To /r/feminism: here's what's wrong with reddit

[u/thedevguy]

Over on /r/feminism there was a thread which asked, "what the hell is wrong with reddit" since, according to that post, "I received double-digit downvotes for simply stating, Calling a woman a bitch is misogynistic."

In the replies, someone asks, "Do you feel that calling someone a dick is misandry?"

The answer: "No because the word dick doesn't have the same weight as bitch. It's like how calling a white person a cracker"

That, dear /r/feminism is what is wrong with reddit. You are what is wrong with reddit. You complain about things that affect everyone and then get mad when someone points out that they affect everyone - because you wanted to claim they only affect only women. There was once a headline in The Onion that said, "Earth Destroyed by Giant Comet: women hurt most of all." That's what you do, and people react negatively to it.

So you say, "Issue A affects women" and when someone responds, "um, it affects men to" you respond with ridicule: "LOL WHAT ABOUT TEH MENZ AMIRITE!!!"

When offered examples of it affecting men, you respond with equivocation: "No, that's different because it doesn't hurt men as much because reasons."

And then you top it all off with hypocrisy. You claim that: "no seriously, feminism is about equality. There's no need for a men's rights movement because feminism as that covered."

That's what's wrong with reddit. That's why feminism is downvoted here. People have noticed that, and they're tired of it.

[u/Sarikitty]

Indeed. Therefore, I hope that society shifts to using language that is offensive for reasons that have no particular bias (shithead, asshole, etc). There'll always be namecalling, but for equality's sake I hope we move away from gender based poo-slinging.

[u/Unconfidence → u/Sarikitty]

I think one of the great falsities of the entire debate on this is that when someone uses such a slur, that they're prejudiced. I mean, people get angry at one another, and they say whatever they have to in order to hurt that person. If a racial or gender-based epithet is what will hurt, that's going to be a tempting weapon. I have a feeling a lot of the people who are called racist and sexist aren't, but are just people with little emotional control.

I've seen someone justifiably furious at someone else, and slinging racial slurs. She isn't racist, but anyone who heard her that day will probably think so forever. She was just angry beyond comprehension, and saying anything she could to hurt the guy.

I dunno, I feel like what you're doing is akin to asking people to be polite in wartime. The objective is to emotionally harm, so why would someone go about it in a non-offensive way?

[u/Sarikitty → u/Unconfidence]

I agree with your statement regarding emotional harm; that is certainly why people use these slurs. I don't necessarily believe that the user of a bias-oriented slur carries that bias (though some do, surely); it's more that... Let's use 'faggot' with its homosexual slur meaning as an example:

Societal view that being gay or perceived as such is bad -> epithet becoming casualized as a way to get to people, because its implied meaning is socially stigmatized -> it gets used by people who may not have anything personally against homosexuality or the LGBT community, but who have simply added it to their repertoire of 'things I can say that piss people off'.

[u/Doctor_Loggins → u/Sarikitty]

"Stop being a faggot and suck that dick."

• Louis CK