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Notes -
A few thoughts on the male feminist sex pest.
With the (in internet terms, not very) recent news of Neil Gaiman's escapades, a lot has been said about the agency (or lack thereof) of women, and to the corrupting effect of fame on men, but I've been giving some thought again to the Male Feminist Sex Pest phenomenon.
Most people here are probably aware of it, it's notable enough to get a comic from good ol' Stonetoss. Basically, the idea is that male feminists are disproportionately prone to acts of sexual misconduct.
What is the reason for this? I've been thinking about a few possible ones:
The MFSP as a predator: The classic right-wing stereotype. Guys of dubious moral character will take up an ideology with the intent of making potential victims lower their guards.
The MFSP as salience bias: Basically, male feminists are not particularly rapey, it's just more suprising so it makes the news. This could be true, but is basically impossible to verify in either direction.
The Male Feminist as a man struck with guilt: In this formulation, the man's bad behaviour is in their past, and their male feminist views are, in a way, compensation for the fact that he has behaved shittily towards women.
The Male Feminist as a man seeking absolution: If all or most men behave poorly, then the male feminist's past behaviour is not particularly noteworthy. By subscribing to the most deranged feminist assumptions, the male feminist can morph from a "bad man" to just "a man", or even a "good man", because at least they're willing to fight their deplorable male instincts.
The Male Feminist as a man stuck in time: For this man, being a feminist means some vague notion of "equal rights" and it being acceptable to have non-committal sex with younger girls. This is not in line with which more modern feminists believe, as he might eventually find out.
I am aware this is not the audience most in tune with the mentioned cohort, but what do you guys think? Any of the above resonate more? A little bit of each? Something else entirely?
As an aside, the last few explanations imply a type of person that people here might be very familiar with: the nerdy anti-feminist nice guy (no capitalization). It is perfectly possible, as an upper-middle class guy in a moderately to very liberal environment who doesn't like partying or going clubbing, to never notice the behaviour many women complain about (because neither you, nor your close friends and family engage in it), see that they don't seem to be particularly disadvantaged in any of the environments they interact with them, see that their ire is directed very broadly at men in general, and conclude that the whole thing might just be a scam.
The simplest explanation in my eyes is:
Male feminists, being feminists, tend to hang around with female feminists.
Female feminists are more likely to make sexual misconduct accusations at any given level of sexual pestiness than are non-feminist women.
It’s Simpson’s Paradox all the way down.
Am I more likely to make sexual misconduct accusations at any given level of sexual pestiness? That’s news to me. What evidence do you have that maintains that belief? And what is a “non-feminist” woman, according to you?
A biological woman, since there is no other kind of woman, who does not propagate an anti-men narrative or attempt to benefit from such a narrative.
Well, I don’t propagate an anti-men narrative, so does that make me a non-feminist woman?
Assuming that you are a woman in the first place and that what you said is true, yes, that's what I just said, isn't it?
But I have doubts about those assumptions. You already identified as a feminist, so please do lay out what constitutes the core tenets of this feminism for you. I suspect we will find many elements that are plainly aiming to put men at a disadvantage.
Core tenets of feminism for me: “equality between men and women in all aspects of life”. That’s it. I take a situation, I ask myself, “is this promoting equality between men and women”, and if it’s not then it’s not feminist and if it is then it’s feminism.
Strange that an ideology of equality would be named after just one of the two parties it purports to equalize. Anyways.
Can you go into more detail on what you mean by equality? Purely equal treatment before the law? Equal outcomes by specific metrics? A complete eradication of the concept of differences between the sexes? Men and women already have the vote, so I guess that's not what you mean.
Equal outcomes by specific metrics is not equality that’s equity. I don’t know how to elaborate other than “women should have the same political, economic, and social rights as men”. Pure equal treatment before the law? Sure. A complete eradication of the differences between the sexes? I don’t think that’s possible lol, male reproductive health and female reproductive health are radically different to start.
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