For today’s post, the first of a new series I’ll be featuring here entitled : Everyone point and laugh at the MRAs (or alternatively: You really couldn’t make this shit up), it gives me great delight to introduce to you Bernard Chapin, regular contributor to MRA site Men’s Daily News and host of the YouTube series Chapin’s INFERNO.
Here’s Chapin in his (unintentionally hilarious) recent video: Take a Stand Against Feminists, spouting forth on his bizarre theory that “how men go to the bathroom has been a feminist obsession for four decades.”
Some memorable lines include:
“The American male, once proud and mighty, has been reduced to having to lift up his own toilet seat.”
“So consumed are they (feminists) with the notion of male superiority [ ] that they lobby for products to be created that force us (teh menz) to squat while urinating.”
(On devices designed to enable women to wee standing up – potentially useful at events like Glastonbury, or indeed when trapped for hours at a demo by police): The bottom line (hah! bottom line! geddit?) here is that I don’t care what women do when they go to the bathroom, any sanitary means is fine by me, but just don’t tread on me…. Ah…. there’s the rub, because they can’t do that, they have to come after what we do.”
Chapin goes on to quote extensively from this nine year old article by Jasper Gerard at the Spectator, but omits the bit where Gerard talks about how embarrassing men’s public toilets are: “One stands in shuffling silence staring with mock interest at the wall in front. Under no circumstances does one divert a glance by a single degree (unless one is a follower of Tom Driberg). Far from being a venue to display one’s masculinity, one feels embarrassed even to be there.”
Chapin concludes: “Look, we’ve got to fight these people, yes, only by non-violent means, but we’ve got to stand up to them, and the first thing we’ve got to do is continue to stand up while going to the bathroom. Don’t let them force your habits in whatever direction they want to. They have sick fantasies of control and domination and let’s not give in to them. Remember: fight the power.”
Enjoy!
Too Much To Say For Myself 
The English language is yet to invent a word that can succinctly evoke the moronic fail of these self-declared men’s rights advocates.
This makes me ashamed to be male – and probably ashamed to be English too!
AVPS – I believe the word is ‘numpty’.
xD.
what…….!
oh, and is he a brit now living in the states, or an american, because what’s the deal with the uber english nationalism going on?
Oh, looking forward to more in the series, Cath!
Why is he in an English football shirt?
German men pee sitting down, have done for years.
I would respectfully suggest that there is indeed a segment of the population obsessed with the penis, and the artful acts of the penis, up to and including pissing contests.
I am confident in declaring that there are no feminists in that segment of the population.
I want to watch this, but I can’t. My eyes won’t have it, not after your description. Good grief.
This is a public service, might I add. Cath = SupaFeminist! 😀
I have to plead guilty here Cath, because I DID write a piece about toilets, and how bleeding outrageous it was that Manchester City Council provide men’s urinals in Piccadilly Gardens and just have a sign up saying there are women’s loos three miles away, when you’re waiting for the fricking night bus, and several pints are working their way to your bladder, and yes I’m MAD AS HELL ABOUT MEN’S EASE OF URINATION. Particularly when they pee in the alley down the side of my house.
But yes the football shirt puzzled me as well Biskieboo. And alarmed me.
AVPS, I can think of a few, but they are sweary.
Yes. Uh. Wtf?!
Teh menz are sooo opressed, the poor things, they have to stress about stuff like this. And ladies’ only nights (listen dudes, when women earn the same as men, then we’ll talk). And having to pay child maintenance.
Also looking forward to more in the series 🙂
Gah. Meant ladies’ nights. Not ONLY. That is NOT the idea 😉
averypublicsociologist – how about:
fuckingfuckwittedknobheadedfuckwit
That is absolutely hilarious BTW Cath. I nearly pissed myself laughing……
They’re very upset about ladies only nights as well Butterflywings.
This is soooooo funny Cath. You should really do this in t’grauniad, you could be the new Pamela Stephenson Connolly, only intentionally funny.
Also who wants to wipe urine off the seat and have it all over the pedestal rug?
Yuck. Good for you Lola!
Some eco-loos require men to sit down to use them (need to separate urine from the ‘solids’ to allow composting), so is environmentalism an evil feminist plot against the poor poor men?
Come on now, the guys an idiot (although unless he invented all that mail he received and the title of that thesis, he’s not the only one.
But, Cath, surely there are men who are interested in evolving gender roles who it might be more constructive for you to highlight, engage with, debate with. If women should get a choice about careers, childcare, education, health etc, then so should men. The two are not mutually exclusive. To, say, trivialise the injustices of the family courts or the imbalances in primary/secondary education because women face discrimination in different areas makes no sense. Two wrongs, and all that good stuff.
