (or lack thereof), the study only accounted for one Ohio city. It reported that only 50,000 women were raped in that city in 2008 and 2011, but within those years, there were 200,000 male inmates who had been raped by fellow convicts or prison guards. The article's actual data contradicted its headline, which claimed that it accounts for the whole country. I did some digging on the topic, and the highest percentage I could find for prison rape statistics that included both men and women was 20%. 17 million women are raped a year as opposed to 2 million men according to RAINN. Sure, prison rape is a pandemic, I'll grant them that, but to say that more convicts are raped than civilians is just simple dishonesty, no more, no less. 

7. Women Win A Majority of Custody Battles

And finally we reach this little nugget. I'm getting kinda sick of having to argue patriarchy each time, but it's never been more prevalent here. One, gender bias in court is greatly exaggerated. The reason women win most of the time is because both parents agree that the kids should go to the mother. This is also a result of patriarchy dictating that a woman should resign to being a housewife upon the birth of their first child. Despite what MRAs will tell you, women don't get custody of the kids right away just for being women. If that were true, Bristol Palin wouldn't have lost her custody battle. There's no dark magic at play that gains women complete control over divorce court proceedings. Stop thinking one episode of Judge Judy mirrors reality. In fact, studies say that 70% of fathers who fight for custody are likely to get it. I think it's time dads got up off their arses and actually put in the effort to win these things since the scales are tipped in their favour. 

So there you have it. 7 arguments against male privilege totally dismantled in one short post. I know a bunch of these articles exist already, but I don't care. I have my own perspective on the issue and I'm gonna give it. I just hope you learnt something from this, no mater what your biggest takeaway from it was.

Stop Oversexualising Latinas/Hispanic Women

I know I talk a lot about the sexual objectification of women, but I don't think I've ever narrowed it down. After all, not all women are objectified equally. White women are objectified for their submissiveness, hair colours, eye colours, weight, and possibly other racist reasons, black women are objectified for their posteriors and "twerking", Asian women are objectified for reasons that make me wanna vomit shards of my own pelvis, and Latinas are objectified for their posteriors, breasts, faces, skin tones, and even attitudes. I'm gonna focus on Latinas and Hispanics given how I am in fact half Spanish. Here I'll go over the stereotypes and ways which the media reduces Latinas y hispanas to nothing more than flagrant and offencively dehumanising trophies. 

The biggest example of the stereotyping of Hispanic women in the media is Gloria Pritchett from Modern Family. Sure she is played by the Colombian Sofia Vergara, but just because you have an actress for a non-white character, it doesn't mean you can write them however you like. I brought up this problem with Watch Dogs 2, where Marcus, a black male, was written like a white guy. I won't touch too much on that since I'm not black and that isn't my battle, but many things apply here too. Sofia employs a much more emphatic (and somewhat annoying) accent for Gloria to add to the idea that she is a South American immigrant. Sofia's natural voice is not that grating, I promise you that. But because the show is written through the white gaze, which is the racial equivalent of the male gaze, Sofia must have her character appear as obnoxious as possible to her own kind. But that's not all. Her character isn't a strong Hispanic woman, she's your standard sexy mum, because apparently all Hispanic women are just walking sex appeal. Even her 13 year old son sexualises her. That is fucking disturbing. Say what you will about American Dad's Steve Smith wanting to fuck his mum, but at least that show knows to make Steve's oedipus complex look unnatural. Plus I expect gross humour from Seth MacFarlane. I don't expect Modern Family, which prides itself in having a mixed and gay couple (though the gay couple isn't revolutionary either), to pull this bollocks. Every single joke revolving Gloria is how hot she is. At this point I expect the show to just make her go nude every episode and have her breasts swing around at all times. 

