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AND Sociopaths.
WE WENT TO A MEN'S RIGHTS LECTURE IN TORONTO
AND WE DISCOVERED THAT THEY'RE A BUNCH OF LOSERS
By Brad Casey
In November of last year the University of Toronto hosted a lecture by Dr. Warren Farrell, a divisive figure who has been described simultaneously as a sage of the men’s movement and a rape apologist. On the night of the lecture a group of students barred the doors of the lecture hall in protest while chanting, “No hate speech on campus.” Police were called, the situation was brought under control and the lecture went on as scheduled. Another lecture took place in March of this year, this time an overly critical look at feminist studies by Janice Fiamengo in which she described the discipline as “intellectually incoherent and dishonest.” Again, protesters were on hand waving placards and this time a fire alarm was pulled but, once more, the lecture went on as scheduled. These controversial lectures were organized by a student group called the Canadian Association for Equality or CAFE for short. CAFE has come under fire from student groups and media who not only disagree with their actions and ideology but have associated them with the extreme, vitriolic American men’s rights website A Voice For Men. Where AVFM is upfront and open about its hatred for feminism, calling them “rape farmers,” CAFE takes aim at feminism with misleading information and careful rhetoric, barely ever using the word “feminist” itself.
CAFE has sprung up in several campuses across central Canada in the past year. They have groups on university campuses in Guelph, Montreal, Ottawa and Peterborough as well as two Toronto groups and off campus groups in Ottawa and Vancouver. Most recently, Ryerson University caught a controversial mix of praise and indignation for banning the group from their campus. CAFE claim to be “committed to achieving equality for all Canadians” and identify as a human rights group who focus on men’s issues. However, despite their claims or how they identify, the events which CAFE have been planning have been covered to an unusually extensive degree by A Voice For Men.
But who are A Voice For Men and why do they care about Canada? AVFM is run by a man named Paul Elam and provides a forum for vitriolic hatred against women and feminists. The website was once labeled a hate site by virus software Norton Symantec, which may have been a mistake—but isn’t completely unjust. Their coverage of CAFE organized events includes extensive videos and articles about the Toronto lectures with a focus on painting event protesters as violent, loudmouth, radical feminists whose goal is to destroy the rights of men. They’ve even gone so far as to post an entire article on one of the protesters featuring her full name, a picture of her face with the word “bigot” below, as well as screen shots of her Facebook and Twitter posts. They also added this girl to register-her.com, a website AVFM own in which they name women they allege to be bigots (whatever that means) and “female rapists,” the majority of which are women accused of or found guilty of statutory rape. The website is less about men’s rights and more about anti-feminist ideas—and the imaginary monsters which those ideas create.
AND WE DISCOVERED THAT THEY'RE A BUNCH OF LOSERS
By Brad Casey
In November of last year the University of Toronto hosted a lecture by Dr. Warren Farrell, a divisive figure who has been described simultaneously as a sage of the men’s movement and a rape apologist. On the night of the lecture a group of students barred the doors of the lecture hall in protest while chanting, “No hate speech on campus.” Police were called, the situation was brought under control and the lecture went on as scheduled. Another lecture took place in March of this year, this time an overly critical look at feminist studies by Janice Fiamengo in which she described the discipline as “intellectually incoherent and dishonest.” Again, protesters were on hand waving placards and this time a fire alarm was pulled but, once more, the lecture went on as scheduled. These controversial lectures were organized by a student group called the Canadian Association for Equality or CAFE for short. CAFE has come under fire from student groups and media who not only disagree with their actions and ideology but have associated them with the extreme, vitriolic American men’s rights website A Voice For Men. Where AVFM is upfront and open about its hatred for feminism, calling them “rape farmers,” CAFE takes aim at feminism with misleading information and careful rhetoric, barely ever using the word “feminist” itself.
CAFE has sprung up in several campuses across central Canada in the past year. They have groups on university campuses in Guelph, Montreal, Ottawa and Peterborough as well as two Toronto groups and off campus groups in Ottawa and Vancouver. Most recently, Ryerson University caught a controversial mix of praise and indignation for banning the group from their campus. CAFE claim to be “committed to achieving equality for all Canadians” and identify as a human rights group who focus on men’s issues. However, despite their claims or how they identify, the events which CAFE have been planning have been covered to an unusually extensive degree by A Voice For Men.
But who are A Voice For Men and why do they care about Canada? AVFM is run by a man named Paul Elam and provides a forum for vitriolic hatred against women and feminists. The website was once labeled a hate site by virus software Norton Symantec, which may have been a mistake—but isn’t completely unjust. Their coverage of CAFE organized events includes extensive videos and articles about the Toronto lectures with a focus on painting event protesters as violent, loudmouth, radical feminists whose goal is to destroy the rights of men. They’ve even gone so far as to post an entire article on one of the protesters featuring her full name, a picture of her face with the word “bigot” below, as well as screen shots of her Facebook and Twitter posts. They also added this girl to register-her.com, a website AVFM own in which they name women they allege to be bigots (whatever that means) and “female rapists,” the majority of which are women accused of or found guilty of statutory rape. The website is less about men’s rights and more about anti-feminist ideas—and the imaginary monsters which those ideas create.
http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/we-went-to-a-mens-rights-lecture-in-toronto
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