I’m not saying you should go out and fight these other injustices, I just don’t really see why you need to write things like this and associate this guy with anyone who opens his mouth in support or sympathy for men who get a raw deal.
I think you’re clever and you express yourself well… but mixing in a bit of positivity and bit of empathy (for people, not just women) would make your writing even better.
“Man in telling woman blogger what/how they should write shock”.
I agree Matt, you’re so right, and we can apply your theory more widely. For example, Kim Jong il is a bit of an anomaly among world leaders. We shouldn’t criticise him at all or worry about North Korea’s arms race. After all he’s just the exception that proves the rule isn’t he?
I don’t know why the newspapers can’t focus on something positive, like the prime minister of Sweden, say.
Nb Matt, I think you’re clever and express yourself well as well. And I’m the most evol genius on the internetz, and I should know.
Hi Steph, I didn’t tell anyone what to write.
Sorry Polly, I don’t really follow your point about North Korea. Care to enlighten me?
No. Thorry I’m too evol.
Hi Steph, I didn’t tell anyone what to write.
George Orwell, in his 1946 essay, “Politics and the English Language,” defined as one of his fundamental rules of composition, “Never use the passive where you can use the active.”
Oh go on then…
I think you’re clever and you express yourself well… but mixing in a bit of positivity and bit of empathy (for people, not just women) would make your writing even better.
And I just love the “people” bit (not just women) AKA “what about the menz”
I have given up evil long enough to say – aren’t women people then?
But you’ll have to work out the Kim Jong il stuff for yourself. Thorry.
Shall we do internetz charades? Can somebody please mime ‘PAT’ and we’ll take it from there.
4 syllables – starts with…..
I think you’re clever and you express yourself well… but
how very dare you express an opinion about manz.
I’m sure Cath will be over the moon that she has *your* (on behalf of the good menz of the world?!) seal of approval though, Matt.
Aww come on Matt, it was funny!
Sometimes it’s nice just to have a bit of light relief, and if we can do that at the expense of misogynists like Chapin then so much the better.
There are some things you come across on the Internet that are just too good (for that read absolutely freakin’ hilarious) to ignore. This video was one of them.
But thanks for the head pat 🙂
Btw
Are you a teacher perchance?
Hi Cath,
I agree, it is a funny video and deserves to be ridiculed.
But grouping him with fathers who want better rights and treatment by society. It’s like judging all feminists by the most extreme and ridiculous elements. I bet you don’t like it when that happens?
Someone made a reference to North Korea, and I didn’t really see what she was getting at. Maybe that the countries nuclear threat and crazy president mean that the common korean’s woes are not our problem?
My comment about your writing wasn’t meant to be condescending. I’m sorry if it came across that way. I read what you write in the guardian and I meant what I said.
No worries Matt, and thanks for commenting here.
I’m not sure I do necessarily lump someone like Chapin in with fathers who want better rights and treatment though. Maybe it’s a definitions thing, but when I use the term MRA I’m using it to refer to men like this, the men’s rights activists who really offer nothing constructive, or bring nothing to the debate, besides misogyny and their specially reserved hatred for so-called femnazis (or feminastys as my old CiF sparring partner BrusselsLout has just referred to me over on Men’s Daily News).
Men who just want the right to spend more time with their kids, I have some sympathy for them, and as long as they’re not of the Father’s 4 Justice brigade, I probably wouldn’t refer to them as MRAs.
Ok Matt I’m having a temporary spell of humanity. I’ll spell it out for you.
You asked why Cath was concentrating on ‘nasty’ men like Chapin. The North Korea thing was what we call an *analogy*.
IE I was pointing out, that despite the endless criticism of some sections of society, ‘good news’ tends to not be very newsworthy. So asking Cath why she is concentrating on *bad* men is a bit of a redundant question (sorry Cath, not answering for your here). The existence of the *not bad* men doesn’t mean the *bad* ones aren’t still a problem. Very few men are serial killers, but Fred West still made the news.
Keep going cath! keep showing the world the true nature of women!
The world?
If only. Unfortunately my blog stats aren’t that high Steve.
You also assume Steve, that women HAVE a *true nature*.
But of course Polly, men are afforded individual agency while women behave as group-think-live-stock. [/sarc]
Highlighted up-thread.
But, Cath, surely there are men who are interested in evolving gender roles who it might be more constructive for you to highlight, engage with, debate with.
I.e. “Men are not all the same…etc, etc”
Interestingly, I think it is us that need fear the socially acknowledged “group-think”
https://toomuchtosayformyself.wordpress.com/2009/06/05/silence-is-the-enemy/
Also of course Matt, Chapin is hilariously funny. I mean really, didn’t it brighten your day?