Another one is Eva Longoria's character Gabrielle Solis on Desperate Housewives. At first glance, she is portrayed as a strong and in-your-face no-bollocks type of woman. Sad thing is, she still falls victim to the hot Latina stereotype. You see, since Gabrielle is attractive, she's allowed to be a strong lead. But "ugly" Latinas like Consuela from Family Guy (I know she's Mexican but same idea) are just jokes. Consuela is an obnoxious housemaid, another bigoted stereotype of Latinas, and Gabrielle has her shit together. Not only does Gabrielle exist through the white gaze, but the male gaze as well, a killer combination. That's why you won't see black actresses in roles that aren't racially demeaning 85% of the time, but again, not my battle. Zoe Saldana is a small exception to this. She is a black Latina, but mostly is cast in roles that aren't total bollocks. She went from being a world-class assassin in Colombiana to the strong-willed María Posada in The Book of Life. Both of these roles go against common tropes laid out for Latina characters, and the Devil must be given his due. Unfortunately, Saldana alone can't break boundaries for Latinas everywhere, but she's a fine place to start. 

Now it's time for the most common depictions of Latinas and Hispanic women: we are aggressive and violent. Almost every angry Latina in film and television has at least one scene or even episode of them beating someone up with a shoe or a broomstick. Well I dunno about you, but I haven't clobbered my husband with any kitchen utensils. Sure there's that one time he tickled my foot and I mule kicked him in the chest, but that was an accident :P. Back on topic, this paints Latinas in a very bad light. It makes it appear that if you end up with a Latina, she's gonna beat your arse over the most trivial shit. And it's usually venial screw-ups that set movie Latinas off isn't it? Forgot to leave the toilet seat down? SMACK. Accidentally got crumbs all over the floor? SMACK. Woke her up 5 minutes before her alarm? SMACK (ok that one's kinda justified XD). I sometimes say violent things, but you won't see me act on them. But movies and TV shows like to make Latinas and Hispanic ladies look like the fucking Hulk. It's not true. But still, you don't wanna piss us off :P. 

I think I've kept you waiting enough. I'm finally gonna touch on the sexualisation of Latinas and Hispanics. We are incessantly, and I mean INCESSANTLY, turned into sex objects. More so than any other race or ethnicity in fact. If there's a Latina character in a movie or show, there's a good chance there'll be a see dedicated to staring at her bum. Latinas barely have any diverse body types either. They're either rigidly fit with massive bums and breasts, or have giant legs and small torsos. Trust me, my girlfriend is a white Italian and has a bigger bum than me, and I'm British and Spanish (British girls are known for having big bums too BION). You're more likely to find Latinas with a UK size 6 than anything else. We're also expected to have perfectly round bums that glisten off the sunlight. Well hate to burst your bubble boys, but that ain't the case, or at least not with me. I've got cellulite, stretch marks, and blemishes back there. I wouldn't want it any other way if it means destroying stereotypes. We're allowed to have our own insecurities and imperfections. And I'll be damned if they tell me otherwise. 

Just let me say right now that I can't speak for every case. I'm just giving my perspective and the prevalence of these tropes in my immediate surroundings. So what can be done about these stereotypes? STOP TOLERATING THEM ON ANY LEVEL. 1 in 6 Latina women are victims of sexual violence, and the sexualisation they face today helps not. It really isn't that difficult to assign personality to a Latina character, why not start now? 

Bisexuality and Open Marriages

As you recall, I am bisexual. I know I identified as "bi-romantic" before, but things have changed and I'm a full-fledged bisexual. But one thing that I'm sure spans across the board with all bisexuals is the killer urges we get to act on our bisexuality (note: I'm gonna be saying bisexual a lot here). For some, it's harder than others. Now for this reason, most bisexuals remain single so they don't have to worry about being hitched to a man but desperately want to have it off with a woman, or vice versa. But to those already married? You might find yourself in a pickle. You might pleasure yourself to pictures of models of the opposite sex, or you might boldly go where few are brave enough to travel. That's right, I'm talking about open relationships. Or at least more specifically, ones where you're dating both a male and female partner.

