barrydeutsch:

kick-neckbeard-ass: Sometimes people ask me why I dislike Bronies, and I try to give a quick, concise answer; sometimes I even point to the very tl;dr post that pretty much sums up why the abuse I faced from members of my own fandom drove me away from it. But I’ve been noticing a pattern,… Red3Blog: That’s a really great post, and thanks for reposting it.



I have to ask, though - since I think our fat politics are pretty similar - are you bothered by the “neckbeard” thing? The neckbeard trope seems, to a significant extent, like turning legitimate feminist concerns into an excuse to make fun of fat men.

(Wanted to detach this from the initial reblog since its enough of a tangent)

I’m troubled by it, though without necessarily feeling sorry for the men (myself included) who are insulted with it. I think its part of a larger problem where MRA-types appropriate feminist criticisms that originated from women and trying to rebrand them as slights against “beta males”. This pollutes the context considerably so some people know do think jokes about fedoras and neckbeards and Nice Guys are actually all meant to reinforce misogynistic standards. I am routinely mocked as a “literal fedora neckbeard” by MRAs even when I’m clean-shaven and hatless, for instance. Because they’ve decided that’s what these words mean. Its something they’ve long done to “White Knight”, too. Divorcing it from its intent to use it to erase any man who doesn’t co-sign their abusive behavior towards women.

But, I’m just not that moved to have much sympathy for men, even fat men, around it. I think the appropriation of feminist language actually is a more harmful action than the superficial taunting its in service of. And the original context was responding to significant patterns of geek guys, fat guys, etc. expressing feelings of entitlement and resentment for women and I just don’t feel fair complaining about being collateral damage in attempts to respond to that abuse. Maybe its not “fair”, but the misogynistic abuse is much more upsetting.

So, the appropriation of it is definitely problematic for a lot of significant ways. I try not to take those insults personally because what I’m really upset by is the demonstration of the entitlement that is infused in everything MRAs do.