Are you sure he’s not really Chris Morris Cath?
Hi Polly,
It’s a lot easier to interact with you when you have your “spells of humanity” as you put it- long may they continue.
Ok, let’s take your Fred West analogy. It identifies an individual (West) in a group (men).
In the case of this blog post we have an individual (Chapin) in a group (men’s rights activitists)
We wouldn’t point at West and say that all men are serial killers.
Yet the title of the series of posts (“Everyone point and laugh at the MRAs”) holds this guy up as being what men’s rights are all about. It devalues the efforts of those with legitimate concerns such as more equitable division of childcare and better paternity leave etc (in my case) and groups us with people who think there’s a feminist plot against men peeing standing up.
Funnily enough, that’s what he does in his video. For example, he judges all feminists by the standards of the woman who wrote that thesis on how men pee.
So yes, the video is funny, but if I posted videos of a ridiculous feminist in a series of blog posts called “let’s all point and laugh at the feminists” then it would be a bit unfair. Same here.
On another note, I felt a surprising amount of hostility here, and that doesn’t do anyone any good. I posted my comment on here in good faith. I don’t think it was unconstructive or abusive. It was clumsy where it was meant to be sincere, for which I apologised to Cath. I guess a lot of people come on here posting insults and rubbish (like the “women’s true nature” comment). There’s no need to assume that, if a bloke is posting that it’s guaranteed to deserve a similar response.
In my experience, life is a lot more pleasant if, when unsure, you give people the benefit of the doubt 🙂 A bit less gratuitous nastiness might also give the people who shout “feminasty” less ammo…
matt said:
“waffle waffle waffle waffle.” (or words to that effect).
Curiously Matt, I’ve just criticised some extremist feminists myself. And if you were to do the same, I’d think you were well within your rights to do so.
Cath never said Chapin is representative of the entire male half of the human race. For instance men who want to take an equal share in childcare, curiously most feminists (not hte barmy ones who believe male babies should be killed, obviously) actually support that.
What was being objected to was your patronising tone. You talked to Cath as though she was a naughty five year old. And she ain’t. She’s also very capable of speaking for herself of course, so I’m not speaking on her behalf here, just mine.
Hi Polly,
You’ve stated yourself that Cath can speak on her own behalf- did you realise this before or after your unconstructive and “evol” outrage on her behalf? You didn’t even try to understand what I was saying before attacking.
As for the rest, you’ll have to reread my comments to see that I never implied Cath was likening all men to Chapin, but she was likening all men’s rights activists to him (see the title of the proposed series of posts?)
That’s like me likening all feminists to the ones you claim to object to in your last comment.
Your second ‘curious’ point about most feminists supporting one of the key themes of the men’s rights debate just makes Cath’s attack on MRAs more ill-judged in my opinion.
This is not a difficult concept to grasp. Good luck!
Yeah: you see Matt that’s the bit you’re not getting. The patronising bit.
I would like to try to grasp this “not difficult” concept, but only having a tiny female brain I’m afraid it eludes me.
However if you go back and read your original comment, you will see it refers to ‘men’. Not MRA’s. Unless the two are equivalent in your mind.
But, Cath, surely there are men who are interested in evolving gender roles who it might be more constructive for you to highlight, engage with, debate with. If women should get a choice about careers, childcare, education, health etc, then so should men. The two are not mutually exclusive. To, say, trivialise the injustices of the family courts or the imbalances in primary/secondary education because women face discrimination in different areas makes no sense. Two wrongs, and all that good stuff
I’m patronising? From the woman who helpfully explained what an analogy is? 🙂
From a later comment, in response to one of yours:
“Yet the title of the series of posts (”Everyone point and laugh at the MRAs”) holds this guy up as being what men’s rights are all about.”
Voilà!
And from the bit you quoted: “But, Cath, surely there are men who are interested in evolving gender roles who it might be more constructive”
Well yes, men who are interested in evolving gender roles: equal to men’s rights activists in my mind.
I don’t believe it’s because you have a “a tiny female brain” as you put it that you’ll have trouble grasping it. I’m not sure where that came from unless you’re determined to find misogyny wherever you look… Sometimes, if someone thinks you’re aggressive childish twerp it’s not because you’re a woman, it’s because you act like an aggressive, childish twerp.
As you might put it…. evol evol kthxbye 😉
Yup Sophie is right. We need a tag.
