Thread by @ReedHoniton

⚠ Thread ⚠
7 years on & nothing's changed.

The link is to an article most of the Internet won't like. Hopefully it'll help women & decent men realise that what began as a great idea was exploited at inception.

Voluntary objectification ≠ empowerment

metro.us/social-media-i…

Ok so we're now at the point where feminists everywhere will lose their collective sh*t over what they just read.
I'll be the 'typical male' who doesn't get it etc etc.

And they couldn't be more wrong so I'm hoping they and indeed all will hear me out on this.
1st some context:

Far from typical, I am in fact pro-equality & very anti discrimination. I'm as anti-feminism as I am anti-bloke.

I've covered this before but in a 🥜🐚 there are:

2 types of female
*pro-equality
*pro-feminist

We males form 3 types *pro-equality men
*males
*blokes

The first type of male & female are essentially on the same page - I'll come back to them.

The latter of each are arguably as anti-equality & as unhelpful on these issues as each other.
Blokes naturally, due to their lack of respect & maturity - the Trumps, Johnson's, Banks's

They're the ones who'll buy you a drink and consider that to have secured your company and their sexual gratification. The louty shouty wolf-whistling semi-neanderthaals.

With me so far? Cool.
(Hey I'm #GenX; don't judge me on my vocab!)

So the feminists…eesh where to start…

Well I'm off the opinion that the original feminists would back me up on what I'm about to say… they were giants in their own right because what they sought (rightly imo) was equality. They knew in some ways they had it better (no woman was sent to fight wars for example) AND

And is so much better than but. And, they acknowledged that fact as being something which made equality unobtainable. They wisely took issue with all the disparity, not just that which suited.
That is why today's feminists have bullet holes in their feet; they don't seek equality

What today's feminists seek is the removal of favourable bias towards men (rightly so) and its realignment to shift that bias to be in their favour (categorically wrong). While they continue to deny this fact, equality will remain as out of reach as it was in the 19th century.

Because that attitude fosters in men a valid argument to not be made subservient. The feminist argues "but it was OK for us to be" and the pro-equality men & women step in and say "no, it wasn't. And if it was wrong that way, then it is just as wrong if flipped around"

So, there's the main difference(s) between early feminists and today's, which is why I'm able to say that while I respect all women and I admire the original feminists, I am wholly anti-today's-feminists.
The people who embody feminists of old, are pro-equality (women AND men)

I hope that explains the earlier point re my view on feminists today being shared by their predecessors.

So with M3 & W2 done & before getting to the pro-equality M&Fs, I'd like to cover the difference between males & blokes.

Blokes are the polar opposite of pro-equality men…

so then "males" is the name I attribute to those well intentioned, honourable and sincere, chivalrous even among our number whose only real fault is that they don't realise what keeps them from being that which they believe themselves - and earnestly strive - to be.

I feel that if I actually need to give examples then there really is little hope of my points being understood. However in the interests of completionism…'males' (deliberately bland word to illustrate normalcy) are the myriad variety of us who err without malice or intention.

I believe this to be the largest group among the male gender. Constantly falling foul of Defcon Feminist listening stations these are the guys who now stay silent for fear of their words of support meeting derision, thrown back as "patronising" , "condescending", "big of you" etc

It happens to all of us; n the very best of us. Show support with a quote retweet and accompanying words of same, and the response that follows is "f*ck off we don't need validation from the likes of you"
The likes of who? The guy is most likely as sincere as the op's father!

Hell it could be their father for all they know, with anonymity being so important to many online.
When I received that exact response in that exact situation, I genuinely hoped their next victim would unbeknown to them be their dad/brother/son who would raise it over dinner!

You know that might sound childish &/ odd but here's the thing. The pro-equality females already have the support of their M1 male counterparts and all the M2s.
And that support is withdrawn constantly because of scenarios like I've described.

support
+
abusive response
=…?

Equality supporting M1/M2 thinks "bollocks to this. Why do I even bother?". Rinse & repeat a few dozen times and that support is gone. Because F2 is incapable of regarding M1/M2 as anything other than M3.
What F2 doesn't even consider is

Remember, this happens all of the time.

M1 & M2 are as disgusted by M3 behaviours as much & often more than any female. They give a all a bad name.

So when you see a clumsy reply of "not all men" don't be so cool to pour scorn. That reply will often be an M1/M2 hastily typing his support before his F2 sees his screen

I can personally vouch for the fact that huge numbers of good men are in relationships in which they are the controlled party, living in fear of the wrath of their paranoid, jealous partner, male or female.

Obv this won't always apply, it's just an example to promote consider-ⁿ

So that leaves F1 & M1. The pro-equality pairing.

I'll do this the easy way. If you're M1/F1/M2 you'll likely know easily when you're in like company. I hope you feel that way now as I consider myself an M1 who sometimes gets it all a bit M2. We all make mistakes right?

That's not to say I consider M1 to be above our think themselves above M2. If I did I'd be M3 for sure.
Rather I see M1 as where we're all trying to spend most of our time. Unlike F1s we don't get to stay in that group - we're only male after all. Screw ups are in our base coding

Naturally most M3/F2's will either have moved on or started a ranty reply before getting anywhere near this point. Some however will have read it all (thank you) of which some will think/reply "smug 2@" or wtte.
Hopefully all readers will have found interesting food for thought

If that's true then it will have been worthwhile typing all this on my phone (!) and per the points I've raised here people will either embed themselves into their existing group or they'll choose not to stay there. If that bolsters the ranks of F1/M1&M2 that's great. Who knows…

Maybe some F1/F2's will decide there are in fact 3 types of female.
Can but hope.

My original point in 1st tweet might then be understood.

@threadreaderapp unroll please