Regender Challenge!

At man boobz, David issued a challenge using the Regender website. It allows one to enter a URL and change everything male to female and vice versa. I have a lot of MRA and other misogynist quotes I'd like to play with, so instead of cluttering up the thread, I've decided to post them here. For whatever reason, the deviantART URLs don't work, so I've edited the quotes myself. I've also reversed rape and false accusations of rape because I think it's funny.

Holding the Door

Cross-posted on my deviantART account.

Often, in arguments of feminism, you come across the subject of chivalry. These days, it seems that anti-feminists are offended at feminism's rejection of chivalry (holding the door, taking her coat, pulling out a chair, etc.), but let's take a closer examination, shall we?
      
      In many arguments I've had in the past, I've had men declare that if women wanted equality, then they shouldn't expect chivalry. Well, I personally have never expected chivalry. I was taught that it's polite to hold a door, not that it's polite for specifically men to hold the door for specifically women. If I reach the door first, I hold it for the person who comes after me, regardless of gender. If someone is ahead of me but is elderly, has too much to carry, is physically-handicapped, or has small children with hir, then I will speed ahead to hold the door. If, however, a perfectly capable person is ahead of me, then I expect that person, again regardless of gender, to hold the door for me. Or if I am carrying many things, I would be grateful if someone sped ahead of me to hold the door. It's just simple politeness between human beings.
      

Why do they always get it wrong?

A relative of mine linked to this article on Facebook. Now, while I'm always glad when people are as upset with the sexual objectification of other people as I am, there are several problems with the views expressed in this article.

First off, I really, really dislike putting it in terms of "send[ing] out really bad signals to adult men about young girls being appropriate sexual objects, objects of sexual desire for young men". It nurses the myth that men can't control themselves and sexual assault happens because women dress like sluts*. The truth, of course, is that men know full fucking well that they should stay away from children (and women who haven't consented) regardless of "signals".

Reverse Sexism

...doesn't exist but what if it did? Inspired by an essay where a woman described how, hey, she wouldn't mind a wife of her own! Men don't seem to get sexism, but I'm sure they might if the roles were reversed. A lot of people seemed to like this on deviantart (with the exception of that MRA I mentioned in my first post), so I'm posting it here.

*Trigger warning for simulated sexual assault apologia

       I am a modern woman. What do I want? First, let’s start with language. When using a singular pronoun of unknown gender, I want it to be written in the feminine (for example, she, her, hers). When referring to the human race, I want it called womankind, women, and woman because words like humanity, people, humankind, and humans are unnecessary after all. However, I want certain objects to have male pronouns such as ships and cars, and we shall call our home countries the “fatherland”, unless that country wants the world to know how powerful it is, in which case it will be appropriately termed "motherland".
       If we must be gender inclusive, we will always put the feminine before the masculine, such as “her or him,” “she or he,” “her or his.” Animal names shall also be in the feminine and we will only use the male version when referring to the gender (example; a lion is a male lioness).

Case in Point: the Everyday Misogynist

My boyfriend told me about this conversation that occurred on facebook. In the interest of protecting people, even people who disgust me, I will use initials rather than people's names here and only the first letter of any city described. I will not include parts of the conversation that are irrelevant to what I want I want to discuss here, nor comments that reveal too much personal information. This is a prime example of the closet misogynist. Notice how he begins, and what is actually revealed. Notice that the comments reveal that he, in fact, is a straight conservative white middle class male who believes that if we are equal under the law, we must be in society. He believes that he is no more privileged than anyone else and that no one is less privileged than he is. He uses words like "scream" to describe the rightful protests demanding equality. People were being polite to him, I think. I don't intend to be. Once again, my commentary will be in magenta.

AE: is brainstorming for a speech for international women's day at the beginning of March.

PH: When is international men's day?

He couldn't just, you know, not comment?

AE: Every day... P
 

PH: No, really? Why is there a day for women and not men? Are we not all equal? I personally don't think there should be a day for either.

Because women are oppressed for being women, and men are not oppressed for being men. No, we are not all equal, yet. Ah, of course you don't think there should be a day for either, and that would have absolutely nothing to do with the fact that you're a privileged male, now would it?

How Privileged We Women Are!

I, from time to time, find myself at an MRA ("men's rights activists" or "morally ridiculous assholes", take your pick) website, and most of what I find is either loltastic and useless or frightening. However, I did come across a little tidbit. In response to the ALAS! male privilege checklist, Masculist Advice posted another list (among others) to counter it, found on some MRA forum or other. I haven't looked at the other so-called female privilege checklists, but this one defines ridiculous. I'm posting it below, along with my commentary, which is in magenta. My boyfriend made a suggestion to aid in my commentary for 11).

1) Career wise, I can complain about harassment and not be laughed at or have my gender called into question by both genders.
Having the harassment minimized by the harasser and other co-workers alike, regardless of gender, and being accused of ulterior motives is so much better.

2) I can skip a few years of employment and then return, demanding the same raises that others have had who remained employed. If my demand is not met, I can accuse the company of discrimination.
I can totally decide to do this even when I don’t have children, and I will never be fired or conveniently laid off for it.

The Real Reasons Men Should Speak Up For Choice

My boyfriend recently directed me to a Salon article entitled Why men need to speak up about abortion. He felt it was lacking and that I could do a better job. I don't know if that's true, but I can certainly say what I think is lacking in the article.

The title itself is rather ambiguous; is the author calling for men to speak against abortion, in favour of choice, or simply to talk about it either way? The content of the article, however, is indeed pro-choice with the author claiming to owe his life to his mother's previous abortion, without which she would never have become pregnant with him. The author also acknowledges that his immature response to his girlfriend's abortion proved that he wasn't at all ready to raise a child. Not bad content. Here's what's lacking: the author seems to feel that abortion shouldn't "just" be a "female issue" since men are affected by it as well, as though if men were somehow not affected by it, it would be a perfectly justifiable reason for them not to give a shit. The fact that young men have to pay higher insurance for vehicles sure as hell doesn't affect me for the worse, yet I'm still in favour of abolishing that rule. Why? Well it might just have to do with that little thing called equality. But Goddess forbid a man should have the ability to keep his privilege in check enough to care about an issue that affects men less than women, let alone one that affects only women. But hey, at least he's trying right? And that's why I won't go too hard on him.