pokoko said:
I read all of that, though I'm not sure what most of it had to do with what I said. Videogames are a lesser issue by far.
It is a lesser issue, but it does come up a lot on forums like this, and though I do sometimes go off on tangents it is a related issue because even small issues reflect overall attitudes of both sides in the "debate."
Honestly, though, I don't really understand the purpose of those old rationalizations and excuses and why they are applied with such an obvious double standard. Inequality that favors men? Evil patriarchy's fault and it needs to be changed. Inequality that favors women? Well, that's a result of patriarchy, so it's okay, no reason to do anything about it. It's always the same. Marginalize, brush aside, disparage, blame the victim in the most sideways way possible, trot the justifications out, and then one day, when its a full-blown problem, ask why something wasn't done sooner.
There's an difference between explaining something and excusing it. Also, the understand the present one needs to look at the past. Old prejudices don't simply disappear when new laws are passed, after all. In any case, I agree that there are no excuses for any inequalities, regardless of which gender, race, religion, etc., they affect. But I'm not convinced like MRAs are that the inequalities that negatively effect men are part of some "evil feminist matriarchy," either.
Why is one set of problems considered and discussed but the other is met with terms like "manosphere" (I don't even know what that is)?
It's a neologism for the various internet-based men's activists groups, anti-feminists, pick-up artists, and assorted misogynists. See here for more info, or if you want the snarkier version, try here.
Why can't both be addressed? Why the rush to discredit anything that might affect men or boys in a negative way? Why short-change the future because of the past? The truth is, I suppose, that people really aren't thinking about improving society for everyone, they just want to further the cause they've hooked on with, which often includes a free set of blinders.
And both sides have plenty of people that are guilty of simply trying to grind an ideological axe that actually trying to advance equality under the law. Many feminists do care more about sexualized depictions of women in media than they do about equal rights. Many if not most MRAs care more about fighting feminism than they do about equal rights. Like I said, I actually do care about equality under the law, that all people deserve equal rights, bear equal responsibilities, and should expect equal punishment for committing the same crimes.
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