Jack Donovan wrote a while back about how feminists infiltrated and ultimately shut down a strongman class he created at a local gym in his piece The Soft Shutdown. All started off well, until a group of feminist women showed up and not only demanded inclusion, but insisted on radically changing the tone of the class:
The women were shouting each other in caricatured jock-talk all the way around the block.
“Push it, push it push it!”
“C’mon, don’t be a sissy!”
“We got this, we got this!”
“Bring it, girl!”
I don’t coach like that, and the men I coach never behave like that. Usually, we just shut up and do the work, offering encouragement and congratulations only when it is really necessary or earned.
About mid-block, the girls started letting out blood-curdling shrieks—which was embarrassing, because we were out on the street with people passing by.
Given the differences between men and women, simply adding women to a group of men will often radically change the tone of the activity. However, when the women are feminists the changes are not by accident:
As I got back inside and started pounding on the tire with Ms. Pink—who had at that point known me for approximately 7 minutes—she proceeded to make suggestions about improving the class.
She recommended that the name should be changed to “Strongman AND StrongWOMAN Sundays,” instead of just “Strongman Sundays.” She said she thought it would be “more inclusive.”
It is worth noting that from the first day of the class a woman had attended. This no doubt changed the culture of the class, but it wasn’t disruptive:
The tall blond woman was always polite and she just wanted to work out. I had no problems with coaching her along with the guys. In fact, she brought along a guy friend who then brought his son to the next class. Coaching a father and son together was definitely my most rewarding class. I could tell that it was a good day for them, and that made it a good day for me.
But with a group of feminists intent on ensuring that there is no such thing as a male space, any effort at inclusion will be taken as an opportunity to take over:
“How do you like that, Jack?!”
“The only ones who can hang with you for your strong MAN class are strong WOMEN!”
“How about THAT?!”
Then she turned back to the PPP and said something inane, like “How about THAT, girls! It’s all about the WOMEN!”
His story isn’t anything I’m guessing my readers haven’t witnessed multiple times in their lives. And as Jack described, feminists’ compulsion to invade all male spaces is typically as ridiculous as it is pathological. As I wrote before:
Feminists lay awake at night consumed with the knowledge that somewhere out there there are men who are proud to be men, and there is no woman there to tell them she is just as good as they are.
My wife and I recently saw this phenomenon while watching the sequel to the Long Way Round series. In the original series the two friends travel around the world by motorcycle. They started in the UK and rode east until they hit the Bering Sea, and after flying across to Alaska continued their journey across Canada and the US until they ultimately reached New York.
I’m not a motorcyclist, but I really loved watching the two friends enjoying the ride and each other’s company across incredible scenery. While they had some inevitable friction, for the most part the two embraced their adventure with a feeling of effortless camaraderie. The tougher the slog, the better they worked with each other and their support crew, not to mention the local men who helped them out:
While their bikes were designed for both on road and off road use, many of the roads were pushing the limits of both the riders and the bikes.
Recently I learned that they made a sequel titled Long Way Down, where they do a similar trip from the northern tip of the UK to the southern tip of Africa. Since we enjoyed the first series so much we added it to our Netflix queue. Much of the show was still enjoyable, but this second series was not nearly as good as the first in my opinion. The tone of the program changed a great deal when Ewan’s wife Eve made an impressive display of girl-power (much attitude with little to no skill); despite never having ridden a motorcycle she decided she had to join the men for part of the trip:
I should point out that the first series took place in 2004, and the second trip occurred in 2007. While Boorman is clearly the more talented and accomplished rider of the two, both men started the second trip with a great deal of experience handling motorcycles in extremely difficult terrain. Eve decided she would join them without ever having ridden a motorcycle, or even a scooter. As she states in the video above, she did it out of jealousy that the two men were going to have an adventure that she wasn’t participating in. Throughout her meager efforts at training Ewan coddled her like a child; at the same time he was always seeking her approval. While much of the second series is still quite good, the parts with Eve were painful to watch. Charlie Boorman makes a valiant effort to appear supportive of Eve, but it is clear that he wanted a different kind of experience than the one they had when Eve was in the mix. Commenters on Amazon and Netflix had the same reaction my wife and I did. While reviewer Charlie at Amazon.com gave the sequel 5 stars and (unlike me) thought it was better than the first series, he too felt Eve was a distraction:
Eva, Ewan’s wife, is shown learning to ride a bike, and tagged along for a portion of the journey towards the end. Although it must have been an exciting adventure for her, I felt she was just a third wheel in the whole scheme of things.