Now if there's one needlessly oversensationalised taboo, it's polyamory. You've got people saying it's practiced by rapey Muslims in the Middle East (they say as they go on to cheat on their wives with a new street walker every week), you've got people saying it's selfish and ruins the sanctity of marriage, which is incredibly laughable, or that if it gets legal then slippery slope and all that shit, and you've got these libfems thinking that polyamory is just a way for men to control women, which I honestly don't get the impression that that's the case. If anything, a man with multiple girlfriends is pretty much on thin ice XD. 

Let's get one thing out of the way: Polyamory is one of the most wrongly attributed matrimonial/romantic practices out there. Why is that? Because stupid men use the banner of polyamory as a defence when they get outed as womanisers, or as an excuse so they can cheat on their wives. That's not what polyamory is. Having sex with new people whenever you feel like it is not polyamory. Polygamy is not polyamory, even though they are used interchangeably. Polygamy is multiple marriages whereas polyamory is just an open relationship. Polyamory is more meant for people with high sex drives or just aren't cut out for monogamous relationships, since honestly, being with the same person for all your life can get pretty tedious and often leads to divorces and bitter breakups. Not every bisexual person is polyamorous but the ones who are typically describe their experiences as positive. Marriage counselors have stated that bisexuals in open relationships usually are happier and their relationships last longer, which makes sense. However, not everyone's partner is ok with this and often times will lash out and accuse them of infidelity. As an alternative to polyamory, simple experimenting is also a recommended method to help bisexuals in monogamous relationships sate their desires to be with the opposite sex. 

Just remember that you are not biphobic for not being comfortable with such a thing. Poly relationships are something that require immense levels of trust in order for them to prosper. What WOULD make you biphobic is hating your partner and saying "I should've known you bisexuals were sleaze bags". And if you do happen to be in a poly relationship and at one point you feel you prefer monogamy, you're free to stop at any time. Bisexual love doesn't have to be taboo. All that matters is doing what you're comfortable with. 

It's Totally Normal To Take Nudes

Hey ladies, you taken any good nudes lately (I SWEAR I'm not coming onto you here)? I bet you have because women are just like the sexiest things ever :D. As fun as photographing your naked body is, for whatever reason you feel, you'll probably have run into some roadblocks from that pesky patriarchy. If you take nudes, you must be a whore. Or if you take nudes, you must only have a quintessential body or else you're ugly. Hell, sometimes YOU don't like the nudes you've taken because you yourself don't like your body. Or maybe you do like your body but something about taking nudes rubs you the wrong way. Whatever it may be, I just wanna say that taking nudes isn't weird or gross. It's actually perfectly fine. 

I'll be straightforward with everyone. I take nudes a lot. Like, almost all the time. Not only do I love my body, but it helps me to appreciate my imperfections. As confident as I act, sometimes I don't always feel so happy with my body. To be truthful, my 44 year old mum has a better body than me. She's all fit and in shape and looks 15 years younger. I have rolls, my thighs jiggle, my bum is fat and saggy, I have stretch marks under my breasts, and I have a bit of a belly. Essentially, I have the body of a mum, even though I don't have kids. Photographing my body in the nude makes me feel free and reminds me that I'm in control of my body. I'm gonna let you in on a secret, something most people don't want you to know. Taking nudes is actually an art form. You heard that right, it's art. Not every nude you've taken will probably be art though, just to warn you. If you take nudes in a position that's obviously sexual, then that's just a literal labour of love. But a regular picture of your front or back in a modest position of some sort is artistic. I mostly photograph my bum since it's my favourite thing to take pictures of :).

