Up until about three days ago, I didn't even know there was somebody named "Anne Rice."
Her latest activity on Facebook was brought to my attention, however, and it has seriously pissed me off.
Who in the hell is she?
Apparently she's some famous vampire story writer with a following.
Perhaps this following is dwindling however, and she must be trying to find another niche, because now it looks like she's trying to become another yuppie armchair feminist.
It was the following post on her Facebook page that caught my attention:
"Earlier, we posted on the ghastly cruel practice of Female Genital Mutilation of little girls around the world. Immediately the thread was hi-jacked by people insisting that male circumcision had to become the topic. In effect, the little girl victims of FGM was shoved brutally to the back of the bus, and told their problem just wasn't important enough to rate a thread of its own, and until male circumcision was addressed along with it, they would get no attention. I was stunned. I mean I have seldom been so disappointed and shocked by sexism on this page. Let me also note: male circumcision is almost never a topic brought here by anyone UNLESS some one tries to discuss Female Genital Mutilation; only then do the anti-male circumcision people appear to hog the limelight and shift the entire focus. This is truly stunning. Here is an article from wikipedia on FGM for those who are interested. Thanks to Rebecca Hulit for the link. I will continue to speak out against this barbaric practice. I do not think women are second class humans. They do not have to wait in line for men's problems to be solved before we can discuss theirs. (And by the way, male circumcision and female genital mutilation are not the same!)"
It's almost entertaining to watch somebody complain about
how somebody "hijacks a thread" with "sexist comments"
by doing none else than attempting to hi-jacking a thread, and replying with sexist comments.
No, seriously, if she's looking for a new crowd, Anne Rice should try becoming a stand-up comedian.
No one is trying to "hi-jack" anyone. No
one is trying to "steal Anne's thunder."
FGM is wrong, and there's no
doubt about it.
But seriously, anti-FGM activists like Anne Rice has apparently become would like to believe like they've got to work real hard to get people on their side.
No, Anne, its MALE genital mutilation people want to "shove
to the back of the bus," thanks.
I replied with similar remarks.
Her reply to me?
"You're insulting and you're wrong."
That's it?
That's her big reply?
All I've got to say is, not very impressed.
I can see that all this really is for her is a contest on getting more viewers and readers. Well, it looks like her tactics are working.
What a horrible, sexist person Anne Rice is, for seeding more ignorance on this issue.
How absolutely revolting to see this sexist double-standard from people who are supposed to be enlightened.
Apparently pointing out that boys also happen to be victims of genital mutilation, somehow means you're sexist against women
"I do not think women are second class humans. They do
not have to wait in line for men's problems to be solved before we can discuss
theirs," she says.
And yet, this is precisely what Anne Rice proposes for boys and MEN.
And yet, this is precisely what Anne Rice proposes for boys and MEN.
Men are second
class humans. We shouldn't worry about men, because women and THEIR problems
are more important, is basically what she and her ilk are saying.
What WE, and other
intactivists are saying, is that male and female circumcision are the SAME
problem.
Forcibly cutting is wrong for both boys AND girls.
How insulting that Anne Rice accuses us of "hogging the limelight and shifting the entire focus," when "brutally shoving to the back of the bus" is precisely what SHE's doing.
Anne Rice couldn't be less enlightened on the subject of genital mutilation.
How insulting that Anne Rice accuses us of "hogging the limelight and shifting the entire focus," when "brutally shoving to the back of the bus" is precisely what SHE's doing.
Anne Rice couldn't be less enlightened on the subject of genital mutilation.
In Indonesia, an infant girl undergoes "sunat" to fulfill religious and cultural tradition.
Not too far away, an infant boy undergoes circumcision for precisely the same reasons.
(Notice the mother: "Shh! Quiet!")
Intactivists demand equal rights for BOTH sexes.
No.
No more firewall between men and women.
You can't have
one without the other.
You can't talk about the horrors of FGM while ignoring
MGM and pretending it doesn't exist.
It's insulting, ridiculous, and REVOLTING to insist people are "hijacking" the conversation,
"shoving to the back of the bus," when this is precisely what is
happening right here.
It's so hilarious to hear Rice go on about "second class citizenship" and being forced to "wait in line," when that's basically what she is proposing should happen for boys and men.
Clamoring "don't you dare steal our thunder" while shouting others down... talk about the pot calling the kettle.
It's so hilarious to hear Rice go on about "second class citizenship" and being forced to "wait in line," when that's basically what she is proposing should happen for boys and men.
Clamoring "don't you dare steal our thunder" while shouting others down... talk about the pot calling the kettle.
