The FAQ

Q: What is the Masculine Mystique?
A: Please read my explanation here.


Q: What gave you the idea to write about the Masculine Mystique?
A: Because very few men have ever looked at masculinity critically! Men have written countless books on masculinity, but few of them ever really question how our society defines manhood. Nearly all examinations of the Masculine Mystique overlook the critical connections between masculinity, Rape Culture, male depression and disorder, and our repressive social order. Men may say they are unhappy with how society treats them, but whenever they are pushed they do an about-face and embrace the social order. They fall back on the safe delusions of Male Privilege, and lash out against the feminist critique of our patriarchal society.

Unfortunately, they lash out against the real solution to the problem. It is through questioning the fundamentals of masculinity that men will discover how much we have twisted boys and men into brutal and unnatural shapes. It is through the insights of feminism that men will find the key to freeing themselves, women, and society from the dangers of the Masculine Mystique.


Q: What are your rules for posting comments?
A: With a big hat tip to Twisty, The rules for commenting on The Masculine Mystique Blamed Right are:

1. Antifeminist comments will not be tolerated. Opposing viewpoints are fine, but the full humanity of women and the liberation of women are not up for debate here. Anyone who advocates for the right to abuse an entire class of human beings is too cruel and stupid to post on my blog.
   
2. Dissenting views must add value to the discussion. If you post a dissenting viewpoint, you must back it up with links or a clear elaboration of your point, and avoid being a dick about it.
   
3. Disruption for its own sake will not be tolerated. Trolls and flamers will be mocked, then shitcanned.
   
4. Complete derailment of ongoing conversations is not allowed. Get your own blog instead.
   
5. Any sexist, racist, classist, homophobic, or otherwise hateful comments will be deleted. See #1.
   
6. You may post anonymously if you like, but you are hereby warned that I will make up a nickname for you if I decide to refer to your comment in a future post.

Q: Don't your comment rules violate my first amendment rights?
A: Do you think you have a right to be obnoxious towards me or my fellow readers on my own personal blog? Do you think you have the right to force every other American citizen to report your approval or disapproval of how they use their first amendment rights? HA! Get off my lawn!


Q: Doesn't your refusal to acknowledge/publish my comments prove that I made a good point against you? Do you only want to hear from people who agree with you?
A: No and No. On the other hand, you seem to expect me to suspend my First Amendment right to express myself in order to dedicate the majority of my time to refuting, often in painful detail, some triviality that you have rallied behind in order to justify your utter refusal to consider the thesis of my post.

If you are pissed off at the ideas that I present in this blog, then flaming my comments section will not enlighten you further. If you are completely closed off to the ideas that I present in this blog, then reiterating those ideas will not enlighten you further. For the sake of efficiency for all involved, such comments will be deleted.

Nevertheless, you can rest assured that if your rebuttal actually contained any interesting or worthwhile thought, then I have added it to my extensive "Future Post" pile. Your thought will be incorporated into a future blog entry that I will eventually get around to writing.


Q: Hey! You're writing about one of my comments! Are you going to steal my ideas now?
A: No, I am trying pretty hard not to. I am working hard to cite every person and every work that I use.

If I have miss-referenced you, failed to cite you, or if you want to be cited by a different name, please email me and I will make the correction right away. And if you do not wish for me to use or reference your material, please email me. I will remove your material promptly and find an alternative source.


Q: You jerk! I followed one of your porn links [NSFW] and all I got was a really disturbing and disgusting image of a guy! WTF?!!
A: You mean I accidentally confused pornography with cruel and degrading images of people? Gee! How could such a mix-up have happened?

Just kidding Dude, the real link to the good stuff is here [NSFW]. ;-)


Q: Why are you being so obnoxious about copyright?
A: I am conducting research on the Masculine Mystique that I intend to publish one day. You are completely free to quote me and to cite this blog as much as you like, but I do don't want you unfairly co-opting the hard work of myself or my collaborators.

It's not that I plan to make money from my writing (feminism is not a subject that will catapult one onto the Bestsellers lists). Rather, I don't want the examples and ideas in this blog twisted by other writers to suit anti-feminist ends. The VAST majority of books, blogs, websites, and essays on the Masculine Mystique have completely missed the boat. Whenever they start to get at the root of the problem underlying the Masculine Mystique, they run screaming back to the safe delusions of Male Privilege. Since I do not want to give these fools a bunch of free material, I am a pain about copyright, and the core of my research is intentionally kept offline.

So if, for some insane reason, you decide to co-opt my writing for your own work on the Masculine Mystique, I will go after you as I have no doubt that you will screw it up too.


Q: May I contact you privately?
A: Yes, please email me for private correspondence (see the sidebar for my email address). I will keep your email correspondence private unless (1) I ask you for permission to publish content from your email on my blog and you give me said permission, or (2) your email is of a threatening nature, in which case the FBI may enjoy reading it, or (3) your email is filled with hate, abuse, misogyny, and/or violence. Flamers, please note that Rule #3, listed above, also applies to email correspondence.




Copyright July 2008 by F*ck M*sculinity