Now here comes the tricky part, whether you should share the nudes you've taken. This can be difficult since nudes often get leaked when things go wrong between friends and soul mates. Believe it or not, your lover shouldn't be the one you trust most with your nudes. Whilst it would be nice if you could trust them, just remember that breakups can go nasty, and they'll have that HD photo of your breasts at the ready to ruin you. It's pretty much tradition for us girls to share our nudes with some of our closest female friends, so don't leave em out. But always remember not to send them your nudes unless they're ok with it, otherwise you'll have committed sexual harassment. And yes, that counts. Plus, don't go crazy and show your friend nudes like every single day, you might give them the wrong impression. Sharing nudes is rather important, almost a bit more important than taking them since showcasing your nude body willingly is a sign of strength and humility. Be cautious when sending them: hide your face (or crop it out), conceal any tattoos or markings you have, and be sure that your surroundings are either not where you normally live or are unidentifiable. This way, should your nudes be leaked by some arsehole or you accidentally reveal them in the wrong place, no one can really prove it's you. 

Taking nudes isn't slutty and it's certainly not deviant behaviour. Millions of females have done it, it's practically a hobby for us at this point. You have every right to embrace yourself as a sexual being, so you might as well showcase it. It's time we stop making nudity a crime. 

Are Trans People Gender Conformists?

Lately I've had this proposition thrown my way in the case of trans people. They say that trans people are gender conformists because they begin to act like the stereotypes of the gender they're transitioning to, and that somehow goes against the deconstruction of gender norms that feminism works to achieve. I do think it's a genuine question that requires an honest answer. However, I advise you all to remember that I'm a cis female, and that what I tell you is not to be taken as the be-all and end-all of the matter. All I'm gonna do here is give my educated insight on gender conformity and how its connection to transgenderism isn't that clear cut. 

Firstly, we must analyse what gender conformity is. Gender conformity is, as you would assume, adhering to what society deems you to be according to your gender. It's like if I remained a housewife and my husband was the breadwinner; we'd be following gender norms that have existed for years. And since trans people, namely trans women, tend to act a lot more like feminine stereotypes, it could come off as them being gender conformists. But just because something feels a certain way, doesn't mean it is that way. I'm womanly as fuck. Sure I do things that could be considered masculine, but I never let anyone forget I'm a woman, I'm far too proud to be one. And whilst I'm more than capable of taking care of myself, I do sometimes act like a stereotype, as in I like to embrace a more vulnerable appeal. Mostly because my husband treats me extra special because of it :D. 

But this question stems from a rather big misunderstanding of why people transition in the first place. Transgenderism isn't just an obscure personality trait, it stems from psychological confusion, either through gender dysphoria or social conditions (please keep in mind that not every trans person has dysphoria, and that having dysphoria doesn't automatically link to transgenderism). Trans people don't transition because of some arbitrary reason, they transition because they feel they'd be happier if they were the opposite gender. As such, they act in a way that corresponds to their preferred gender. So if a trans woman feels she has to be womanly by wearing dresses and pouring on a megatonne of makeup, let her. In regards to how this contradicts feminism, I answer that with this; feminism has no problem with women or men adhering to gender norms. They only feel the need to step in when it's done some sort of damage. Feminism lets women choose if they wanna be vulnerable housewives or tough breadwinners, that's all up to them. The thing with gender conformity is that it's almost always forced, and that's where feminism comes in. Feminism also allows people to define their gender identity anyway they like. Trans people also do such. Trans women can still do masculine things and trans men can still do feminine things. That's not exactly rocket science. And let's not forget one of the most important factors:

NOT EVERY TRANS PERSON IS A FEMINIST. 

I can't believe I had to say that, but it's true that some trans people are against feminism. Either because they don't know what's good for them (ahem Blaire White) or for some unfortunately valid reasons. Some gender critical feminists and TERFs argue that trans women are really just men disguising themselves as women so they can infiltrate women-only spaces and rape them. Now, that's obviously a heap of bigoted bollocks, but it's equally as important to stress that the chances of a trans person running into one of those undesirable elements is pretty low, and there are many more feminists that would welcome them with open arms, me being one of them. 

Now it's time to render a verdict. I vote in favour of the idea that trans people are not necessarily gender conformists on the account that any person can identify their gender anyway they wish. Trans women can be stereotypical princesses, and trans men can be stereotypical sports fanatics. As long as they're not hurting anybody, it shouldn't matter whether they are adhering to gender norms or not.  

