The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Attention @MGTOW: Survey Question

Posted on | August 13, 2016 | 2 Comments

“Men Going Their Own Way” (MGTOW) is a segment of the so-called “manosphere,” the loose coalition of online resistance to feminism that includes also men’s rights activists (MRAs) and pickup artists (PUAs) and various advocates of what is known as “Red Pill” philosophy. There is a website (MGTOW.com) with a Twitter account (@MGTOW) specifically aimed at this niche of bachelors who, according to Wikipedia “believe that legal and romantic entanglements with women fail a cost–benefit analysis and risk–benefit analysis,” or who are “frustrated with the lack of incentives to date . . . and focus on taking care of themselves.”

In a cogent analysis of the MGTOW phenomenon, author Kay Hymowitz writes that such young men “find the young women they might have hoped to hang out with entitled, dishonest, self-involved, slutty, manipulative, shallow, controlling — and did I mention gold-digging?”

This is highly relevant to my two-year investigation of radical feminism, and I noticed the other day that someone on the MGTOW.com forum linked to my article about the Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF) threatened lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education over “gender identity.” So this leads me to ask, “Who are MGTOW?”

Taking this as a matter of sociology, therefore, I hope that someone at MGTOW.com will post this to their forum and add comments providing their basic biographical information: Age, race/ethnicity, location, height/weight, occupation, level of education, family/household background, etc. For example: “24, white, Michigan, 5-10, 160 pounds, retail clerk, two years college, apartment with two roommates.” Respondents might then describe their previous romantic relationships, how long they have been following the MGTOW path, and their basic impression of the problems affecting themselves and men in general.

My hunch here is that the negative stereotype of who MGTOW is rooted in a combination of political prejudice and lack of empathy. Critics of the “manosphere” have spent the past several years depicting the whole phenomenon as a monolith of dangerous right-wing misogyny.

According to this stereotype, every guy who complains about women on the Internet is a would-be Elliot Rodger, a potentially violent loner who might at any moment commit some kind of horrible atrocity. This reflects a political prejudice, as I say, because the journalists and bloggers who promote this stereotype are clearly associated with the political Left (Democrats in the U.S., Labour in the U.K., etc.) and so their ad hominem mockery of MRA/PUA/MGTOW discourse (looking at you, David Futrelle) is intended to create a mental association of the “manosphere” with the Right. This stereotype is about battlespace preparation, setting up a narrative, so that the next time some moody loner type goes off the rails, all the Amanda Marcotte types can say, “A-ha! We told you those MRA weirdos are dangerous! Blame Donald Trump!”

Having dehumanized their chosen Enemies, therefore, progressive critics of the “manosphere” have no empathy toward these targets. No effort is made to try to understand the real problems affecting the real human beings behind the handles on MGTOW forums, Return of Kings, etc. This is how it always is for those identified as targeted Enemies of the Left. Whatever real-life problems might lead men to become MGTOWs, or however much “Red Pill” philosophy may constitute a rational analysis of the actual facts and experiences of men’s lives, are dismissed by the invocation of feminist jargon (“misogyny,” “objectification,” “male privilege,” etc.) or by the use of ad hominem slurs — “neckbeard,” “geek,” “needledick,” “living in Mom’s basement,” etc. So, in order to clear away the misconceptions fostered by these prejudicial stereotypes, I am soliciting MGTOWs to comment here (or on whatever forums like Reddit you inhabit, linking back to this post) describing yourself, your situation, and your reasons for embracing MGTOW.

Thanks in advance,
— RSM




 

Category: Sex Trouble

Comments

2 Responses to “Attention @MGTOW: Survey Question”

  1. News of the Week (August 14th, 2016) | The Political Hat
    August 14th, 2016 @ 3:07 pm

    […] Attention @MGTOW: Survey Question “Men Going Their Own Way” (MGTOW) is a segment of the so-called “manosphere,” the loose coalition of online resistance to feminism that includes also men’s rights activists (MRAs) and pickup artists (PUAs) and various advocates of what is known as “Red Pill” philosophy. […]

  2. More @MGTOW Issues : The Other McCain
    August 15th, 2016 @ 7:34 pm

    […] My survey question aimed at “Men Going Their Own Way” (MGTOW) has produced more than 150 comments so far, and I thank everyone who has contributed to the discussion. What inspires my curiosity about this, beyond my research interest in radical feminism, is trying to understand what the dating scene looks like from the perspective of young single guys. Being 56 and married for 27 years, it is difficult for me to know what it’s like out there among singles except that I gather — based on reading what young feminists say — it is generally quite bad. Obviously, if men and women were pairing off and finding happiness together, there would be no feminist movement. Feminism is the organized politics of unhappy women and, no matter how much of their misery is self-inflicted, young women wouldn’t be filling the Internet with angry anti-male rants if the romantic scene had not become completely toxic. […]