"MA'AM" - MEN ALIGNED AGAINST MISOGYNY

MA'AM: Men Against Assholes & Misogyny.

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 20:53:01 -0400

It’s difficult to think of a place to start with something like this. Simple is good, my brain reasons, so let’s start simple.

I’m a dude.

Just a random dude living somewhere in the Midwest with three cats, a totally rad girlfriend, a significant amount of fabric for quilting, somewhere in the neighborhood of half a ton of comic books, a lot of video games, and even more old records and CDs.

No, you probably don’t know me and it’s unlikely you’d know or be even vaguely familiar with anything I’ve done. If you paid really close attention to punk rock for something like the last 25 years, you might have seen my name pop up in a zine or being thanked for something in the liner notes of a record, but really, at the end of the day, I’m just a dude, getting through the hours as best as I know how.

Along the way, I stumbled into the life of a child who was just a baby when I met her. Her mom and I split up years ago, but I’m fortunate that I’ve been able to remain in the kid’s life.

She’s 11 now. And I worry.

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THANK YOU!!!

Thank you so much for this blog. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate you. It really helps me stay hopeful to see a feminist blog run by men who aren't afraid to stand with us. That just means so much. I've been struggling a lot recently with dealing with a lot of internalized misogyny from my close male friends, and I've been trying to do my best to educate them, but it is really hard sometimes, and I get a lot of the whole "you're too sensitive" thing and it can be really discouraging.

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 20:52:05 -0400

You are not too sensitive. - MA’AM

Egyptian Men Fighting Misogeny

Sat, 11 May 2013 19:30:14 -0400

I just believe this is an impressive story. Men standing up to other men and allowing women to safely protest in Egypt at risk of physical harm.

http://womensenews.org/story/sexual-harassment/130124/egyptians-patrol-tahrir-square-mob-sex-assaults?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email

I Am an Oversensitive Feminist Too

Sat, 11 May 2013 19:28:56 -0400

Just last weekend, Meagan Marie was called an “oversensitive feminist” for defending a group of women at a video game conference from the harassing and patently stupid questions of a male “reporter.” Ms. Marie and the women she was with are into cosplay, which - and my understanding is admittedly limited - is where you dress up like your favorite video game and/or comic characters. This happens a lot at video game and comic conventions and I can tell you that, when done well, cosplay is pretty awesome. A good friend of mine dressed up like a vault dweller from Fallout 3 at a convention a few years back and the people from Bethesda were so impressed by his work that they let him have an exclusive peak at the game and even gave him some free promotional goodies.

The women Ms. Marie mentions in her blog post happened to be dressed like Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider games. According to the dipshit (we can swear on here, right?) reporter guy, the fact that some women dressed up like Lara Croft meant that they were “asking” to be dogged by overtly sexual questions that made them visibly uncomfortable.

Which is bullshit.

There is no such thing as “asking for it” in any terms other than when someone explicitly asks you to have sex with them. A woman wearing clothes you think are sexy has the right to wear those clothes without you commenting on them. I can’t fucking believe we still have to talk about this. It’s 2013 and we still have far too many guys who don’t get it.

A lot of dudes dismiss complaints of misogyny by accusing women (or feminist men) of being “too serious” or “oversensitive” which is a nifty way of protecting male dominance because it says that the problem isn’t my sexism, it’s your sensitivity. The fact is, if you say something -yes, even jokingly - and a woman (or any person, really) experiences that as humiliating, demeaning, dehumanizing, or sexual threatening, you have committed an act of violence against that person. Yes, you technically have the 1st Amendment right to say awful shit, but I also have the 1st Amendment right to call you out for it and suggest that maybe you need to write better jokes.

Furthermore, as an oversensitive feminist, I have a duty - as do other men who share the unbelievably radical idea that women are human beings deserving of the same rights we have - to call other men out on their misogyny. Meagan Marie has challenged herself to be braver in standing up for herself against sexism and that’s a challenge that feminist men need to accept as well.

Josh Martin is a MA'AM

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 20:21:00 -0400

I have never been remotely interested in proving my masculinity to anyone, in part because, even as a child, I was filled with contempt with the idea that I

a) wasn’t allowed to wear dresses

b) wasn’t allowed to play with dolls

c) wasn’t allowed to wear tights on my head whilst indicating to all how lush and flowing my hair was.

Luckily, my parents were happy to let me do my own thing, but it didn’t stop other parents and kids expressing their feelings on the subject - even total strangers.