Settle For More Review

No, not all of my subsequent blog posts are gonna be reviews. It's just something that I find fun and I just felt like adding more variety to my blog. Besides, I always try to include some feminist idea into the things I review, like what I did with Watch Dogs 2. This here I'm kinda debating if it's feminist since whilst it certainly is a topic worth discussing as a feminist, the subject in question is Megyn Kelly, a very polarising figure in politics as far as feminism goes. The topic of today's review is her book, Settle For More. It was published last year and goes for $30 USD. The book is essentially an autobiography and tells of her experiences in journalism and the various hardships she faced for being a woman in the politisphere. And let me just say right now, it's an amazing read. 

To be clear here, I'm not exactly a fan of Megyn. Yes, she's gorgeous. Yes, she could be seen as an inspiration for young girls to chase a political career, but I don't really find myself adoring her. But after reading this, I have newfound respect for her, and I do plan to pay closer attention to her ventures. I'll touch on that later, but for now let's begin the review.

One thing that everyone should know about Megyn is that she's not a republican or a democrat. In fact, she's an independent. Now I know that independents can be obnoxious in other facets of politics, but Megyn is legit. She pretty much sides with whoever's making the better argument whilst still being level-headed. This largely comes from the fact that she was raised by parents with conflicting political views. She has voted for both parties, but I don't think it was any secret that she was very anti-Trump (as anyone should be). I'm not gonna reveal too much here since I want you all to enjoy the book for yourselves, but I will cover the more important things, specifically her time with Fox News and her famous quarrel with Trump. 

Megyn, like just about any woman who's hung around conservative men for an extended period of time, has faced unwanted sexual advances from her coworkers. They came from none other than Roger Ailes, the founder of Fox News. For anyone unaware, Ailes was a slimeball who isn't just guilty of creating the network in the first place, but has countless sexual offences to his name. His worthless life came to an end in May of this year, and as such, his record was hung up for all to see. The things he did to her were borderline traumatising. Hell, I felt damaged just reading the what she dealt with. And as a victim of daily sexual harassment (seriously I get groped like every single day), I can totally empathise with what she had to deal with, and I even started crying when I learnt of how he treated her. He grabbed her and tried to kiss her nonconsensually, commented on her "sexy bra straps", and even tried gaining sexual favours so she could get a promotion, which is something many women have dealt with when at work. What made things worse is that she couldn't report the harassment since she'd be the one going down, not him. This is a harsh reality for a woman. When she's been violated by her employer, or anyone for that matter, her word is never heeded. They only care about the man's reputation, as if that's the most important thing we have to worry about. 

Now comes her relationship with Trump. Believe it or not, she and Trump actually got along well before his presidential run, which I'm sure is how a lot of people felt. Thing then fell apart when he started running. He began threatening her with slander and that he won't give her respect unless she cordially apologised to him when she wasn't even in the wrong. It's made even stranger by how she might have had an assassination attempt done on her. Before she went to moderate the debate, she drank some coffee [compliments of the man who drove her there] and she felt sick and started vomiting profusely and almost had to cancel. She carried on, but notified her lawyer of the incident. Things didn't get any better post-debate. Once it was all said and done, with many thinking that Trump made an arse of himself, I included, Trump's raving army of idiots sent death threats to her constantly. It got so bad that she brought a bodyguard with her family when they went to Disney World. It's also worth noting that Trump tried bribing her to say good things about him, even though if he was really that good to her he wouldn't have to force a good opinion from her. Even then, debate moderators are supposed to be neutral, so she'd be breaking conduct if she took a side. 

The book isn't all about these horrific experiences. It includes her years spent as an attorney and journalist, which made me go from thinking of her as an amateur to thinking of her as a veteran. Trump's fan brats were giving the book harsh negative reviews upon its release, but the book nonetheless sold well. And I encourage you all to support the book legally. There's an eBook of it as well, and I'm sure it's free, but whatever you do, don't pirate it. Megyn and her book deserve the honest support. Regardless your opinion of her, she's proven that she's tough. And that's something that all women need to be at least once in their life. 