One of her followers, one Natalie Mullins dares to reply to me with idiotic pap:
"I love how Anne posts something about female issues and is accused of being sexists for it. You people are seriously backwards. Here's the problem Joseph- Men HAVE NOT BEEN OPPRESSED FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS IDIOT. There is NOTHING sexist about Anne posting about FGM. And if you want to talk about MGM, make your own damn post about it. FGM and male circumcision are patently not the same and any idiot can see that."
Oh, I see the way it is; cutting girls is wrong, but cutting boys is OK "because they've had it coming all this time."
Can this woman even hear herself talk?
"Not patently the same." What is the basis for this claim?
I can back mine you know.
They ARE the same.
YES THEY ARE.
And this is demonstrable.
WHY are FGM and MGM "not patently the same?" Is it
the severity? The "medical benefits?" Is it "the research?"
Is it religion? Let's have it.
What is the reason cutting girls is bad, but
cutting boys is OK?
This is the equality sign I currently have up on my Facebook account.
It envelops it all; blue for boys, pink for
girls, purple for intersexed.
It's high time we stopped pretending like there
is this firewall between the sexes.
Highlighting one sex over the other IS
sexist.
We are not arguing that girls be drowned out, yet this is precisely
what Anne Rice, and other anti-FGM speakers, demands for boys.
ALL sexes.
ALL
voices need to be heard, not just that of women.
To demand only FGM be talked
about, but nothing else, is blatant and deliberate sexism.
"Payback time," as Natalie suggests, I guess...
The about section of her Facebook page states that Anne Rice is "Committed to defending the rights of women, children, and gay persons. Committed to defending the rights of women, children and gays against traditional religions that target them for special persecution and oppression. " - Notice the absence of males.
When women undergoing circumcision in Africa suffer problems, such as complications, life-long problems, deaths etc., the whole world knows about it, and rightly so.
But when the men suffer the same problems, boys being circumcised in the harsh conditions of the African bush, boys losing their penises for life, boys and men dying after their "initiations," everyone just shuts up.
Don't talk about it.
Yes, let's talk about the girls and women being forcibly circumcised in Africa.
But to talk about the boys and men being forcibly circumcised is "sexist hi-jacking."
WHY???
Not understanding that forcibly cutting the genitals of any child is a human rights issue is deliberate and willful blindness.
It's time to bring down the firewall between FGM and MGM.
Cutting a person's genitals against his/her wishes is the exact same principle and violation of basic human rights.
Genital mutilation, whether it be wrapped in culture, religion or “research” is still genital mutilation.
It is mistaken, the belief that the right amount of “science” can be used to legitimize the deliberate violation of basic human rights.
Anne Rice is a misandrist hypocrite. She's obviously a crowd-pleasing people pleaser with zero integrity. She cares more about book sales and popularity and doesn't give a rat's ass for actual equality of the sexes.
Now she's deleting dissent on her Facebook page while allowing deliberate ignorance to go unmitigated.
Being "brutally forced to the back of the bus" and having to "wait in line" indeed.
Equal rights for ALL sexes.
Related Articles:
Circumcision is Child Abuse: A Picture Essay
Anne Rice loses a fan; another blogger sounds off.
Dear Anne, contrary to your strange economic thinking, it is actually possible to fight multiple injustice at the same time without one "detracting" from the other. I have taught rape prevention and self-defense courses for all ages, genders, and sexual orientations. I have never insisted that the problem of rape for one demographic must be solved before we address the needs of another. While I understand the need for women-only or adult classes in some cases, it's not as if we can't have classes for boys or children to meet their needs. And it's not as if the teacher who holds a class for one group in the morning can't do another class later for another group.
ReplyDeleteI have fought for Gay rights at the very same time I've fought circumcision, and have even connected the two by pointing out the anti-sex, anti-pleasure history of circumcision (male and female) that stretches back to the very roots of circumcision, sexism, and homophobia.
In fact, I can't think of a single activist I know who doesn't work on multiple issues and who doesn't often connect them. Only on Anne Rice's page, however, do we encounter this curious argument that insists that fighting genital mutilation of boys and intersex children somehow "deflects" from fighting against FGM.
That's the oppressor's brainwashing, Anne. That's the myth of scarcity lying to you, saying that there's some little piece of the pie that we all must fight over lest someone get fed while another goes hungry so we all have to fight amongst ourselves instead of fighting the lies we're being told.
I am asking you to use your imagination to imagine a better way of being.
Great piece as always Joseph. I can also claim that until yesterday I was oblivious to the existence of this odious woman.
ReplyDeleteSadly there are far too many women in this world who have had it programmed into their DNA that they are due all the sympathy in this world and men can take a hike if they have the temerity to expect any sympathy to flow in their direction.
After many years of marriage and much conflict about sex I discovered just a few years ago that the circumcision which was imposed on me by my intact mother as an infant was very much a part of the problem with my marriage. It was then that I discovered that my intact wife shared the same dismissive attitude with regard to the surgical modification of my genitals that my mother clearly also had.
