There is a lot of excellent discussion on the internet about gender today.

[digitaldiscipline]

That headline is used without the faintest whiff of sarcasm and irony. It is, if anything, understating the case because I can't keep looking back to see all the comments.

First, there's yuki_onna saying things about the disparity in reception and reaction to online expression of opinions women are subjected to, and as a corollary to that, [Unknown site tag]'s blog hosting a bit of extra discussion spurred by his sharing of her link.

Then there's nihilistic_kid taking on and laying waste to a couple of broadsides about spurious claims of misogyny. Bad writing is bad writing, and we're allowed to not like it for being bad.

And, lastly, there's a reaction piece that takes down a well-meaning Cracked article, which includes a passage, which I'll quote in a moment, that's applicable not only to gender discussion, but is more broadly the case when it comes to the state of play in the American political theater.

They believe in their hearts that women are inferior, and fear that if they're disproved in this contention, their entire sense of self will crumble, because that sense of self is all built on being a "man". They get angry and mock other men they believe are trying to hard to be pleasing to women---genuinely pleasing, not faux "build skyscrapers" pleasing---but men who take care of their looks to be sexually attractive (they get dismissed as "metrosexual") or men who treat women with respect. Those men are seen as undermining the united front to artificially lower women's standards. It's not an accident that the biggest misogynists are the first to flip their shit at the idea of swapping out big greasy burgers for some broccoli on occasion.

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More personally, I want you all to think about how society right now is actively hostile to women, and even non-heterosexual males, and do something to make it better. Sure, my girlfriend makes happy noises when I espouse arguably feminist opinions, but that's not why I do it. I have a mother. I have sisters. I have a niece. I have female friends. None of them are second-class, second-rate, or second tier human beings, and anyone... ANYONE... who treats them that way through their attitudes, politics, or otherwise makes themselves a second-rate being in my estimation.

Comments

[etcet.livejournal.com]

While those two things are primarily aimed at and marketed to a young female audience (or, in the case of Twilight, what's generally an older female audience with a craving for whatever it is they offer), I don't think it's necessarily a misogynist stance to say "Holy crap, that's fucking horrible shite."