In my later teens, I became aware that embracing ‘feminine’ things was pretty much synonymous in everyone’s book with homosexuality, and though I doubted I’d ever be freaked out if indeed I did feeling attraction to another man, why was I not allowed to love women and the things typically associated with them? I smelled bullshit.

It came as no shock to anyone that I identified as a feminist the second I really understood the idea at university. Feminism, I quickly realised, was my way of looking at the world. If more men and women were feminists, the world would be an infinitely better place.

Frankly, if we stopped seeing every single miniscule aspect of our society as being gendered, the world would be blooming with smiley, helpful people who would no more bat an eyelid at a woman running a country than a man who always dreamed of six kid’s, his own brand of nail polish and a wife who works as a military general.

As far as I’m concerned, feminism isn’t an option, it’s something that desperately needs to happen.

Josh Martin

http://whatjoshwrote.tumblr.com/

http://tea-cigarette-go.tumblr.com/

Kit Lovelace is a MA'AM

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 13:30:43 -0500

I recently met up with a friend of mine who is an actor. We live in different cities, she and I, and sometimes we go years without speaking. This time round it had been two years since we’d last talked, so we had some significant catching up to do.

She had been doing well, generally speaking. She was writing and directing theatre under her own steam successfully and consistently, getting grants and good recognition for her stuff, but she had been struggling for acting work outside of that. Not because she wasn’t being put up for auditions, but because - almost exclusively - the parts she found herself up for involved nudity.

“I don’t know,” she said, “I know I seem ungrateful whinging about it, because there are offers of work there. I should probably just make my peace with it and do it.”

It made my heart wheeze to hear her talk that way.

I am doubly blessed not to be in her position. First of all, I have no impulse whatsoever to be an actor (something for which I give daily thanks to whichever universal force blessed me with the desire to channel my vanity into writing). But, more importantly, I will never be put in the position where I am asked to make a professional decision that hinges entirely on preparedness to strip off.

“Well,” a mocking cry rises up, “who would pay to see you take your clothes off?” Who, indeed. If there is a market for pasty, 6’3” boys who look skinny, yet somehow still wobble unattractively whenever they jog or jump up and down, I have yet to be made aware of it. But they get acting work.

I am not a prude when it comes to nudity. I’ve played countless practical jokes which have involved the use of my cock and balls. An entire calendar year went by in my late teens where there wasn’t a single photo taken of me in which I wasn’t mooning. These days I have better sense than to go about subjecting the greater public to the sight of my unclothed form, but I remain relatively comfortable with my body.

Would I go naked for a role though? I have no idea. None at all. I struggle to even imagine what that dilemma must feel like. To know that a wage was mine, that rent would get paid, if I would only agree to get my bits out. The concept is just completely alien to me.

This is not an occasional consideration for my friend. This happens constantly. So constantly that this is the sort of thing that springs to mind when she is asked the question “So what the hell’s been happening these last two years?” So much of her life is filled with this, that it comes to her lips as a topic of conversation the same way that the transport system here in London comes to me. This is what she has to deal with.

It’s one thing to have an industry which places such importance on a woman’s willingness to strip, but it’s quite another to get a woman who is a fiercely intelligent, political and strong to start questioning her correctly-held convictions just because some grubby director, or screenwriter, or playwright can’t let 90 minutes go by without a bra coming off.

I’m conscious not to be one of those “Hey ladies, I understand” sort of feminists. I don’t want to be the patronising, lap-patting sort of guy who pulls sympathetic faces whenever he hears stories of sexual injustice. I probably am though, and maybe I’m doomed to always be, but hearing my friend say the words “I know I seem ungrateful” made me so immeasurably sad I didn’t know what else to do.

Kit Lovelace @mylifeyourhands

James Walker is a MA'AM!

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 14:22:56 -0500

Daughters Who Will Change The World

I have been taking with my daughter, who is 12, recently about evolution. She already knows more than any creationist or IDer out there, which is a good thing.

Today I was reading Richard Dawkins’ The Greatest Show on Earth, which is a completely engaging and wonder evoking book about evolution. It brings the incredibly beauty of evolution to life in a way no other book I’ve read about evolution has.

