A Few Things To Stop Doing When You Find a Feminist Blog, by Harriet Jacobs
This post on the Fugitivus blog gives a very funny rundown of the man-commenting-on-feminist-thread-with-point-which-has-been-debunked-a-million-times problem. (Quoting at length here. All the following words are hers, not mine.)
(BEGIN QUOTE)
Well, That’s Really Interesting, But Have You Perhaps Considered The Status Quo? Just My Two Cents
"This takes way too many forms. Some examples:
1. Have you perhaps considered that women sometimes act like bitches?
2. Have you perhaps considered that men are ignorant of their own acts of cruelty and oppression (and thus blameless)?
3. Have you perhaps considered that others may be made uncomfortable when you discuss oppression?
4. Have you perhaps considered that stereotypes are there for a reason?
5. Have you perhaps considered that sometimes men get treated really shitty and unfairly because of their gender?
6. Have you perhaps considered taking the oppressor’s face in your hands, gently smoothing back hir hair, softly and sweetly whispering your message in hir ears with lots of words like “maybe” “sort of” and “I’m not blaming you”? I think the people who treat you horribly would be very receptive to that. Just my two cents."
...{snip}...
"Imagine you work very hard at your job, and yet you have a boss who is a fucking moron. Your boss knows nothing about the work the company does. Your boss doesn’t even know the names of the products. All your boss knows how to do, apparently, is walk around with a very smug look on their face, occasionally saying something like, “Have we considered… advertising our product?” and waiting for the advertising department to praise such a profound and remarkable idea. And if you do not praise your boss, your boss gets angry. Your boss tells you that you are not a team player. Your boss tells you that they got where they are by hard work and ingenuity and hustle, and you could show a little bit more of that, don’t you think? Also, have you considered using this new internet thing he’s hearing so much about? That’s why he gets paid the big bucks, you know, ideas like that.
This is what you do when you walk into a feminist conversation and ask whether or not we have considered that sometimes men get turned down by girls they like and that hurts their feelings."
(END QUOTE, WITH APPLAUSE)
(BEGIN QUOTE)
Well, That’s Really Interesting, But Have You Perhaps Considered The Status Quo? Just My Two Cents
"This takes way too many forms. Some examples:
1. Have you perhaps considered that women sometimes act like bitches?
2. Have you perhaps considered that men are ignorant of their own acts of cruelty and oppression (and thus blameless)?
3. Have you perhaps considered that others may be made uncomfortable when you discuss oppression?
4. Have you perhaps considered that stereotypes are there for a reason?
5. Have you perhaps considered that sometimes men get treated really shitty and unfairly because of their gender?
6. Have you perhaps considered taking the oppressor’s face in your hands, gently smoothing back hir hair, softly and sweetly whispering your message in hir ears with lots of words like “maybe” “sort of” and “I’m not blaming you”? I think the people who treat you horribly would be very receptive to that. Just my two cents."
...{snip}...
"Imagine you work very hard at your job, and yet you have a boss who is a fucking moron. Your boss knows nothing about the work the company does. Your boss doesn’t even know the names of the products. All your boss knows how to do, apparently, is walk around with a very smug look on their face, occasionally saying something like, “Have we considered… advertising our product?” and waiting for the advertising department to praise such a profound and remarkable idea. And if you do not praise your boss, your boss gets angry. Your boss tells you that you are not a team player. Your boss tells you that they got where they are by hard work and ingenuity and hustle, and you could show a little bit more of that, don’t you think? Also, have you considered using this new internet thing he’s hearing so much about? That’s why he gets paid the big bucks, you know, ideas like that.
This is what you do when you walk into a feminist conversation and ask whether or not we have considered that sometimes men get turned down by girls they like and that hurts their feelings."
(END QUOTE, WITH APPLAUSE)