Radio Advice Goddess
I wrote a blog item about radio host Glenn Sacks' men's movement campaign against mean tee-shirts (unfortunately, the original link in it was wrong -- now corrected). The shirts said, among other things, "Boys are Stupid--Throw Rocks at Them." Here's the corrected link to the piece Sacks wrote on the topic. And here's my blog item on it:
Men Can Be Whiny Crybabies, Too!
Radio host Glenn Sacks proves that the men's movement Cassandras can be just as irritating as the women's movement Cassandras. Do men really need protecting from those meanie women? Are they really a downtrodden class? Or are they just as good as an excuse as any to give a guy a soapbox? And, finally: Can't we all stop whining and get along?
Whiny victim feminists are bad enough. Is equality really having men join them? No, the tee-shirts aren't exactly ideal; neither are tee-shirts that say "Women are only good for sucking the chrome off a trailer hitch." But men water down their case on important issues like fathers' rights by getting all sniffly about stuff like this. And I'll be saying so on the radio tonight, on Glenn Sacks' show: in LA at 9pm PST on KMPC 1540 AM and in Seattle at 11pm PST on KKOL 1300 AM. It can also be heard on the Internet, live, at this address. Call in at 1-800-770-1540.
Ya know, if there's one thing I can't stand, it's someone who wears offensive T-shirts.
Offensive to me, that is. Fuck everyone else.
LYT at May 2, 2004 10:50 PM
No matter how stupid boys are, we want their attention. And what better way to get it than by throwing rocks at them? When I was a kid in Flushing, Queens, we used to play a game called "Rocks" that involved going to an empty lot somewhere and throwing rocks at each other. Another Flushing favorite was "Bike." You'd have 7-8 boys and 1 bike. The objective for the boy on the bike was to ride the bike into the other kids. The objective of the other kids was to outrun the bike and not get their kneecaps destroyed. Who said that boys aren't stupid?
From Lena at May 3, 2004 12:13 AM
As I said on the radio, "America is too insulted." When did this become land of the humorless and victimized? And no, just because there are whiny feminists, this isn't justification for being a whiny masculinist.
Amy Alkon at May 3, 2004 12:33 AM
Amy, you were ON Glenn's show. You heard his reasoning to going after the T-shirts. It's a bit more than a little disingenuous to now pretend you don't know why he picked such a target.
The Men's and Father's movement has largely been organized on the internet. This was and is due to the fact that the Men's and Father's movement is getting very little of the mainstream press' attention.
Glenn knew, and he explained it to you (I HEARD him explain it to you) that he needed a relatively easy target for his fist campaign. There are hundreds of men's groups that us the internet, and to get us to work together he needed to pick a target we could affect.
Women's groups are better at networking. Men don't tend to get together and share hardship in the same way. The anonymity of the internet allows these men to do so.
I came into the men's movement after a false allegation of rape. I was devastated, felt very isolated, and this LIFE-ALTERING event had left me feeling that there was no justice. I wrote a letter to Wendy McElroy (I didn't know she was famous - or that she had a column - I just happened upon her website). Her reply to me was warm, empathetic, and has never been forgotten. She also directed me to a few men's sites where I could "meet" others who had experience what I had gone through. It was a major turning point in my life. I could talk to other men who had experienced what I had experienced. I learned about a lot of injustices that the press doesn't hardly cover. I found that we could do letter writing campaigns and convince ADAs to arrest false accusers instead of giving them a free pass.
Since I had had my father kept from me for a QUARTER of a CENTURY I also became an advocate for fathers. And we've been able to get some great work going in that direction too.
Yes, Amy, our first campaign was small. Fair enough. But to deride the whole movement for that is snippy, shortsighted, and beneath you.
I hope this may give you something to think about. I sincerely wish you well, as you sounded like an intelligent, witty, and informed person on Glenn's show.
My E-mail is included on this, so if you would like more information on men's and father's issues I would be happy to answer any questions you have or direct you to someone who can answer them.
L Steven Beene II
Member:
iFeminists
NCFM-LA
Hisside
Men's Activsm
Steven B at May 16, 2004 3:28 AM
The Glenn Saks show wasn't carried by local radio in the Davenport, Iowa area
I saw little to be offended by in statements by the "Advice Goddess" she seems equally feed-up with all complainers. And besides you have to take Jack Nicholson's advice about how to write like a woman to heart!
Doug Heffley, DeWitt, Iowa
Non-Primary Custodial Parent's Militia
Doug Heffley at June 3, 2004 1:25 PM