I showed my daughter some pictures of the skeletons of different animals like a bat, a pterodactyl, a human, and a couple of other animals and which illustrate the wonderful similarity of all of these skeletons have to one another. Yes, some specific bones have changed, some growing, some shrinking, but it is obvious that the wing bone in a bat corresponds to little finger in a human, or the middle finger of a human corresponds to the hoof of a horse. You can see that the skull, the spine, the ribs and pelvis in all of these vertebrates all correspond to each other. It it thrilling and amazing to see.

I showed some of these to my daughter and she got visibly excited, “Oh! Are there more pictures of animals in there?!” So I showed her some more and we talked about how these different animals had changes to suit their environments, but are still very much the same from a skeletal point of view.

Later, as I was reading about Darwin’s discoveries in the Galapagos, she asked what I was reading about now. I told her about Galapagos turtles and finches. She became excited again, “Oh yeah! You mean that guy Darwin’s finches! That’s so cool!”. So we talked about how on islands only a few miles apart, different species of turtles and finches had evolved to take advantage of their environments.

It really excited me to see her so interested in evolution. She’s a smart girl and I’m doing everything I can to encourage her to study and learn about everything that interests here. I try to teach her how to think critically and how to avoid the pitfalls of logical fallacies. She still just 12 so not everything I say automatically clicks, but a lot of it does.

She’s already thinking about what she’d like to do when she grows up, with zoology being one of those things. I try to share my wonder and excitement with the beauty and breadth of life here on earth with her, hoping to encourage her to continue learning.

I have also taught her to believe in herself and it shows. She doesn’t let herself be put down or put upon. She calls out anyone who would try to treat her as anything other than an equal. I wish every father (and mother, for that matter) would do the same with their daughters.

We have come a long way since I was 12, when it was openly taught that a woman’s place was at home in the kitchen. I was just reading in The Atlantic that women now make up 60% of the workforce in the U.S. It postulated that in 10 to 20 years, woman may dominate most sectors of society and the economy as they become better educated and more literate than men.

I want my daughter to know that she can be and do anything at all, with nothing to hold her back. These trends make me hopeful that she, and other girls the world over, will be able to be all that they can be.

I privately hope she will stick with zoology or some other science. Having women in science, I think, just might lead to the break throughs that we need if we are to survive as a species. I think this because I believe that women bring perspectives and ways of thinking that just don’t exist in most men and it is these novel (to us men, anyway) ways of seeing the world that will allow insights into the deepest questions of science, and subsequently to break throughs that will dwarf almost any that have come before.

And who knows, maybe my daughter will be one of those women who will change the world. After all, a father can hope, can’t he?

James Walker http://freethinkingfordummies.com @jpwalker1960

Real men love and respect strong independent women

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 14:04:29 -0500

My mom, now 83 and going strong, was raised by a single mom in NYC at a time when this was not done. She graduated from Hollins College in Roanoke VA with a BS in Chemistry and went to work for Sperry-Rand on LI working on inertial guidance systems for USAF bombers. She, and to a lesser degree my dad, raised my sisters and me to see and treat everyone equally - to see beyond apparent differences in skin tone, who one loves, abilities and of course XX/XY chromosomal differences. This was not easy in LI in the 60’s and 70’s - Archie Bunker was alive and well in West Babylon. My kids have been raised by their mom and me with the same outlook and have grown into loving, tolerant champions for the underdog. Thanks for this awesome site!

Faruk Ateş is a MA’AM “Dame Faruk Ateş” is what someone...

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 14:03:50 -0500

Faruk Ateş is a MA’AM

“Dame Faruk Ateş” is what someone once thought would be an insult to call me, attempting to mock me for being an outspoken voice against the ongoing sexism, misogyny and abuse that women face on a daily basis, especially online. “It’s irony! Satire!” was the proclaimed excuse for their rampant bigotry.

Such people deserve nothing more than an eye roll before blanket dismissal. Unfortunately, they are a very vocal minority who get far more attention than they deserve, and that’s why I continue to speak out, loudly and publicly and in as many places as I can, against the sexism, against the misogyny, against the harassment and vitriol and mistreatment of women (and other underrepresented demographics in our society). And I am proud to use the privileges of my life in service and dedication for good.

THANK YOU! I hate (straight white cis) men a little less now. After many a horrible experience as a queer femme with these types of men, it's reassuring to know that they actually don't all suck and some of you even get it and care! Feminism helps you too, and I'm so grateful Jen cared enough to create this space.

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 14:03:21 -0500

Wonderful news!!

You run an awesome blog, sir, and I really wanted to stop by and let you know.

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 14:03:05 -0500

Thank you! It’s actually run by a woman but thank you!

