On misandry and male tears

Post Reply New Topic

There's a girl in my course who drinks out of a mug that says "MALE TEARS" and I'm kind of embarrassed for her. She's a lovely girl, but when I see that mug, it drives me nuts because I don't know why an intelligent person would buy into this crap. I mean, besides the fact that these people spent £20 or more ordering something they could easily sharpie in a regular ceramic mug for a fraction of the price. Don't even get me started on the frivolity of this.

Ironic misandry, as it is known, is supposed to be a joke on the stereotype that feminists are man haters. Okay, fair enough, but its actually really bad PR for feminism. It is probably the biggest obstacle for getting women to identify as feminists as the "joke" is often lost on people. I mean, who'd have thought that perpetuating the manhating feminist stereotype...would help to perpetuate the manhating feminist stereotype?

I just don't get he blatant hostility and shamelessness. Outright joking that you hate men and you want to emasculate them for your own enjoyment? That's not empowering, it just shows how weak and insecure you really are.

Y'know what real empowerment is? Rising above that sort of petty behaviour. Actual confidence and empowerment comes from realizing your own strength and being assertive against the challenges women face. I don't respect people that have to be as*holes to feel good about themselves. It's an embarrassment to any legitimate feminist activist.

I mean, really - 'male tears'? Um, isn't feminism about DEFYING gender roles? How is mocking 'male tears' helping that cause? We shouldn't be mocking men's emotions, we should be be encouraging them to embrace their emotions. Considering the male suicide rate, it actually makes me physically sick when girls joke about being misandrists and that they like to drink "male tears". I mean, sheesh - surely you can't be so f*****g sheltered and dumb as to not realize that guys do have legitimate issues that are directly related to their gender? I'm preeeeeetty sure that most people don't like being alienated from a movement that purports to help them as well? I mean, this is about being a decent human being and its looking pretty bad right now that this is acceptable behaviour in the feminist community. Why are we not calling this s**t out?

Is this really what feminism is about? Really? Because if this is what feminism has come to, there is no f*****g wonder there are women who refuse to call themselves feminists.

If you do this, you are actually killing any credibility left in this movement. Well f*****g done.

Apologies in advance in case this dude being here starts another flame war;

As a guy, despite abrasive nonsense like this I still consider feminism to be in pretty much everyone's interests. I know lots of girls who can take care of themselves against tremendous odds and while I get worried sick about them, it's good to be reminded by the public at large that I needn't internalize their whole theory of mind. I just need to show appreciation & hope for the best. Basically, it's enough to realize that everyone else has eyes & ears too. As for embracing my emotions? That would just get me fired.

TBH I think that mug is kind of funny. There are lots of other ways it could be construed.

I'm an earthican. Nationalism is a delusion, humanism is a necessity, we need more love around here and everything else I know is trivia.

_________________
"Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the fading of the suns, and try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds."
-Georges Lemaitre
"I fly through hyperspace, in my green computer interface"
-Gem Tos

Interesting interpretation. When I saw "Male Tears" I automatically thought it was a joke that the woman was so gorgeous that she broke men's hearts.

male tears (urban dictionary)
Slang for semen. Sometimes sold as merchandise (mugs, t-shirts, etc) and purchased by women to low key indicate they perform oral sex.

Yeah, mine is by nature very much an outside perspective, you might just be a humanist who happens to be female in that case; case in point I'm an (ethical) hacker and the only people who really drag our image down are faceless & nameless whereas you're criticizing a highly vocal public movement...

_________________
"Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the fading of the suns, and try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds."
-Georges Lemaitre
"I fly through hyperspace, in my green computer interface"
-Gem Tos

i've heard my sister use the term more then once before. although i don't remember what i said to "provoke it". i'm just going to assume that she was joking and trying to get a ride out of me, and not being at all serious. she was 14 when that happened, btw. i'm sure she can't be that insecure and "victimized" to use it seriously.

i don't know how else the "male tears" phrase could be interpreted. i like MollyTroubletail's view of it.

to me it's another woman-bashing tread, but crawling into the woman's discussion
beat's me why this is allowed

To be honest I find it rather disturbing,how would women find it if I had a mug labeled women's tears? I would be ousted as a mysogynist and such this is just as wrong sorry! If you dont agree then that means its only ok to take joy in the grief of men!

Funny that you should mention that mug. I read an article in the guardian about ironic misandry this week. Here it is if you're interested.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/13/feminists-do-not-hate-men

Althought I do think that Jessica Valenti is a either a bit nuts or has simply mastered the art of writing click bait articles for money.

I think the point she is trying to make is that no one cares what feminists do because they all have assumptions about what feminists are all about, so lets be ironic about it and have an openly misandrist mug. I sort of get it, but then someone like me who cares about people's rights would really be ironic if they had a mug like that, but it disgusts me so much that I wouldn't use that mug, so I can't help wondering if you have to be at least a little misandrist to proudly cluth that mug, so rather than being ironic it's actually true.

Am I the only one whose first thought is that drinking tears—especially someone else’s—doesn’t seem very healthy?

^dunno, they're rather salty m8. many body fluids are. either way you'd have go go through many many men, to get tears enough for a good refreshment.

Wouldn't you die from dehydration if you only drank tears? Sort of like sea water.