The Red Pill Review

So I actually went ahead and did the disservice to my psyche by watching The Red Pill. Why did I do this? Well I can only assume it's because my Asperger's knows no bounds. But all jokes aside, I'm just gonna come out with it: This is by far the worst movie I've ever watched. It's one of the whiniest, angstiest, and ill-informed movie anyone could hope to make. Apparently the film is so powerful that it has the ability to change any feminist's mind. Well thankfully I'm one of the smart ones who wasn't sucked in by manipulative agenda setting and framing. All I did after the movie was over is break the disc. No I'm not kidding. I legit broke the CD because I don't want anyone else wasting their money on this. The rumours weren't shitting you. It really does use every dirty, underhanded tactic to make you feel sorry for a group that has zero likability for good reason. Let's take a look at The Red Pill and why it does not deserve anyone's time.

First, time for a brief explanation of what the movie is. It was directed by Cassie Jaye, and is essentially her first try at film making. Well if this is any indication, she's not very good at it. The movie, which is actually a documentary but whatever, is supposed to be a feminist's adventure to the men's rights movement. It doesn't make sense for her to try and delve into the movement since anyone in it will give you an apt idea of what it is; just a bunch of angry white men who think women are the scum of the earth and the root of men's supposed eradication. They're pretty much what people think feminists are like, but they take it to even bigger extremes. Cassie feels a bit generous though, and wants to hear them out. She finds various MRAs, some popular, some not, and evaluates their experiences and why they turned to the MRM to begin with. And let me tell you, these interviews so to say are just the biggest indicator that Cassie cherrypicked as much as she possibly could to make this documentary. It's at a point where I'm starting to think she paid these people to say what they did. 

She interviews several MRAs based on MRA talking points. And by some random surge of magic she was able to find men who've been screwed in divorces, male DV victims who had no access to shelters, and men who've attempted suicide. Now you're probably asking "but these are genuine concerns aren't they?" and you'd be right. The problem is, this is simple appeal to emotion. You know, that thing that feminists are constantly accused of doing? If feminists were to go around grabbing random female rape/abuse victims, women who became pariahs for having abortions or suffered permanent genital damage from reckless abortionists, or women who've faced street harassment and had shell shock because of it, everyone would be like "THAT'S NOT OPPRESSIVE CUZ IN DA MIDDLE EAST THEY'D HAVE BATTERY ACID THROWN ON THEM" as if the Middle East is just the yardstick of how bad you have it, even though there are higher levels of female oppression in non-Arab majority nations. Hell, Africa's violent misogyny could make King Salman shudder. Another example is the decriminalisation of DV in Russia signed by Putin not too long ago. Oh and Australia. Just Australia. 

To better explain why these instances Cassie selected were cherrypicked, I'm gonna pick them apart one by one. Let's talk about divorce courts since MRAs seem to bring that up the most. They like to think that men are always and forever treated like subspecies garbage in divorce court. This is not true, like, at all. Sure, there are fathers who are cheated due to vindictive parents, but those cases are in the minority, and there are studies that show that fathers who fight for custody (and I mean actually try to win it) are more likely to get it 70% of the time. Most custody cases are usually mutual, and both parents decide that the mother is more suited to raise the kids. There are other factors like mothers taking care of the kids and that pesky gender norm that resigns women to be child bearers for all their lives. If child custody is such an issue, maybe it's time to reconsider what the real culprit is. That's the problem with this documentary, all it did was highlight why men need feminism more than MRAism. That'll become more apparent as this review continues. 

