“Misandry, n. hatred of men.”
—World Book Dictionary
“[A] satirical imaginary concept.”
—Taryn de Vere
This post is inspired by mockery of a group called Men’s Voices Ireland, which in November held a conference titled, “Challenging Misandry.”
Feminist Taryn de Vere, whom we might call “Miss Andry” for fun, felt compelled to remark beforehand, “In what could possibly be a first for Ireland, a conference has been arranged on the theme of a satirical imaginary concept.”
I don’t know for Men’s Voices Ireland or Irish feminists, but I do know something about semantics.
First, all concepts are imaginary. “Women,” for example, is a concept. It represents nothing that is real. It’s an idea. Real are this person and that person and that other one over there. We form the concept “women” by observing that this person and that person have common contours. That’s it.
If that’s difficult for feminists to hear, so much the better.
Second, “satirical” means sarcastic. Ms. de Vere may use “misandry” sarcastically; Men’s Voices Ireland plainly wasn’t.
So there’s her acid characterization neutralized. While I don’t have the resources of the late Bill Safire to trace the provenances of words, I’m assured by consultation with Webster’s New International Dictionary (second edition, which is the only edition I own) that the word misandry was around before Ms. de Vere was born and was not coined by the men’s rights activists she ridicules.
Ms. de Vere endeavors to support her dismissal of any societal manifestation of misandry today by quoting some academics who know nothing about the law, which is something I know quite a lot about after being the butt of serial prosecutions and false accusations for 12 years (and counting).
Ms. de Vere:
It is impossible to have an “ingrained prejudice” against men when we live in a world made by men for men.
For this to be true, there would have to be no such thing as “women’s law,” a phrase that explicitly expresses a prejudice in favor of women by the part of society’s machinery that no citizen can safely resist or defy.
For decades, law monograph after law monograph has charted the evolution of “women’s law” (see left for citations of a few): progressively harsher statutes with progressively broader definitions of “abuse” and progressively reduced thresholds of proof; judges and police officers, who’ve received inducements in the forms of massive federal grants, being “trained” according to tailored social science; etc.
That’s “engrained prejudice” to a tee.
The laws themselves are the stuff of satire. Accusers, who are predominately female, are nominated “victims” based solely on their say-so, and they may move a court to dismiss their allegations while defendants, who are predominately male, may not. Defendants are railroaded through.
That’s in the United States, but it’s likely laws and court custom in Ireland aren’t so different, and they should inspire protest. Ms. de Vere, who is the mother of five, might feel very differently very promptly about men’s plaints if she were abruptly to find herself the mother of none based on some random allegations (of child abuse, say) made to a judge during a few-minute interview to which she wasn’t invited.
For many or most of those who constitute Men’s Voices Ireland, the perception of misandry is probably empirical, that is, based on experience.
It’s Ms. de Vere’s concepts, which are ignorantly based on emotions, that aren’t concepts at all but fantasies.
Copyright © 2018 RestrainingOrderAbuse.com
*“I’ve had a lot of super awful stuff happen to me in my life like multiple rape & domestic abuse,” Ms. de Vere says of her own experiences, which, however sympathetic, only make her willingness to understand men’s experiences that much more suspect. Most disappointingly, Ms. de Vere is a gifted humorist who calls herself “The Joy Bringer” yet is immune to stories like the one here—which is desolating and largely unexceptional. The “joy” she brings to her fans may derive, in part at least, from her derision of others’ agony.
Anne Copeland
April 23, 2018
Having lived on this old world for some 76 going on 77 years in the body of a woman, I can somewhat understand (even though I absolutely do not agree with the means of dealing with it) women’s frustrations with the men’s world. In my day, a lot of mothers such as mine put up with unbelievable stuff, even selling their children down the river because they believed they had no other options. So a lot of children suffered because of not only the things that the men of those times did, but the women who sat back and allowed it to happen.
Working at White Sands Proving Grounds in the 60’s, yes, I was unwilling groped and had two stupid jerks come up behind me and unsnap my bra just that quick as I sat at my desk working or trying to work. I, an Engineering Aide in those days, was told to fetch coffee for the real workers (really???). And I had to get a boss fired because he spent all day drunk and going back and forth between the sites of our job so that the big bosses could not find him. I had a boss call and threaten me if I did not give him information to help get a contract away from the company I worked for. Oh yes, I have truly seen it all, and I do mean all, for there is a lot more I have not even bothered to write here.
So as I say, I understand some of the crap that is going on today though I DO NOT support the means to trying to deal with it. I have, unfortunately, had to deal with the good, the bad, and the ugly in life, and luckily, I did it my way, moving away from the situation and restarting my life. If any of those creeps had followed me to a new location, they could have received a restraining order, but despite the pain I experienced, and sometimes the trauma too, I freed myself and went on to do something better with my life. And here I am at 76, still standing and still free mentally.
Yes, today there are a lot of women who were not born in my generation who are taking action against men. I don’t know where they are getting it from except possibly their mothers. And I honestly don’t know why they have to fight to be who they are, or hurt others in order to get the things they want or need with children or parents, etc. One would think they have become literate and articulate enough to manage their lives and their needs without having to resort to such horrific actions that hurt not only the men, but the children as well.
I look back on the times, and I often wonder if we have really come that far at all. This is not the only example of people literally going backwards in their actions. What will it take for people to learn to act toward one another in such a way that we can make progress in this old world?
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richardwilliamsonmt
April 19, 2018
You know, maybe we need a MEN’s rights organization in this country. I mean I’m all for women’s rights but being equal does not mean abusing the rights of men. Every woman that does so demeans the women’s rights movement.
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