Evan Marc Katz's war on feminism, part 2

As I blogged about not too long ago (Is Evan Marc Katz a Sexist Who Tells Women to Settle...?), Evan Marc Katz, the guru of traditional-gender-role loving men and women, attacked feminists, claiming that the patriarchy was basically dead (or would be if it wasn't propped up by feminists themselves!), while conveniently ignoring the constant drumbeat of male entitlement that suffuses all the comment threads on his web site.

Well now Evan Marc Katz is here to tell you that the hate groups known as Men's Rights Activists (MRAs) are the equivalent of "the extreme wing of the feminist blogosphere."

The manosphere is like the extreme wing of the feminist blogosphere. They have some very valid ideas that are dwarfed by their monolithic thinking and negativity towards the opposite sex.

Predictably, Katz presents no evidence at all of the existence of the extreme wing of the feminist blogosphere. None.

Comparing feminists to MRAs is like comparing the NAACP to the KKK. The former group is advocating for an historically oppressed group of people, the latter is devoted to oppressing that same group of people. And no matter how "extreme" any member of the NAACP is, there is just no comparison to the Klan.

Katz is expressing a common fallacy that both sides of any issue are always equally extreme. Economist Paul Krugman addresses that mindset here.

And make no mistake, virtually all the big MRA groups are hate groups. The Southern Poverty Law Center reports on just exactly how deep the misogyny goes.

You can tell exactly where Evan Marc Katz is coming from because instead of referring his readers to the greatest existing source of news about the "manosphere" known as We Hunted the Mammoth, instead he links to an article by an anti-feminist named Andrew Aitkin. Aitkin pretends to be pro-feminist (and as Evan Marc Katz himself explains on his blog, it's no longer the cool thing to be a blatant sexist) but what he really thinks of feminism is that if you support feminism you will never find love. Don't believe me? Read this:

Support feminism (and ultimately androgyny) by aligning yourself with its goals: suppress your feminine qualities and emphasize your masculine ones, in an effort to further your career and the feminist cause.
Take advantage of the male-female polarity that (still) exists by allowing your feminine qualities to shine through, since this (still) attracts men.
Ultimately, the point is this: Option 2 attracts men, Option 1 does not. So you can either support feminism in the hope of bettering the state of affairs in the future, or better your life now by finding love. Call me selfish, but it seems like an obvious choice to me...

Who is Andrew Aitkin, you ask? Just some uncredentialed guy who thinks he knows it all. No, I am not kidding:

I am a 30-year-old, American, straight, white, single man. I write this blog in my free time. I am from a large family and my parents are still happily married. I grew up with very masculine environments and had very little help in learning about women; so I can empathize with being ignorant about the opposite sex, and I understand the learning process one has to go through in order to correct that. 

I do well with women. There are certainly some better-looking men out there, maybe some that are more confident, and possibly some that are smarter. Obviously there aren't any who are more modest ;) I am not at the very top of the heap, but I've made significant improvements. Several years ago I could barely talk to girls, let alone attract them, so I can definitely identify with the struggle for self-improvement. 

I love women and have an extremely analytical mind. The former trait motivates my observations, while the latter facilitates my curiosity and helps to process those observations. I also love ideas and writing: this blog is the result.

So where does Aitkin get this notion that feminism means suppressing feminine qualities and emphasizing masculine ones? Hell if I know - he doesn't cite any sources (in the Evan Marc Katz tradition) and I can't think of any feminists advocating any such things.

But what does Aitkin consider masculine qualities, which he believes feminists are advocating that women acquire? You won't believe it, so here it is the handy list of masculine-quality don'ts that Aitkin warns about:

• Having only or mostly guy friends
• Claiming that "girls are too bitchy and emotional, guys are just easier to get along with"
• Laughing at stories about guys treating girls like shit
• Scoffing at girls that get upset or "overreact" when a guy breaks up with them
• Being proud of the ability to drink a lot, or to drink strong liquor
• Pretending to be OK with just hooking up or just having sex with a guy
• Being proud of her one night stands, and telling stories about them openly
• Not making demands of a potential boyfriend because "it's no big deal"

So just in case you missed it - the above itemized list is what Andrew Aitkins claims feminists are advocating! He is seriously representing feminists as a group of people who promote "laughing at stories about guys treating girls like shit."

Either Andrew Aitkin is doing his level best to smear feminism as, basically, misogyny itself, or he's just so stupid he is incapable of following his own logic.

I sure wish I knew who the other members of this alleged  extreme wing of the feminist blogosphere were so we could team up and devote ourselves to taking down the businesses of the feminism-smearing Evan Marc Katz and Andrew Aitkin.

UPDATE: I was not at all surprised to find that Evan Marc Katz has admirers in the MRA world.

Next up: More on the pernicious misogyny of Evan Marc Katz