A Open Letter to Feminists
As I read Spinks post, I also watched the videos from that youtube channel, and make no mistake about it gentlemen to these feminists you are the enemy. I was watching a video about saving women from the clutches of evil is wrong. I’m tired of these women telling me I can’t be a man. I drink, I cuss, I fight, I protect those who can’t defend themselves, I belch, I fart, I scratch my nuts.
My comment to that post was this….
“I think when you claim yourself with any “ism” you set yourself apart, and undermine your idea of equality. You close yourself off, and become trapped within the doctrines and you start to think only your way is the right way. I think Feminism’s rhetoric is one of superiority, and not one of equality, also I think it has a little bit of envy, and hate mixed into it to. I think the modern male is lost in these day and ages because he doesn’t know where he fits into society anymore. He is filled with images of what the media says he is, a crazed rapist spewing forth obscenities. With the breakdown of the traditional family, and no classic male role models, we as males are adrift. This feeling of not being anchored to ideals of what a man should be, and Feminist rhetoric of what males are. How can I not blame them to turn into that which the feminist themselves hate. Hate begets hate, and In essence we are creating our own monsters.”
Next reply Liore says this….
“How can you blame men for hating women? They’re just so darn uppity.”
PS: I don’t think all men are anything, much less crazed rapitsts, just like all women aren’t all anything. I just think you in particular sound like someone who has put no critical thought into this subject at all.
First of all she quoted me, I never said that…second of all if you are going to insult my intelligence….spell rapist correctly.
Like some of my brethren, I will not bow to them, or ride the fence and him haw around the subject. The gloves are off. I’ll have more on this later after I do some thinking and research. I just want everyone to know. I don’t like Feminism, I don’t like ANY ism. You are not better then me, we all have our faults everyone of us. Yes there are many stereotypes, and injustices in the world, and we will work on them as much as we can, but there is no reason to see monsters, or conspiracies behind every plumber who tries to rescue a princess. Wait the plumber is a stereotypical looking Italian, should I be pissed because I’m Italian American. If you’re offended by a song don’t listen to it, if you’re offended by a movie, don’t watch it, and if you have a problem with a guy rescuing a girl from some evil monster than don’t play the game.
My opinion is feminism is doing more harm then good, and it’s spreading hate. If they comment like Liore they will get personal, they will use insults like insulting my intelligence, and they will not come at me with intelligence, but with hate. Hate begets hate. There is no one who can hate better than I can.
A High Latency Life 
May 31, 2013 at 12:04 am
So, I kinda get where you’re coming from (found this via the comments section in Spinks’ post, btw). I wasn’t exactly impressed by Sarkeesian’s video either. I don’t like liberal social arguments that don’t offer a specific call to action because the audience is forced to answer the question “what now?” And often, as is the case with Sarkeesian’s series (so far), the “what now?” sounds a lot like “men are monsters & don’t ever play video games again.” Which sucks balls as a takeaway.
But then again, I’m a feminist.
I want to caution you about the hate rhetoric and the middle fingers and the absolutes like “to these feminists, [we gentlemen] are the enemy.” Because, like you say, Isms do a lot of unnecessary grouping, and not all people who believe in feminism also believe random generally-decent male gamers are savage beasts.
Instead, I like to phrase things reflecting my personal beliefs and reactions, and not try to involve others. “Sarkeesian’s video, despite made me feel like the bad guy, and I wish she had done more to create space for good guys to identify with her cause and feel like an ally.”
I wonder if some of the negative commentary directed at Sarkeesian and her supporters comes more from this angle than because of Spinks’ hypothesis about hidden/repressed sexism. I don’t think that I’m going to go home tonight and beat up my wife “because she was asking for it,” and my decision to play God of War tonight instead of Mass Effect III isn’t going to factor into the rate of domestic violence in my household (my decision to play either game instead of doing the laundry, on the other hand…). But now I’ve watched “Tropes v. Women,” and I can’t help but feeling like the villain, when in fact I want very much to be part of the solution. So… World of Tanks instead? Donate to Refuge? Throw myself at my wife’s feet and beg for forgiveness? Live my life normally, but keep this idea in the back of my mind?
The answer is probably a little bit of all of that, and also different for everyone. But I wish Sarkeesian did a better job of addressing that, because until I figure out which one is best and do it, I’m still feeling like the villain.
Anyway, thanks for keeping the discussion going. It’s all worthwhile in the end if we can learn from it, amirite?
May 31, 2013 at 12:08 am
Well I mixed to much emotion into this post. I’m just tired of feminisms portrayal of the evil male empire. I’m just a dude trying to play some video games
Then again someone must say enough is enough
May 31, 2013 at 1:09 am
Like every stance ever on something, there are extremes. Not everyone who supports one sports team wants to beat the shit out of those who support a different team, not every Horde player wants to smush Alliance, not everyone who follows Islam wants to blow up things. It’s the same with Feminism. I am proof that you can agree with *some* (and I really need to stress that) stances without thinking that men are the enemy and all of them are rapists and wife bashers or whatever.
That’s the reason why I personally haven’t bothered with these tropes vs women videos. I’m sure both sides have really good, valid points, but meh. It causes so much blind hate that it doesn’t achieve anything. Yep, sometimes it really blows when someome rips into me for being a woman when they don’t know anything about me at all rather than I have boobs. But I’ve also heard people rip into my husband for other completely random reasons. My verdict is that being an arsehole is not exclusive to one gender 😉