I Guess I'm A Beta Male

I have recently come upon MRAs, Men's Rights Activists, on the net, and wow. Just, wow. There are a very small minority of them that aren't bat shit insane and actually have some legitimate gripes, such as male circumcision, but those guys are truly rare. Most MRAs are women hating, misogynistic gas bags.

Today I want to talk about Alpha Males. Read that. I'm sure it will make you...angry. These are just a few of the things that come from 'Alpha Males'. Alphas can do whatever they want, whenever they want. They are the dominate people in the room. No woman can be their equal in physicality, intellect, or social standing. Alphas get tail whenever they want and they cheat on their girlfriends (they also don't get married, because that's how women get ya!). I have even read forums where violence is suggested as a way to make a woman submissive to their Alpha. Alphas are emotionally unstable, the slightest criticism can set them off. (Seriously, read the comment section on those posts. The few voices who criticize the writer's posts have their comments rewritten.)

I'm not emotionally insecure at all!

So upon reading what an Alpha is, I think I would rather be a Beta. The blog linked above says that all Beta's are a whiners and cockblockers. Or even worse, nerds. Really, I think that a 'Beta' male is anyone who isn't clinically psychopathic. I would rather be considered a Beta male than do any of the things Alpha males do. I just can't see treating women like property, or a game. I can't advocate violence or psychological abuse to get what I want. I can't imagine a world where women can't be equals. I can't advocate cheating in a relationship either, though open relationships are a different story. There isn't anything wrong with being clever, kind, loving, empathetic, or gentle. Those traits might make a male a Beta, but they also make them far superior to an Alpha.

To make you feel better about the whole MRA thing, here are some links to sites that regularly dismantle the misogyny. They also have a list of links, so feel free to explore!

Manboobz.com
Alas, A Blog!

The Bechdel Test

In my random wanderings of the internet I found the coolest test to use on movies. It's called The Bechdel Test,  from the comic Dykes To Watch out For (a comic I'm not familiar with, unfortunately). It is a test that helps illustrate the presence of gender in movies. It isn't a test to determine if a movie is good, or even pro-feminist, just to show how the genders are represented in film. I'm actually a bit sad I hadn't found this earlier (the strip it came from was published in 1985, it's older than me!) It has three basic rules for a movie to pass the test.

1. The movie has to have at least two named female characters.
2. At some point, the female characters have to talk to each other.
3. When they talk, they can't talk about a man.

It is amazing how many movies don't pass this test. My favorite movie, Fight Club, fails miserably (though, it is supposed to be a movie about what it means to be a man in a consumerist society). Although the Kill Bill movies pass, so I can take some solace in that. I have enjoyed applying this test to all the films I have seen recently, and I think it's kind of sad that more movies don't pass. Do filmmakers really think that if two women are on screen not talking about men that I will lose interest? Ah well, maybe they will get the picture eventually.