Michael Brumfield is a "MA'AM"

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 15:53:00 -0500

One of the most disturbing recent trends in gender relations, to my mind, is the effect that pornography, in its current ubiquity,is having on younger people. This is not to say I am against porn. Like almost any straight male, for me to make that statement would be the height of hypocrisy. What I am against is the accessibility and lack of context that teens, pre-teens, and even younger children have to kinds of footage that would make the pornographers of yesteryear blush.

My level of early exposure to pornography was on par with most men my age. The odd videotape that someone’s father had hidden poorly, the occasional magazine stolen from the convenience store while working in a group of like-minded pre-pubescent children of the 80’s. It seems pretty innocent in retrospect, and the material was awfully tame by today’s standards. All the same, I feel that that exposure, and the fire it stoked to see more of the same, stunted me in certain respects.

There were a lot of reasons behind my awkwardness with girls, but it can at least be partly blamed on the skewed way porn made me look at women. They were portrayed as lusty, wanton sexual vessels that were always turned on and ready, so when they didn’t act that way towards me, I was confused. I blamed them for not being into me when they were supposed to be, and blamed myself for not being the oily alpha-male that I saw in these films. Since I was a silly, awkward teenager, it never occurred to me that it was all only because I was a silly, awkward teenager.

If that limited exposure did that to me, I can only imagine what the current state of availability is doing to boys and girls growing up now. I don’t really have to imagine, though. It’s been well documented that teenage boys are looking at a disturbing amount of porn online, on their phones, and on TV. They look to it as instructional material for sexual relations, which leads them to pressure teenage girls to do things that retired porn actors will tell you have destructive physical consequences. Since context, or even the basic idea of sexuality being a means of expressing affection, has been removed from these acts, all these kids have to go off of is the mistaken notion that everyone else is doing it.

It may seem like I am just clutching my pearls, but what all of this portends is pretty disturbing: a generation of young men, from all backgrounds, drastically desensitized to violent, abusive sex. A generation of young women that are increasingly pressured to meet the depraved demands of their male peers. A colder world where young people are more interested in emulating what they see in blue movies than in falling in love.

Maybe that all seems melodramatic, but ask yourself this, if hardcore pornography permeated our collective consciousness this much in the twenty years since I was a pre-teen, how will our kids look and behave twenty years hence? There is no way to put the brakes on any of these degenerative attitudes with the tools available to us. It would be wrong and quite impossible to censor this material. Parental controls are joke. Parents themselves are only too willing to let the internet and popular entertainment fill in the blanks for kids about sexuality and gender roles. Where does that leave the next generation?

Michael Brumfield
@mikeybaltimore

I recently worked with a group to produce a song/video called...

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 13:30:00 -0500

I recently worked with a group to produce a song/video called “SMD,” which we hope becomes a new feminist anthem (or at least helps get our funny message out)

Ryan Krebs @Hoigaard2

Caitlin Kunkel @CK_characters

J.F. Michael is a "MA'AM"

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 13:31:00 -0500

In college I wrote a paper that equated the death of chivalry to the rise of feminism. I was 19 and my views of the world were naive to say the least. My Professor, a feminist, was so amused at the ridiculousness of my essay she passed it around to her colleagues and student TA’s.

A friend who happened to be a TA in the department informed me of my new found “fame”. I was very confused at the humiliating response. I was raised to open doors, pull out chairs, offer your coat, pick up the check, and to stand when a lady enters the room. I believed I was being polite. I thought that was what women wanted.

But my beliefs about chivalry didn’t stop at being polite. In my mind yard work was for men, taking out the trash for men, even filling a car with gas for men. In my fantasy woman were better at cleaning house, cooking dinner, and minding children. I believed that if a man was not the main source of income for his family he is not much of a man.

I asked my friend why women would not like being placed on a pedestal. She replied with an answer I have never forgotten. When you place a woman on a pedestal the only thing she can do is fall. I took me a while to understand what that truly means. And some days I still forget as old habits die hard.

It is degrading to treat a human like an object. Women are capable of doing anything I can do. I am not obligated to lift them along in the world and it is crazy to even believe I can. By placing women on that pedestal I no longer viewed them as a person but as an ideal that that is not real or even possible. To believe someone could or should live up to that is ingenuous and setting yourself up for a life of disappointment.

