26 August 2020

"MGTOW"

A new acronym for "Men Going Their Own Way."
The views of MGTOW are indeed unorthodox, even within the sprawling web of groups, lifestyles and cults known as the “manosphere”, where women-haters mobilise against a supposed gynocratic conspiracy. While incels plot violent revenge on women, and pickup artists (PUAs) deploy predatory tactics to “game” women into having sex with them, the men of the MGTOW attempt to eschew relationships with women altogether. They are, literally, going their own way. Far, far away from any women. At all... 
But this isn’t an obscure internet cul-de-sac; mgtow.com alone has almost 33,000 members. Its forums (“for men only”) contain conversations on more than 50,000 topics, with more than 790,000 replies, which range from advice on divorcing as cheaply as possible to lurid stories about women who have found particularly inventive ways to murder their husbands. The site also lists 25 video channels; between them, these have more than 730,000 followers, and their videos have been viewed a total of 130m times. 
Women are essentially portrayed as parasites riding on the coattails of men, who have, throughout history, been responsible for “far greater miracles of science, discovery and human endeavour”. By shaking women off, it is explained, men will be free to pursue ever higher achievements... 
MGTOW (pronounced “mig-tau” by adherents) are unlikely to meet in person, instead sharing their techniques, successes and failures online. Throughout the manosphere, it is common to see members expressing paranoia about “normies” who could be out to expose them, often leading to forum users accusing each other of being moles or spies. Nowhere is this fear more prevalent than among MGTOW, with any suggestion of meeting in real life usually receiving a swift and scornful rebuttal... 
MGTOW resemble men’s rights activists (MRAs) more than incels or PUAs. Both groups believe that women pose an immediate threat to all men. MRAs believe that women are so unfaithful and untruthful that they often force men to raise other men’s children, thus financially “cuckolding” them. MGTOW believe that women are extremely likely to make false accusations of sexual or domestic violence, in order to damage men socially, steal their money or even have them jailed... 
It is easy to write off MGTOW as a weird group of goofy celibates. Yet it has, in some ways, quietly penetrated mainstream culture more successfully than any other segment of the manosphere. 
The woman-shunning has even penetrated as far as the White House, where the vice-president, Mike Pence, spawned what is now known as the Pence Rule after he remarked that he would never eat a meal alone with a woman who is not his wife
Reporting on such an idea might have once been seen as inflammatory or biased, requiring careful and robust presentation of opposing arguments. But, as soon as it was attached to Pence, it became respectable fodder for widespread coverage.
More at The Guardian article, which is an extract from a book on this subject.

5 comments:

  1. The Pence thing jumped out at me as different from the rest of the article (rest of article just sounded like bunch of scared white men watching their powers finally erode). With Pence (and I want to firmly state the I am NOT a supporter of his (or his boss) in any way), there's a small town old-fashioned religious aspect. My own pastor is the same (American Baptist, not Southern). It doesn't have to do with 'woman-shunning', it has to do with appearances of impropriety or setting an example; one doesn't want to provide fodder for potential gossip "I saw so and so and he was having dinner with not-his-wife!".
    Pence and this entire administration have done exponentially more harm than good, but for this *one* thing, I don't think it should be linked with MGTOW

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yea, Pence I can let off the hook here. That's old-world proprietary standards which are fine and not out of place in the offices of politics where every picture could be a scandal on the next news cycle (even, or especially if, nothing actually happened).

    MGTOW, if they were a misanthropic misogynistic avoidance group, they could be harmless. But, it sounds like their filled with the same kind of people as the KKK, Neo Nazi's, etc., just their hate is focused specifically on women. They seem to have everything from predictory how-to guides to get "consent" to sex from women via corishion by the man using legally dubious advice, et best. Then, how to rope them in long term via dubious means, keep them as long as they prove 'useful' and then divorce and doxx them (with sexually explicit pictures, and maybe, a few of their friends to force their silence). They're one step short for "all woman should be rounded up like cattle" like hits the more extreme incel groups.

    ReplyDelete
  3. There's lots of cultural support for demonizing any kind of men's movement. Though it could never be played on any college campus, I recommended The Red Pill--common sense debunking of anti-MRA propaganda. I like The Guardian, but half of their stuff on gender is misandrist nonsense.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mike Pence does that kind of thing out of respect for his wife, no "high minded" ideals or woman hating. He feels that it would be dishonorable to have his name linked with any other woman for any reason. It may be a little extreme, but I can respect him for that one. It's a nice tribute to his beliefs on marriage.

    ReplyDelete