Don't Be That Guy

[jducoeur]

Thanks to mindways for the pointer to this long but very useful rant on the subject of "That Guy". In this case, that guy whose male privilege is swinging rather visibly in the breeze.

It's actually a pretty interesting pair with the pointer from the other week about Things Rich People Need to Stop Saying. That one was basically about how not to be a Rich Asshole; this one is how not to be a Male Asshole. And it's worthwhile reading for any guy, as a reminder if nothing else. While I knew pretty much everything in it by now, I learned most of those points through hard lessons of screwing up and being left trying to fix the resulting damage.

(Bonus link, also from mindways: a beautiful rebuttal-by-metaphor of the right-wing claim that you mustn't have portrayals of homosexuality in the media because it is "too complicated" for children to understand.)

Comments

[serakit.livejournal.com]

And now that I've read the actual article rather than all the other jumps: the issue I have with it is that she is making the assumption that the women she is talking to are going to be sane and rational, and my experience of feminism is that it is so overridden by the militants that most people using the label (and therefore the specialized terminology) are not sane and rational and *are* going to be the type of people who are going to say "you had your millennia of oppressing us; you cannot possibly have a valid opinion on this" even if the man is coming at it as just his perspective with awareness that the women might have other ones.

[jducoeur]

Could be, but keep in mind that the over-the-top feminists you're talking about are a fairly small minority. (Much though they may look like more than that on-campus.) And the article is generally good advice for guys talking to *any* woman: it's basically outlining a collection of common mistakes that are pretty easy to make. So I think it's worthwhile stuff...

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

"the women she is talking to"

Did you read the same post I did? The one that was addressed entirely to males? I honestly don't understand what you're getting at here.

[serakit.livejournal.com]

Pronoun use while tired--I meant the women the men are talking to.