Do you personally believe there is a war on women?

[XXHelenaXX]

I've seen the expression "war on women" twice on the net today, and I don't recall ever seeing it before. The reason it caught my eye and intrigued me is, I have been telling my close friends for a few years now that if you "join the dots" * of what men are doing to women, worldwide, non-stop, it amounts to just that: a war on women.

The few people I have told think I am either imagining it, exaggerating, paranoid or a conspiracy theorist.

I'm wondering how many Mnetters would now agree with the statement that the present state of affairs amounts to "a war on women"?
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(*e.g. the violence depicted in porn, sexual harassment and assault everywhere from Hollywood to primary school, trafficking for prostitution, FGM, domestic abuse and murder, and now the angry trans agenda).

Do I interpret larry's posts correctly? Uppity women have been trying to steal power off men recently. They've only themselves to blame when men start to slap them back down again.

What's that quote about if you've traditionally been in charge, equality feels like oppression.

Violent porn is what men do when they are treated the way girls have been treated for generations? That's an interesting take on masculinity.

Men are not taking anything from the Radical Feminist playbook; they are acting out a vile parody of how they interpret feminism.
Thats not the same thing.

Given how vastly larger the numbers of men who assault/kill one another are relative to the comparitively smaller numbers of women (worldwide 78.7% homicide victims are male for example). I'm tempted to say the war being fought is a civil war amongst men themselves.

You are either paranoid or just need to buy yourself a dictionary. War is really not at all the right word.

"Do I interpret larry's posts correctly? Uppity women have been trying to steal power off men recently. They've only themselves to blame when men start to slap them back down again."

That's how I understood it.

It is this kind of sarcastic belittling that demonstrates why we are where we are.

But if this isolated echo chamber makes you feel good, go for it.

Far better to revel in ‘victimhood’ than to really try to effect change.

So Larry if men are acting as they do because they are being told they are rubbish etc. what was the explanation for how they acted in 1AD, 5AD, 1000Ad, 1500AD etc. etc. ?

If men as a class have been in perpetual violent conflict with one another for the entirety of human history, what is the roadmap for correcting this?

Yes, I believe there is a war on women. It has been going on at least since the ancient Assyrians introduced anti-female laws, thousands of years ago.

One of the books that alerted me to the extent of misogyny in the modern world is "The War Against Women" by Marilyn French, published in 1992, so phrases like "war on women" or "war against women" are not new.

OutyMcOutface wrote - "You are either paranoid or just need to buy yourself a dictionary. War is really not at all the right word."

I suppose H. G. Wells should not have called his book "War of the Worlds" because Mars is not a country and, according to most dictionaries, wars are fought between countries.

I am still shocked at how I didn’t really ‘see’ it or understand at what scale, right under my nose, for decades.

I know. Up until just over a year ago, I thought everything was fine. Despite being sexually assaulted numerous times and having a LOT of sexist shit happening to me, I didn't actually think sexism existed anymore. I was one of those who would say feminism is no longer needed, feminists were just man haters and they did not actually want equality at all they wanted better treatment for women, they ignored the woes of men (I thought men were harder done by than women ffs) and such.

It was the trans issue that woke me up to it all. And it hit me like a brick. It actually fucked me up for a few days as I could not stop thinking about how much so many men seem to despise women.

Yes, men attack each other more often. But they attack women a lot, and near all sexual attacks are by men. I don't know what the answer is. And it scares me so much. This post may come off as OTT, but I swear I am not exaggerating.

Yet..we are not allowed to discuss how the problem is men. People always pop along to tell us NAMALT and that women do it too. That its not male violence its 'people violence' and such. if we cannot name the problem, then we cannot even attempt to sort it, surely this is obvious.

If you want to read some truly hateful anti feminist bile then go and read the DM comments under any article that even vaguely touches on female rights. It’s sickening.

I have to say (as someone who is fairly left-wing) that exactly the same could be said about the Guardian. There was a story yesterday about women-only clubs, and the vitriol in the comments really shocked me. There were a couple more stories in the last week where the same thing happened. And then I got deleted for pointing out how misogynistic many of the comments were.

In the last months, I’ve realised how entrenched misogyny is in so many left-wing men. It’s really shaken me, because I now realise that we are completely on our own in this, and can’t rely on so-called “progressive” men to have our backs. Many of them hate us. And they are now increasingly happy to do so openly.

