A blog post on ched Evans and the forgettable men

Christ I know loads of men who sell things for a living, have a season ticket for the football and shock horror, go to the pub with their mates.

My DH and my DS for a start.

Amazingly they also happen to think Ched Evans is a total wanker. What a lazy, lazy stereotyping piece. Misogynists are all around us, they are everywhere. They are not just a "type".

The fund is not just about raising money but showing solidarity to woman x

I totally agree with u there is no one type of man that can be a rapist if there was they would have a government health warning on them. The go fund me fund isn't growing as fast now probably because publicity of case has died down. It would be nice if everyone kept help spread the word via word of mouth and social media

^ abhorrent, not adherent!

It's an 'Essex boy' stereotype that's being described. I'm not saying all wc men are like that (they're definitely not!) but it's a stereotype nonetheless. One thing is for sure, it isn't describing all the naice middle class men who also think CE did nothing wrong, is it?

I don't think it's helpful to suggest that misogynists fit a type. They're not all beer swilling 'lads', leerily chatting up women in clubs. Some of them are bordeaux sipping lawyers at posh parties. And plenty of beer swilling lads would view what CE did as adherent.

It's like when people assume that rapists fit a type (monsters), so when their nice mate gets arrested they assume he can't possibly have done it. Because everyone knows rapists aren't like him.

I don't think it came across as being about working class men/ chavs at all.

Indeed, as a working class lass with a husband that lives in Adidas trackies and works in a factory I don't recognise that description at all.

Alison Pearson truly can fuck right off.

"the mob believes that women are, by definition, victims"

Alison seems to believe men are little better than animals who can't possibly understand something as simple as sexual consent.

So only women without brains end up with men like this? Because they are so obvious that they are easy to avoid?

That's tripe. You only need to look at a recent MN thread ('DH glad of verdict') to see that.

I don't think so WWA. Certainly these types of men were about when I was on the clubbing scene but no woman with a brain would take them seriously. I was chatted up by a few footballers over the time but they were so evidently not interested in anything but themselves and sex and the fact I was supposed to be lucky that they were singling me out, or something. It was the same thing as the dangling car keys as though women would all run. Ugh

The fact is, and it is an uncomfortable fact, we all know and socialise with men who don't think CE did anything wrong. They're not all boorish lads out on the piss. They're at dinner parties and in restaurants with their wives. They're degree educated and they're school leavers, manual workers and bankers. They're not even all football supporters. They're the men we are surrounded with, and the only thing they all have in common is misogyny.

I thought it was horrendously snobby and lathered in lazy unthinking stereotypes.

Same here. The writer is describing a very working class stereotype, but there are just as many posh misogynist as working class ones. My experience is that scummy men don't fit a template. How great would it be if they did? We could spot them a mile off.

I don't think it came across as being about working class men/ chavs at all.

Most people selling ad space are middle class graduates.

I also don't think he was saying that these are the sum of Ched Evans' supporters. He was defining a specific type of man who goes out on the lash on Saturday night and indulges in bants and sexism and in spite of existing in our "we're all equal now" culture, are deeply misogynist because er, so is our culture. My reading of this was that it was about this type of man, not CE supporters in general.

Just another quick plug for the gofundme here

Hi all u people there is a go fund me page for the woman in this case. It's less about money and more about supporting her when she has had such an awful time with our so called justice system. Help spread the word so more can donate. When you go to site just type ched in search button

Lass - totally agree. Allison Pearson has previous for writing horrible victim-blaming pieces. Funnily enough, I don't fear for my son at all - because I'm bringing him up to respect women. And if he ever behaved as CE has done, I wouldn't feel fearful as to the consequences he might face, I'd feel furiously angry with him for being a little shit who didn't care about consent, and massively ashamed of myself for failing to instill basic moral values into him.

(Taken as a collective set of pieces, AP's writing makes for an interesting if depressing opus - she allegedly cares about women's rights and rape cases, but only when the perpetrators are not white, and her lengthy series of articles attacking the hijab and burkinis simply establish her as a frothing Islamophobe. BTW I don't use the word "Islamophobe" lightly - I think Islam, along with Christianity etc. and along with secular belief systems such as Marxism, Libertarianism, should be open to critique and scrutiny - but AP doesn't offer critique and scrutiny, she offers knee-jerk prejudice).

I know word rabbit and snobby isn't something you could ever call him. Kind, helpful and thoughtful, but not snobby. Interesting thought that that's what some people took away from the piece.

I rarely swear on MN but Allison Pearson can fuck off too.

Why the fallout from the Ched Evans verdict puts all of our sons at risk
www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/why-the-fallout-from-the-ched-evans-verdict-puts-all-of-our-sons/

It's not a question of being snobby about Evans' supporters; it's the lazy stereotyping of what other characteristics the writer thinks they all share which is objectionable.

There has been some excellent writing on this subject; this blog is not one of them.

The one below is The Telegraph's chief sports writer.

'Team Ched' show just how sick football culture in Britain is
www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/10/14/team-ched-show-just-how-sick-football-culture-in-britain-is/

and yes, the "voice" sounds male

good on him

I like that article. It isn't remotely "snobby". The kind of man it is talking about may have money but they have fuck-all class.

Sums it up, really

I thought it was a bit snobby, actually - the author may as well have called them chavs and said what they were really thinking...

I thought it was horrendously snobby and lathered in lazy unthinking stereotypes.

I think it is completely unhelpful and fail to see what the writer hopes to achieve beyond trumpeting her own superiority.

They are the forgettable men. They move among us, in their pointy leather shoes and shirts from TM Lewin, selling advertising space, or selling properties, but generally selling something, living wholly generic lives.

My response to that opening paragraph is odfod.

I thought it was a bit snobby, actually - the author may as well have called them chavs and said what they were really thinking...

I think it's a good post!