What's weird is that people assume that this has to do with programming specifically, instead of the larger workings of gender as a social construction and hierarchy (laid upon the material reality of sex dimorphism). Discussing gender isn't weird, men (and many women) just aren't very literate about the thing.
Actually most men who program are just interested in it. Same with the ladies. Discussing gender is irrelevant to this forum. This new age jargon will have a short shelf life once the truth gets out. Those who sow seeds of discord will soon have to reap their crops.
There's a gender imbalance in the programming field. This, to many, is worthy of thought. If you think you really know what's relevant to be discussed on Hacker News, you should shoot pg an email volunteering to moderate, see how that goes
Cherry picking incidents involving the actions of disturbed individuals to attempt to smear a multifaceted movement is intellectually dishonest. That's like claiming all Muslims are terrorists because some Muslims are.
That is not to say there there is no benefit to considering the rights of men or the problems that men face with issues like violent attack or custody disputes.
"Disturbed individuals"? Did you read the articles? The people being describes are the leaders of the "movement", like Elam. The "movement" obviously encourages the behavior being described -- meanwhile, groups like CAIR work hard to address the popular image of the terrorist Muslim. Where is the CAIR of "men's rights" I wonder
There are some Muslim leaders that express disturbing things as well. Once again, this does not make them the voice of mainstream Islam. If you actually visit a large men's rights community, like http://reddit.com/r/mensrights, you'll find that some women participate in discussion as well and the men are not the rape-happy bugaboos that many paint MRAs in general to be.
Mainstream segments of the movement, if you will. The mainstream of any movement is where a sense of tribal identity emerges that's likely to engage in partisan disparagement of other movements seen as opposition.
I read the first article you linked to, but couldn't find any reference to rape threats by Men's Rights Advocates. That some women receive rape threats on the internet is an entirely different matter. There have also been episodes of feminists faking such rape threat comments. Let's stay on the sane side.
In any case, I only know Karen Straughan (Girl Writes What), who seems very reasonable to me. Not sure how she is associated with A Voice For Men, but she did call for donations for them recently.
And, let's step back a moment: did animus9 write any death threats to women, or did he indeed write anything about men's rights before being accused of being an MRA member? Then why are we having this discussion again?
Your label, not mine. I don't believe in the MRA movement or whatever you call it. I am opposed to off-topic gender politics articles (which are becoming more frequent here) as I believe they are divisionist and ruin the spirit of this forum. This is Hacker News NOT Gender Politics News.
I didn't say there was anything military right-wing in them? I said his posts had the rhetoric of a militant cult.
Some exmaples:
> "An all boys class sure would be a breath of fresh air: it might be possible to focus on the actual education for once. Voluntary segregation seems like it would solve a lot of problems and eliminate our favourite scapegoats."
> "This new age jargon will have a short shelf life once the truth gets out. Those who sow seeds of discord will soon have to reap their crops."
> "The only thing suspicious is the propaganda machine which is creating this never ending list of gender-tech articles and their associated divisionist jargon."
Your statement is about as intelligent as saying feminists are indistinguishable from trolls. The men's rights movement, like feminism, isn't monolithic.
It is reactionary, i.e. its MO is to paint "feminism" as monolithic and dangerous. If these men really cared about gender inequality and the problems they face as men, they would see that many branches of feminism, like radical feminism, offers solutions where everyone comes out the winner. But that's not what "men's rights" is for.
This is coming from a man who has learned a lot by listening to women instead of constructing male echo chambers.
There are men's rights practitioners that support the egalitarian aims of feminism. Equality is what reasonable MRAs and feminists want. Unreasonable MRAs and feminists, however, are more interested in having someone to blame.
The popular understanding of feminism is that it aims for equality between men and women. You've more or less said "you don't understand feminism" without explaining how, exactly, feminism doesn't aim for equality. Not very useful if your aim is to increase understanding of your viewpoint.