Third wheel indeed. The review voted most helpful on Netflix made a similar observation:
The first parts of the series is too rushed to enjoy (a large complaint from the two stars) but they slow down and the series becomes as wonderful as the first. McGregor’s wife joined the duo for a section of the journey which took away from the feeling of comradeship between McGregor and Boorman.
Still, I highly recommend both series. Just have the fast forward button handy for when Eve shows up and starts spouting feminist platitudes like (paraphrase) “Strong women will solve Africa’s problems, so long as the men will follow”. If only all ridiculous girl-power feminists were so easy to ignore.
God, I’m tired of feminists. It’s a good thing that there aren’t that many in Texas. Unfortunately, Jack Donovan lives in Portland, Oregon, so he’s bound to encounter those harpies frequently.
“Strong women will solve Africa’s problems, so long as the men will follow”
LOL
Have you seen that show, Dual Survival, on Discovery? Similar tone, they drop two experienced woodsmen into the outdoors and you watch them work. The best ones are where things go wrong, or things get tough – the guys teamwork just improves to meet the new challenges. It takes a lot of trust to let another person cauterize your arm with gunpowder.
It think it’s high time men started saying to feminists, “no this is a men only group. There are plenty of women only groups, gyms, areas in gyms, etc.”
@ Bob
I love that show, it’s effing awesome. I was watching it last night.
Dalrock:
Your last paragraph is still a prominent feminist attitude. Regardless of what one thinks of US foreign policy, has anybody else noticed the sadistic gleam in Hillary’s eyes when she’s laying down demands on Arabian chieftains?
Doug1
It think it’s high time men started saying to feminists, “no this is a men only group. There are plenty of women only groups, gyms, areas in gyms, etc.”
It’s been done. Lawsuits follow, with the woman/women’s lawyers paid for by some foundation or the ACLU, and the defendant pays out of his own pocket. Even if the man or men “won”, they would still be out thousands, or tens of thousands, of dollars — and likely vulnerable to another lawsuit based on some variation of the original complaint.
This is the modern world. Every “space” in the world is “women’s space”, upon pain of invocation of discrimination. “Men’s space” is illegal, to the best of my knowledge, with the limited exception of public restrooms, and some locker rooms (NFL locker rooms are now “women’s space” as well, apparently).
This inequity is what feminists call “equality”.
About the discussion of the strongman class, I’m not familiar with this kind of workout. But it shows a lot in common with the debate over the Planet Fitness commercials. I’m not sure why a lot of women and feminized beta men build up this idea that something is so wrong with weightlifting culture. The gyms I’ve been in were friendly and guys left others alone. Guys grunted and sometimes dropped weights, and freeweight rooms are full of loud clanking noises. But see, here’s the big secret we keep trying to tell you: It’s nothing personal. All these things are just because lifting heavy metal things is hard work, and to get stronger you have to push your own limits every time. If women like guys who are strong and in shape, get out of the way and let us work to provide it to you. Simple right? I don’t get it, is this some strange sort of s–t test or something?
@ My Name Is Jim
It’s not all women who bitch and moan about guys working out; just the fem-bitches.
My name is Jim–
Sex/slut pozzie feminists like dominant men in the bedroom. But all feminism is offically against male dominance anywhere else, and many feminists (especially the more lesbo variety) viscerally so. Hence the contradiction.
Sex/slut pozzie feminists like dominant men in the bedroom. But all feminism is offically against male dominance anywhere else, and many feminists (especially the more lesbo variety) viscerally so. Hence the contradiction.
Yep. What I have noticed with feminist women I have been with is that they want a janus-faced man: equalist outside the bedroom and dominant in the bedroom. And they see no contrradiction in this — men are supposed to just switch it on and off in context. Of course in marriages even that breaks down, as the non-dominant husband gets the Sandra Tsing-Loh “kitchen bitch” heave-ho.
