Thread by @reappropriate

This thread is required reading. Just adding and emphasizing that a favorite target of MRAzns is Asian American feminism precisely because of the line of flawed thinking outlined here by @NoTotally.

(Sorry, I dropped this retweet and planned to at least add a couple more tweets but then ran off to dinner with some friends.)

Not only does @NoTotally accurately point out how Asian American women are targeted by MRAzns, it’s worth further pulling back the veil: MRAzns reserve particular ire for AsAm feminists.

As @NoTotally points out, a core aspect of MRAzn logic is that AsAm liberation is defined solely by the degree to which AsAm cishet manhood —
defined by them as toxic masculinist tropes such as physical dominance over men and sexual dominance over women — is popularly recognized.

This, for MRAzns, is the battleground upon which they believe they are fighting white supremacy; they do not consider how this framework reinforces homophobia, transphobia, and heteronormative toxic masculinity, nor that it doesn’t actually do much to dismantle white supremacy.

This is because at its core, this isn’t actually about the radical overthrow of white supremacy or patriarchy. Instead it’s about improving access to (conventionally white-coded) cishet male privilege for a specific group of non-white men — everyone else be damned.

And because that goal requires the persistence of patriarchy, toxic masculinity and male privilege, feminists become a primary target for rage. We oppose patriarchy and seek to end gender injustice; therefore, for MRAzns, we represent an existential threat to their stated goals.

Even though they say they are focused on ending white supremacy, MRAzns spend an inordinate amount of time focused inward, attacking and harassing AsAm women and feminists.

That’s because their vision of AsAm liberation doesn’t actually include us in it. For them, AsAm liberation doesn’t mean liberation for all AsAms; for them, it merely means greater inclusion of AsAm men within the upper echelons of a white supremacist, toxic masculinist system.

I support the ending of racist stereotypes that undergird the trope of AsAm male unattractiveness — a trope with profound and negative consequences on AsAm male self-image. These stereotypes are unjust and should end.

However, like @NoTotally, I support the notion that efforts to end these stereotypes should go hand-in-hand with greater challenging of MRAzn logic and overt support for the feminist movement.

We can no longer afford to ignore how some in our community cloak anti-feminism, anti-blackness, and hatred in the misappropriated language of racial justice, while the rest of us look away and pretend it isn’t happening.

That’s all I wanted to say earlier. Sorry it’s several hours later than my original retweet.