Have a question about something you’ve seen, read or heard that you would like me to talk about? Do you want to know the history behind the Illuminati conspiracy theory or the origins of the Ogopogo legend? Drop me a line and let me know!
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Regarding the “Mermaids” sites that have supposedly been shut down by Homeland security. Just hover your mouse over the badge and insignia on the page and what comes up is a bunch of search words related to the site. Not only does the gov’t not post things like this if and when they shut down websites, but a quick look will show you that the page was entirely made up by the owner of the domain name.
) If you copy the URL of one of the photos (the special agent badge, for instance) and paste it into your browser’s navigation bar you can see that they are .jpg files posted by the domain owner. Not the gov’t. Completely fake.
Thanks for the heads up! You learn something new everyday!
Hi. I’m a fan of your site. I’m also aware that you study Masculinities, so I’d prefer your expertise on men’s issues over, say, the shock jocks over at AVfM, the Spearhead, etc.
My egalitarian friend suggested GirlWritesWhat as a more rational voice in the MRA, and showed me two of her favorite articles from her:
http://owningyourshit.blogspot.com/2012/03/transcript-of-i-am-sexy-woman-so-stop.html?m=1
http://owningyourshit.blogspot.com/2011/10/can-we-redefine-terms-please.html?m=1
Personally, I can understand what she’s saying, but I can’t tell if her use of evo-psychology in the objectification article is valid. If you don’t mind the extra work, would you care to weigh in on the articles?
This is a good suggestion, and I’ll definitely take a look into it. Generally I try to avoid picking fights with or singling out individual bloggers, and so I’ll try to come up with a way that addresses the posts you’ve linked to, but nests them in a broader discussion. Keep your eyes peeled for it!
Edit: Just to start you off however, Here are a couple of links for you to check out; consider them to be a sort of introduction to criticisms of evolutionary psychology. GWW makes some pretty bold claims in her posts and videos, and many of those claims rest upon what appear to be rather shakey evo-psych foundations. I know that I certainly wouldn’t make claims of similar reach and scope if the evidence I had to rely on was as weak as hers.
Thanks for honoring my request. It’s easy to be dubious of evo-psych, as I’ve seen some MRA bloggers use it to embellish their thinly veiled sexism. Her “redefining patriarchy” article left a bad taste in my mouth, though. It’s one thing to say that men in general were also pressured, and I don’t want to be insensitive to other perspectives. But to say women never really faced oppression just because they weren’t all forced to shovel shit 24/7 is pretty disingenuous. Oppression isn’t always loud, violent, and bloodthirsty, though it could be. It can also be quiet, unassuming, but just as condescending and insidious.
There I go blathering again. Should just leave the analyzing to the experts.
No way. As Paulo Freire often remarked, the idea that ‘experts’ ought to be the sole source of wisdom almost by definition ignores the wisdom and education present in those who the expert is seeking to teach. If you’re like me and include ‘reading’ on your resume under the ‘hobbies’ section, then I encourage you to read Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
Anyways, I will definitely try to address your suggestion in greater detail in the near future! Take care!
~ Edwin ~
I feel like some kindergartener running up to the teacher for everything, but is this use of evo-psych justifiable?
http://rationalmale.wordpress.com/2011/10/03/war-brides/
Was female solipsism ever a thing?
That blog was painful. Let me try to sum it up in as succinct a manner as I can…
Ahem…
“Women, because they are more emotional than men and more riddled with anxiety and even guilt due to the harshness of life, have evolved – over the past 60,000 years or so – a hardwired capacity to be duplicitous, lying, manipulative people. Men, on the other hand, in spite of their innate ability to rationally divorce themselves from emotion in order to solve problems logically (and therefore correctly), nevertheless suffer higher rates of emotional trauma than women do. Don’t bother looking for any sources on this, because I’m not going to supply any and you can just take my word for it.
Now, since women are hardwired to be duplicitous, we should never underestimate the propensity of a female to emotionally manipulate their more vulnerable male counterparts. It is therefore completely true that women have the upper hand in almost any negotiations with men, because of spurious, pop-evopsych arguments that I’ve just made up.”
Urgh. Also, I have never, ever heard the term ‘female solipsism’ used anywhere outside of the ‘manosphere’. Pick up Artists (also known as professional date-rapists), MGTOW (Men Going Their Own Way), and MRAs like to use it all the time, it seems, because it appears to satisfy their desire to ‘prove’ that women’s mental states are chaotic, emotive, and somehow wrong.
Hi, I’m seconding the pop evo-psych suggestion as it seems to be getting really friggin’ ubiquitous in discussions of racism/sexism.
What I find strange here is that the armchair variety of evo-psych is the one that’s everywhere. It’s the public face of the field; it’s how most people become aware of it.
And yet the ‘serious’ evolutionary psychologists get more annoyed with the women and people of colour who have been genuinely discriminated against for not understanding ‘proper’ evo-psych than they do with the idiots pulling ‘evolutionary’ self-justifications for their bad behaviour out of their backsides.
If I worked in a genuine yet misunderstood field (as these people claim they do), I think I’d be very concerned about it being abused and brought into disrepute in this way. And yet they focus on the targets of this abuse of their alleged science, rather than the abuse itself.
I know it’s not your field, but I’d be interested in reading your thoughts.
I too would love to hear your thoughts on evolutionary psychology. I think that’s a great topic.
In relation to your article on new reports on prison rape in America, has prison rape ever been officially documented in, say, the CDC or the FBI’s stats on rape in the nation? Would this also mean that occurences of male and female rape are 50/50?
I’d like to see a discussion of shows like “Ghost Hunters” and “Haunted Collector”.