OMG! I love these shows! Charlie has a series of books — I think they’re called “by any means” about how he gets around . . .well, by boat, or hitch hiking, or however he can. they are *excellent* and I have a massive crush on Charlie. He’s all kinds of manly and skilled, and you can also tell that he’s quite a good family man too.
Now, to the Strongman class (awesome!), I think the coach should have taken some control of his class. He could have told them to cut it out, for example. Maybe because I am a woman, but I’m constantly telling people to can it in (yoga) classes. I politely start with “press the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth” and move on to “yoga doesn’t require comment at this time” and finally “only one control freak allowed in the room at a time — and that’s me. You all paid for me to be this control freak, so you might as well let go and enjoy.”
To say the least, I’m a polarizing figure and I attract a lot of men to my classes (no BS yoga classes, how nice). LOL
Anyhoot, I suppose it might be harder for a man to do this, but no doubt Athol would have some functional quips that would bring them in line, rather than having to give up the class.
And if he did it in a private space — not associated with a gym/etc — then he would have been able to say “no, sorry, no women allowed” — just as the boy scouts do not allow female members (or gay ones for that matter — presumedly).
IDK, I mean, yes — it sucks that women were misbehaving, but it sucks more that he let it destroy his class. I hope he moved it to a different location, as I’ve had to do with many yoga classes in my day (I keep getting fired for pissing people off. I wonder why that happens? 😉 Now I run my own place, though, so I can’t fire myself. I suppose I could, but I’m good at what I do, so I wouldn’t).
And, I felt like Eva was a damn fool.
Yeah, sometimes i get jealous when my husband has lots of man time with the men. I don’t get quite as frequent woman (without baby) time with the women. BUt, that’s just life right now, and his man time is super important.
He has done cool as sh*t man stuff like hiking part of the AT with his good buddy. When I’ve been there, it’s a stupid mess and everyone is pissy. So, I stopped going after two trips. Took me two to figure it out. And then, I just took trips on my own time — with my friends or family or alone.
It’s the best. What is wrong with people?
“at the same time he was always seeking her approval”
This is exactly the problem. We wouldn’t be in this men if men were not eager for woman’s approval. This becomes when the man is a child and seeks his mother’s approval.
Eve: “I want to do this journey”
Husband: “OK. Practice on your own and I will put you some tests by the end of this month. If you pass the tests, you will be ready to come with us. Now, I am too busy to teach beginners”.
Eve: [insert nonsense, shaming language, whining or bitching]
Husband: Yawn! [Goes away while the woman keeps on bitching]
I meant: “We wouldn’t be in this MESS”
My Name is Jim:
Simple right? I don’t get it, is this some strange sort of s–t test or something?
IMO, you can view feminism as a shit test. In context, simply endure the never ending litigation by shelling out thousands of dollars, and you’ve passed. You’re an alpha to her. The next feminist who comes across you can do the same thing. Rinse/repeat.
Lawsuit happy culture, and the groups that enable feminists to be litigious at others expense make for a destructive combination. Many feminists don’t even know this rationally (like many girlfriends are not aware of their shit testing), and the ones that are seem to not care about the huge inefficiency they’re building into society by doing this.
Pingback: Linkage is Good for You: Lazy Edition
I remember Jack’s thread over at Spearhead. Happened to a lot of us, and there was really nothing we could do except just pack up and move on.
The smugness of these feminists is unbelievably frustrating to a true equalist.
Equality of opportunity would apply if these ‘ladies’ couldn’t start up their own weight-training program, which they could. If Jack wanted to have a men-only program, the feminists who insist on joining are then being pushy. This is Third-Wave Feminism.
Lovecraft, I recall the original thread as well. The worst part to me is that all-female programs exist. Heck, Curves is a franchised “women’s space” gym/exercise operation, to the best of my knowledge. Anyone want to guess how far a sexual discrimination lawsuit would get? Nowhere, fast. But every garage-turned-gym that men create is one pissy, entitled princess’s snit-fit away from being sued out of existence.