I can see now that my marriage, nay my whole life, was sabotaged from the outset by my mother. The marriage is now history and I shall blunder onwards a more chastened man in the knowledge that you really are on your own in this life. My motto now is: Never expect too much from people, even those closest to you, and you will never be disappointed.
I found the hypocrisy of Anne Rice and her minions to be palpable. I understand your anger. I could not help but think of Jesus's admonition to not worry about the fleck of dust in your neighbor's eye when you have a plank/log in your own eye. (Matthew 7:5)
ReplyDeleteWhy whine about FGM that happens half-way across the globe when you ignore the genital mutilation that is rampant in your own backyard.
I have to admire how completely brainwashed her minions are. They have completely swallowed with out any mastication the propaganda about how awful FGM is and how it is "completely" different from MGM to the point that the facts cannot get through. The facts are that the most common forms of FGM are more invasive than the most common form of MGM, circumcised women can still have orgasms, many circumcised women do not feel harmed (as do many circumcised men), and both are performed for reasons of power and control. Opponents of all forms of genital mutilation should look at how the opponents of FGM were able to win the propaganda war.
I am also not impressed with people who only have the courage to go after the low hanging fruit. Anne Rice's response is either unfortunate or telling or both. It is unfortunate because she could have embraced the support of people who are against all forms of genital mutilation. Instead she and her minions alienated motivated allies. Why didn't she talk about how we can pass along our success with FGM to MGM.
It is telling of how some feminists want equality for all people regardless of sex or gender, while other feminists just hate males. She and her minions has exposed themselves as the latter. People like this give the good feminists a bad name.
Did you mean "less invasive"?
DeleteMy thoughts precisely otherwise.
I stand corrected, the most commonly practiced form of FGM is less invasive than the most commonly practiced form of MGM.
DeleteI read Interview with a Vampire after seeing the movie version featuring Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise. I found it a rather sappy romance novel and it put me off reading anything else she has written. That she is a successful novelist is fine and dandy; that she is shamelessly trying to garner public attention in publishing this misandrist screed is gauche. That she derides those challenge and criticize her for her misinformed opinion makes her an obscurantist. This makes me think of a quote from Winston Churchill: "Truth is incontrovertible, ignorance can deride it, panic may resent it, malice may destroy it, but there it is." I am confident truth will prevail and the forced genital cutting of all children will end in the not too distant future. In the meantime I am making a point of ignoring her as she has demonstrated she is beyond reason.
ReplyDeleteI was appalled by the disrespect and unprofessional, defensive behavior of Anne Rice, and her supposed enlightened female followers, on her facebook page. Why couldn't she just have acknowledged the concerns of those who brought up male circumcision and agreed that MGM and FGM are equally problematic and should both be addressed. Why the antagonism, defensive posturing, anger and attacks on those trying to point out what should be obvious? I think this is because she does not agree that males who are circumcised are being mutilated, she may have circumcised her own son, she may have a religious belief that favors circumcision. Clearly her comments, and those of the ignorant (?stupid) females in line with her, show a complete lack of knowledge, insight, understanding of male circumcision (MGM). Basically it is tunnel vision and an inability to even think rationally that children are children and cutting off their genitals is wrong. Those females make our gender look really bad. They spew forth anger and hatred with statements that are factually inaccurate and try to shout down the opposition. But we don't have to be the opposition. These "feminists" drive people away. I used to think that males had it easier than females in this country. But after raising two sons and one daughter, I realize that males, especially male children, have a very hard time of it here.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like her books are full of things that would better off be left out if one is trying to improve the lives of children.
Furthermore, she has yet to allow a separate discussion of male circumcision and never will. She has yet to even comprehend that male circumcision adversely affects female pleasure and sexual function. She is a disappointment. (And a media whore.)
"Men HAVE NOT BEEN OPPRESSED FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS IDIOT. " more ignorance. yes, yes they have. as much as, if not more than 10000 years have men been tortured with this
ReplyDeletehttp://www.historyofcircumcision.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=54
Anne Rice is far from a man hater. She's a kind and warm hearted person. Granted I am against circumcision... extremely against it, I think it should be left to the individual to decide. But I am well aware of Anne Rice's work, she loves women and men alike and is a rather progressive person and is pro-gay rights. She is an incredible human being with a brilliant mind.
ReplyDeleteHowever, you can't expect all people to be very informed about circumcision. We still live in an age where a lot of people just don't think of it as something wrong as it's so prevalent in our culture. It's better to educate people rather than to lash out at them, calling them a whore. I absolutely disagree with this level of barbaric character you're exhibiting in this article.
Well thank you for sharing your POV on my blog. :-)
Delete