J.F. Michael @jfmichaels

Jacob Waller is a "MA'AM"

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 13:30:41 -0500

When I was in high school, I had a job with a guy who complained to me that he had asked another coworker out and she had refused him, even though she had previously been nice to him. I told him that I couldn’t really criticize someone from being nice to people they weren’t attracted to; that seemed like a positive thing to me.

I forget how that conversation ended exactly, but I think he decided that maybe I wasn’t a good person to talk to about that kind of thing.

He was not the last person I’ve known who took it as a personal insult when some nice person wasn’t interested in them. But if you’ve ever found that point of view tempting, then I would encourage you to turn it around and look at it from another angle — surely there are people who are perfectly nice people, and attractive in a way that you don’t appreciate but other people do, who you wouldn’t be interested in romantically or sexually. If you turned them down, you wouldn’t (I hope) mean it as an insult, and it wouldn’t say anything bad about either of you; so when you’re turned down, why take it as an insult, or a commentary on yourself? I mean, it’s a disappointment and everything, but would you really want to date someone who didn’t actually want to date you too?

Going down the other path leads to dark places — look at any dating sites and you’ll see tons of guys who think that it’s a woman’s job to be attractive to them, and that there are situations where women are obligated to have sex with men, and so on, and yet describe themselves as ‘nice guys’. These are not the views of a nice person, and, anyway, it’s not like being ‘nice’ is some great achievement; it’s the bare minimum most people expect from anyone they meet. Stop spending so much time thinking about how nice you are; it’s just a distraction from the larger goal of being a good person instead.

Jacob Haller @jwghaller

http://jwgh.tumblr.com/

http://music.jwgh.org/

Raphael Bob-Waksberg is a "MA'AM"

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 13:30:00 -0500

43 Ways To Say, “That’s Sexist.”

Sometimes it can be awkward to call your friends out if they say something that makes you uncomfortable. Often they’re not being malicious, just thoughtless. But remember, your friends will only change their behavior if you speak up! Here are 43 ways of letting someone know he’s being sexist. Only you can know what’s right for your specific relationship and circumstance. Feel free to mix and match, or add your own!

I don’t like those kinds of jokes.
Dude, that’s pretty sexist.
That actually makes me really uncomfortable.
(later, in private:) Hey, I just wanted to let you know that what you said earlier really upset me.
(later, in an email:) Hey, I didn’t want to get into a whole thing in front of everybody, but I was actually really upset by what you said, and here’s why: [YOUR REASONS HERE]
Come on, you’re better than that.
Wait, hold up, is it the 1950s? It isn’t, right? Seriously though, is it? No but seriously, is it? Is it actually the 1950s right now? I’m like 90 percent sure that it isn’t. It isn’t, right? It isn’t?
Psh! Sexist!
Don’t say that. That’s not funny.
Hey, remember that time just now when you said something really sexist?
You don’t really believe that, do you?
What?! I can’t believe you just said that!!! That is SOOOO SEXIST!!!
Seriously though, don’t say stuff like that around me.
Just so you know, if you keep saying things like that, people are going to think you’re a sexist.
(Frown and shake head disapprovingly.)
That’s really weird that you think that’s an okay thing to say.
Hey, are you LMFAO? Because THAT’S SEXIST AND YOU KNOW IT. (Then, do a little dance.)
Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait. WHAT did you just say?
Oh, I get it, you’re doing the whole “politically incorrect” thing. Cute.
This is not your best look.
Just FYI, your jokey “pretend sexism” sounds a lot like real sexism.
Um, sexist much?
Hey, knock knock. [Who’s there?] Ida. [Ida who?] Ida know why you think it’s okay to make sexist jokes in front of me.
Wow, that’s awkward.
I’m seriously going to stop being your friend if you keep saying things like that.
You know what you just said objectifies women, right?
I don’t get it. Can you explain what you meant by that? No, I don’t understand. Talk me through it step by step. How did you reach those conclusions?
Sharp social satire, friend! Not tired and offensive at all!
Gross.
Wow, that is some OLD SCHOOL sexism!
I’m just kind of over that whole ironic post-sexism sexism thing, you know?
Uh oh, you might be sexist! Quick, say something progressive! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Oh no, too late, you’re a sexist!
That’s a great impression of something a misogynist would say!
I’m sorry, but I can’t pretend that’s not sexist.
Whoa, weird. A sexist thing just happened.
Boo! Boooooo! Booooooooooo!
Do you hear yourself?
Could you just try to not say stuff like that when I’m around? It really bothers me.
Hey, I just met you. And this is crazy. But you’re a horribly misogynist. So call me never.
I was totally with you until that last part when you got kind of sexist all of a sudden.
Why would you say something like that?
Stop. I can’t even deal with your sexism right now.
Ugh, enough.