I do now.
The real eye-opener for me was the Oxfam chief minimising the systemic rape, assault and abuse of women and girls.
Add in the trans agenda, brocialists, etc and I feel there is definitely a war starting.

Calling it a war makes it sound like an organised attack. It's more of a mindset. It's been around for millennia and won't vanish fast.

I have to say (as someone who is fairly left-wing) that exactly the same could be said about the Guardian.

I’m also fairly left wing, and I can no longer read the guardian. It’s the left wing daily mail imo. There’s been a steady decline for a few years - too many lifestyle columnists for a start, but what really started to turn me off was the apologism for the terrorist attacks at Charlie hebdo. Because we mustn’t offend religious men. Then the cognitive dissonance over the Rotherham grooming scandal (tying themselves in knots to avoid talking about Male aggression) and finally, their rabid support of TRAs.

It’s become clear to me that for the guardian, women are at the bottom of the pile. Under religious men, under men who want to think they’re women, basically everyone else mustn’t be offended but women can be thrown under the bus. Everyone else’s feels over women’s rights. So no more guardian which is a shame because when they get it right, their investigative journalism is top notch (snowdon etc.)

I’ve just got a subscription to private eye - pretty much the last bastion of realism and decent journalism.

“Power is being able to say complete and utter nonsense and have it be believed; powerlessness is where no matter how much cogent evidence and proof one has, to not be believed.”
– Catherine Mackinnon

It is this kind of sarcastic belittling that demonstrates why we are where we are.
1st rule of misogyny: Women are responsible for what men do.

"They are told st schools that they are rubbish and that they should be ‘more like the girls...
This is a misstatement of fact. Boys see the obvious fact that they do not do as well at school as girls do and they resent it because everything they see and read tells them they should be superior to girls.
The sense of failure is the result of society's glorifying the "naturally superior male", all evidence to the contrary.
Pretense is a shabby thing that requires constant maintenance or it melts away like papier mache houses in the rain.
It didn't just happen that girls were denied education. It didn't just happen that women were denied the vote. Men did it to maintain their power and authority.

I don't "believe" there is one.

I know there is one.

So Larry if men are acting as they do because they are being told they are rubbish etc. what was the explanation for how they acted in 1AD, 5AD, 1000Ad, 1500AD etc. etc. ?

Oh, I suspect that will all be down to women as well.

thebewilderness wrote - "Boys see the obvious fact that they do not do as well at school as girls do and they resent it because everything they see and read tells them they should be superior to girls."

I think this concept of unfulfilled expectation of entitlement may also be a factor in high male suicide rates. In the United States, the suicide rate for white American males is more than double the rate for African American males, but the latter group is exposed to more hardship.

@larrygrylls my friend has a teenager and pre teenager both male. What shall I ask them? They are normally happy fairly balanced lads. What insight will they provide into why 90-98% of violent and sexual crime is committed by males. I forget the exact figure but you get my drift.

Yes @CritEqual there is also a civil war.

@larrygrylls

"It is this kind of sarcastic belittling that demonstrates why we are where we are."

Please do give over! Do not lay at the door of women and girls millennium of violent oppresiom by males and try and make it ourt fault. It is crap, it will not wash.

Over the last decade scandel after scandel -or rather revelation of violent sexual assault after violent sexual assault - has been revealed.

Priests in the church, and people from other religious backgrounds sometimes in positions of religious power, people working in children's homes, people grooming young women to make money through their rape, people in the media, TV and radio, DJs, football coaches, Hollywood elite, and now charity aid workers. What groups have I missed, oh yes MPs!

What do the vast majority of these people have in common? Were they all troubled teens? I doubt it.

Many have risen to elite positions in society.

I think you will find the majority are male. The vast majority.

Men need to face this. NAMALT indeed but quite a lot are. This needs to be faced. Pretending women are somehow responsible is an embarrassment.

"Far better to revel in ‘victimhood’ than to really try to effect change." But is that not exactly what you are attempting to do by appropriating 'victimhood' for these poor teenage boys who will grow up rape women and throw acid at them, and traffic women and children, and sleep with trafficed women and children because..... What on this earth makes this women's fault?

Plus despite often doing worse (presumably this is correct?) at school boys still come to get the top jobs! I did badly at school. Guess what I've managed to avoid engaging in sexual violence my whole life! Go figure!

Thank you for all the replies. It is so interesting reading other women's perspectives on this.

Helen what was the conclusion of the thread, is there a war on women?

www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/25/over-100-schoolgirls-missing-after-boko-haram-attack-in-nigeria