Internet's Foremost Male Feminist Resigns

Male feminist? Once lauded by women for telling them Exactly What They Want To Hear, or as they know it, enlightened philosophy?

I'm as certain of this as I'm certain of gravity -- this man surely is not resigning due to any sexual peccadillo or mental defect. This choice, I'm sure, is entirely his own.

Uh, Correction. I don't know what the hell I was talking about in that last sentence. I guess I was just babbling.

This cat Schwyzer had been a writer on feminist sites like Feministe, whose idea of a title is to add a superfluous -e. He's now resigned due to past scandals and pressure from the Solidarity of Sisterhood, which did not cotton to his unwelcome presence at the No Sausage Party.

Schwyzer has been a divisive figure in the lady blogosphere since he was treated to a glowing interview on Feministe in late 2011. In response, commenters and other bloggers dug up Schwyzer's old blog posts (since deleted), in which he confessed to trying to kill himself and his ex-girlfriend with fumes from a gas stove during a period of drug and alcohol addiction fifteen years ago. Feminist bloggers took issue not just with his past (which included sleeping with many of his students), but with how they believed Schwyzer capitalized on his bad-boy redemption story.

There's an interview with him at the link. He also seems to have been driven out of "Male Feminism" by women who, brace yourselves for a shock here, detest male intrusions into their safe wymynyst space.

One reason you became a punching bag is that there just are not many men writing feminist columns online. Why is that?

Look at me. I mean, who would want to be me? If you look at the men who are writing about feminism, they toe the line very carefully. It’s almost like they take their cues from the women around them.

Almost. Almost.

Men are afraid of women’s anger. It’s very hard for men to stand up to women’s anger. I did for a long time until finally my mental health had to be a priority. I just got out of the hospital. I’m not shy about that. I’m sober, but I checked myself into a psych ward for a week, when I became a danger to myself.

...

There’s this false notion in feminism that the Internet is supposed to be a safe space. There’s this confusion of the therapeutic and the public space. Is the Internet a safe space? No. Your therapist’s office is a safe space. Your local women’s center is a safe space. I do believe I can have a voice online in leading a movement about this, but that distinction has to be drawn.

Good luck with that Charlie.

You know, we used to have a name for a male feminist, or a guy who just tells women whatever they want to hear and seems in thrall to them: Either Mama's Boy or Guy Who Just Wants to Get Laid or both.

This is sexual dysfunction. I'm not saying women are supposed to defer to men -- I don't believe that crap at all.

But I also don't believe that men are supposed to go about asking "mother may I?" to anyone in an Indigo Girls t-shirt.

Leftist "Feminism," which is really nothing of the sort, has simply replaced one dysfunctional, immature, primitive cult of holy gender status with its distaff version.

posted by Ace at 01:19 PM

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