By Raphael Bob-Waksberg

Ten Ways Feminism Benefits Men!

Sun, 13 Jan 2013 19:45:17 -0500

Editor’s Note: This is reprinted from something Gloria Steinem wrote. Men who declare themselves “feminist” (which only means that they believe in the social, political and economical equality of women) actually can benefit from the inclusion as well. It’s win-win!

Thanks to all who have contributed to Men Against Assholes and Misogyny MA’AM

and please encourage yourself and your male friends to submit essays and videos to the website. You can be of any race, creed, sexual identity or orientation, career, etc. We just want to read essays or watch videos where men announce their support for women in what still continues to be a fight for equality in ways insidious and seemingly small to big ways - like not accepting so cynically that our country allies itself with nations who enslave women.

ANYWAY - think of it as a “It Gets Better” movement - don’t feel that you can’t say anything new. It’s okay if you can’t. This movement is about QUANTITY and VOLUME. So many women write me that they love the site because they just love the sheer AMOUNT of men who make them feel less insane by reading. Be part of the movement - you don’t have to define it or change it. Just join hands.

Here’s how to submit to MA’AM:

Ten Ways Feminism Benefits Men by Gloria Steinem

10. Through feminism, men are liberated from stereotypes, too.

9. Women’s skills are required to raise children. But, men have them too.

8. Men have been shortchanged by being told to marry someone who can cook rather than someone who can be a companion. “I’m sure that men who have been trained essentially to marry their housekeepers were lonely,” Steinem said.

7. The women’s movement can increase a man’s life by an average of four years. Steinem said that if men were to eliminate causes of death typically attributed to masculine roles, including deaths from violence, speeding and tension-related disease, their life expectancy would almost equal women’s.

6. Boys can remain close to their mothers.

5. If men aren’t hooked on dominance and hierarchy with other men, they are saved from the self-loathing that comes from the need for control.

4. Laughter can once again become commonplace, even in serious rituals. “In ancient cultures like Wilma’s, seriousness and laughter are not separate,” said Steinem.

3. Men can continue discovering talents, without being divorced from them.

2. Sex and race are intertwined. You can’t uproot one without the other. “There’s really no such thing as being a feminist without being an antiracist,” she said.

1. Eliminating the sexual caste system – the cult of femininity and masculinity – eliminates the root cause of almost all violence.

Michael J. Dolan is a "MA'AM"

Sat, 12 Jan 2013 13:31:04 -0500

Originally published on The Skinny.co.uk

Opinion: I Was A Misogynist Comedian

Comedian Michael J Dolan takes himself to task for allowing himself to write misognystic jokes.

In June this year I put out my first stand-up record. Self-released, I tried to rattle up some press but mostly I was told to shove it. In the end I managed to get two reviews on indie comedy blogs and I was grateful for those. One was lovely. Enthusiastic, positive, the kind of thing I was hoping for. The other called me a misogynist and compared me to Bernard Manning. I was a little bit fucking shocked………..

To continue to the article click HERE

Michael J. Dolan @michaeljdolan

Phil Plait is a "MA'AM"

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 14:24:55 -0500

The Silencing of Hate

Originally published on blogs.discoverymagazine.com

[I wrote this article for my friend Amy Roth, aka SurlyAmy, who has asked leaders in the field of skepticism to write about the recent surge of anti-women rhetoric. She posted my article on the Skepchicks site, and you can find links to the whole series of articles at the bottom of that post. I’m posting my piece here on my blog as well because this is a very important topic, and I want as many people to see it as possible.]

What the hell is going on in the online community?

If you’ve been reading or paying attention at all to any of the online cultures like skepticism or general geekery (scifi, gaming, convention-going, and so on), you’ll have seen astonishing and depressing displays of sexism. That’s been true for a long time. But recently some sort of sea change has occurred, and what we’re seeing now is a marked increase in outright misogyny and thuggery…..

Continue to rest of article HERE

Phil Plait @badastronomer

You don't even have to answer this, but I am so happy this exists. :') Have a Happy Holiday season!!

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 14:05:53 -0500

“MA’AM” is happy that you are happy! Keep spreading the word and ask the men in your life to submit!