That read *sarcasm * tag but wordpress thought it was HTML and helpfully removed it, cos I used pointy brackets, instead of *’s
And if you think Chapin is *interested in evolving gender roles*. No more than you are Matt, with your endless talking to the laydeez like we’re simpletons.
Matt – it’s never going to work. Polly’s primary aim in life is patronising the face of anyone who happens to be male. It doesn’t matter what you say, or how you say it. The gender divide that doesn’t matter to you really, really matters to her, above and beyond the content of what you say. To agree with a man would be … what, weakness? The best you can hope for is silence. Which is not to say that Polly’s stupid, or to be brushed aside, because – clearly – she isn’t.
However.
Chapin is clearly a dick. MRAs of his ilk are all clearly dicks. I’ve been on the receiving end of death threats from certain MRA groups in the UK – yes, Polly, really – and have no fondness for them. So, as a man, I’m happy to laugh.
Hi damagedoorm
Unfortunately, I think you’re spot on regarding polly- when it rains she must spend her time cursing every misogynist rain drop that lands on her.. “b*stard male clouds!!!”
As for chapin, I’m happy to laugh at him too. *Some* MRAs are dicks. But as I’ve said, I think it’s a shame to tar us all with the chapin brush which is what Cath’s post did (intentionally or not).
The obvious parallel is to say “let’s all point and laugh at the feminists” then post a video of a madwoman calling for all male babies to be killed at birth (to take polly’s example).
It’s the same old story where we should be on the same side… but the association in some people’s minds of “MRA = counter feminist” is too strong.
“The obvious parallel is to say “let’s all point and laugh at the feminists”
Or how about the blogs (not just a post) set up in my ‘honour’ by MRAs
Sparklematrix is a whore.
I Fuck for Choclolate.
Dead girls don’t say no.
Sparklematrix is a CUNT.
And that’s just the ones I know about.
Oh yes, and that was after my blog was ‘cracked’ and death threats left on it. (WP have tightened up now)
“you are gonna die in a car-fire while being fucked up the ass”
Blah, blah, blah.
Personalized porn with my name on it, complete with ‘voice-over’ “here’s looking at you babe”
So yeah, it sort of gets you that way—MRAs I mean.
Looks like they’re starting a fan club in my honour
http:// hereticalsex. blogspot.com/ 2009/ 06/too-sad-for-words.html
(No, you can’t click on the link. Copy and paste it into your browser bar and delete the spaces if you want to go there)
“It’s the same old story where we should be on the same side… but the association in some people’s minds of “MRA = counter feminist” is too strong.”
I mean, seriously however did MRA = counter feminist ever come into play?
Let’s just say Matt, that it wasn’t from feminists. And no, it ain’t raining misogynist rain-drops…whatever.
Matt and damagedoor:
I am sarcastic, not patronising, there’s a difference.
I won’t bother addressing the rest of your comments. Wotever.
Except you ain’t ever met me, so HTF do you know what my primary aim in life is? I could BE a man for all you know.
Sorry, Polly. I should have said your primary aim online appears to be to patronise … etc etc. If it’s actually just to be sarcastic to men, I stand corrected. All I know is, if I said “2+2=4, Polly”, you would be scrabbling through a maths textbook looking for a way to disagree.
Which isn’t a bad thing.
You could be a man for all I know. In fact, for all either of us knows, we might be friends in real life without either of us knowing it. Scary. 🙂
I know people with first class degrees in maths who could certainly disagree damagedoor. But since I have a blog of my own in which I’m rude to just about everyone, and I would doubt that my ‘primary aim’ on Cath’s blog is to be sarcastic to men, you’re still wrong. In fact my primary aim online is probably to go shopping and look up train times.
Of course splittting hairs isn’t something that online MRA’s ever go in for.
But since we’re on the subject, I have to point that the Male disagrees with Matt, since they think that taking equal part in childcare is something only hardline feminists support.
Oops forgot the linky
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1192720/Feminist-thinks-men-bring-babies-new-Labour-family-guru.html
Oh that article is precious Polly. How hilarious. I can just see the writer trying to compute ‘but feminist…but…married…’.
And I love how her hair has, in their minds, anything to do with anything.
Gosh, yes, I wonder why anyone would ever have thought that MRAs are anti-feminist?! /sarcasm.
Oh I know if there’s one thing that upsets these dudes more than a crop haired man hating lesbian, it’s a crop haired man hating heterosexual laydee.
Not that there’s many of them about of course – are there?
“Some eco-loos require men to sit down to use them (need to separate urine from the ’solids’ to allow composting), so is environmentalism an evil feminist plot against the poor poor men?”
Yeah you are right, why waste money on girlie flak jackets & tailored Kevlar.
Gregory