Next I wanna discuss male domestic violence. According to the MRM, 40% of domestic violence victims are male, and there are no shelters for men only, and the only ones that do exist hold both genders. This is utter horseshit if you couldn't tell already. The real statistics are 15% of men being victims of spousal abuse. That doesn't mean it ought not to be taken seriously, but men aren't actually at much of a risk as MRAs would try to tell you. Now regarding the amount of shelters, yes it's true that some unisex shelters exist, but they're actually in very small numbers. This is because victims of either gender aren't very comfortable being with one another (though it's mostly women being afraid of being around men). Fear not, despite what you might hear, Arkansas's all-male shelter is not the only all-male shelter in the whole country, just the first one in the state. Here are some numbers: There are currently 1,500 shelters for female victims and 500 for male victims. Those are some equally vapid numbers judging how there's 300 million people in America. Sure these shelters can house hundreds of people, but that's still not enough. What's even worse is that there are 3,800 animal abuse shelters. The country literally has more protection of animals than human beings getting the shit kicked out of them by their partners, and I think that's something everyone can come together on and say that's pretty damn bad. As for why there are less men's shelters than women's shelters? Well that's not really sexism and more so pragmatic thinking. Since women are victims of DV more than men, it'd only make sense that they'd have more resources open to them (and even then they still can't get a hold of them, so there goes that argument). But yes, there needs to be more shelters in the country for each gender. 

Lastly, the suicide argument. Now I've already made a blog post about suicide and its relation to gender, but for a quick refutation, men are often told to repress their emotions as a construct of the patriarchy, not other women. Plus, men use more brutal methods like guns and jumping from high ground. The problem is men being shamed for showing emotion which is apparently a bad thing and an extension of misogyny since crying and weakness is considered feminine. Not getting pussy is not a reason to drink a whole bottle of rubbing alcohol. Stop trying to say it is. 

Now here's where things get REALLY bad, as if the misinformation wasn't bad enough on its own. Cassie invites some of the most reprehensible MRAs onto the documentary and through some bullshit editing tricks, she paints them as the heroes. She gets Paul Elam, a guy who thinks that women who get drunk are begging to be raped, Warren Farrell, who thinks that women shouldn't have the right to vote (or any right for that matter), and Honey Badger Radio, a group of female MRAs who just act like the way MRAs portray women in general. They all say their usual debunked bollocks and Cassie just eats it all up like a schoolgirl on her first day at a new school. She also invites feminists onto her documentary. So who does she get? Fucking Big Red. You know, that one feminist with the pixie cut who's been used as a strawman of feminism since like 2010? Yeah, her. For fuck's sake, you couldn't have displayed your bias any more than if you chose Anita Sarkeesian. Oh wait you wouldn't do that because she's actually been harassed by MRAs and her experiences would shatter your documentary in 3 seconds flat. I understand now.

So this next thing I'm about to bring up isn't necessarily about the movie itself, but it does kinda put things into a much bigger perspective and it really makes the whole thing make sense. Not the actual bullshit in the documentary, I mean why she made it. You see, when Cassie flew back to Australia, she was interviewed and the story of a boy being killed by his father in a domestic abuse situation came up. Her response? Applying gender to where she could push an agenda. She highlights the fact that the victim was male and not the fact that the perpetrator was male. Judging how the overwhelming majority of homicides, rapes, muggings, assaults, and spousal violence instances are caused by men, that not only is a flagrant display of ignorance but it really shows that she really doesn't care about the greater good and would rather shower men with a victim complex. 
AGAIN, SOMETHING THAT FEMINISM HAS BEEN CRITICISED FOR TIME AFTER TIME. 

To conclude the review, this documentary is not to just be chuckled at and assumed to die in the recesses of a Best Buy. This is a danger to anyone. It willfully spreads lies and makes you sympathise with a group that condones violence against women and only pretends to care for men. Do not watch this. At all. Don't even try to see what it's like. You have nothing to gain from it. There are SO many better things you could be watching. If you want a better documentary that evaluates the idea of masculinity and its negative repercussions on males in modern times, check out The Mask You Live In. It's a well directed and better paced film that actually recognises the root cause of men's issues without trying to make it look like feminists are Galactus in a bad mood. Better still, just watch something of actual substance, because The Red Pill isn't gonna give you that.