Society in a sense just mirrors marriage 2.0; in marriage, his money is their money and her money is hers. In society, common space is women’s space, men’s space is women’s space.
Anonymous Reader says: “Every “space” in the world is “women’s space”, upon pain of invocation of discrimination. “Men’s space” is illegal, to the best of my knowledge, with the limited exception of public restrooms, and some locker rooms (NFL locker rooms are now “women’s space” as well, apparently).”
Actually I read the original article and it occurred to me that there might be a way. Religion is still protected from discrimination suits. What you need to do is declare yourself a Church that happens to double as a Gym. An Old Style Church. One that adheres literally to Paul on women – they should shut up and need permission of their men before they are allowed to do anything. Permission that would not be forth coming. If you have to hold a prayer meeting every Sunday, it would be no big deal. Read something about Sampson perhaps.
After all, Orthodox Jews don’t let men and women mix and no one has managed to force them to do otherwise so far.
So Much For Subtlety
Actually I read the original article and it occurred to me that there might be a way. Religion is still protected from discrimination suits. What you need to do is declare yourself a Church that happens to double as a Gym. An Old Style Church. One that adheres literally to Paul on women – they should shut up and need permission of their men before they are allowed to do anything. Permission that would not be forth coming. If you have to hold a prayer meeting every Sunday, it would be no big deal. Read something about Sampson perhaps.
It could be worth a try, although the IRS has gotten a great deal more particular about what is and isn’t a religion, in response to various tax dodges over the years. Especially in areas such as Portlandia and SoCal, where all manner of strange groups have sprung up, it might be possible to at least keep the local yokels off your back with “The Temple of Samson” or something like that.
Although if NOW wants to pile on, there’s plenty of donors they can line up to fund a Federal “bankrupt the defendant” lawsuit.
After all, Orthodox Jews don’t let men and women mix and no one has managed to force them to do otherwise so far.
Judaism was present at the founding of the country, it’s a lot easier for the Orthodox to mount such a defense. Plus, let’s be real, no feministas really want to colonize Orthodox Judaism. They already have Reform Judaism. But a gym? A potential man’s space? That’s catnip to the empowered, equal, wimmin.
I can’t believe a man would marry any woman who spoke like that. I always thought Ewan McGregor lacked a little ‘manliness’ factor. Now I know it. Eww, the danger of your wife saying something like that and ruining it forever (permanent soft-on) is just far too high to ever consider marriage. Thanks for this.
Glad I found this blog. I have been looking for a forum that says what I have been feeling for a long time. Keep up the awesome comments.
Anonymous Reader says: – “It could be worth a try, although the IRS has gotten a great deal more particular about what is and isn’t a religion, in response to various tax dodges over the years. Especially in areas such as Portlandia and SoCal, where all manner of strange groups have sprung up, it might be possible to at least keep the local yokels off your back with “The Temple of Samson” or something like that.”
Why? Just call it what it is – Traditional Bible-based Christianity. Try to mess with what is, after all, orthodoxy and see how far the IRS gets. You don’t need to claim anything strange. Just say what the Bible says – women need to shut up in Church and respect their husbands and there you are.
“Although if NOW wants to pile on, there’s plenty of donors they can line up to fund a Federal “bankrupt the defendant” lawsuit.”
If they want to try. They would be trying with the Southern Baptists and the Catholics if they thought they had a snow ball in hell’s chance of winning.
“Judaism was present at the founding of the country, it’s a lot easier for the Orthodox to mount such a defense.”
So was Ball-based Christianity. Whatever else the Founding Fathers did not believe, they did not believe in a female-centred God.
“Plus, let’s be real, no feministas really want to colonize Orthodox Judaism. They already have Reform Judaism. But a gym? A potential man’s space? That’s catnip to the empowered, equal, wimmin.”
Good for them. Make it a life style choice – to join this Church women have to accept the authority of men as specified in the Bible in all things, not merely Gyms. See how many *want* to join then.
Pingback: Don’t Hit Me I’m A Girl! | Dalrock
Pingback: Feminist territory marking. | Dalrock
AWESOME videos !!!!