'Legal rape' advocate targets Canberra

See? Look what a Paleo diet does, folks!

That “top Aussie bloke” may or may not really believe what he says. After all, he will be charging up to $15,000 an appearance during his AOTY 12 months! Who wouldn’t be a privileged white male promoting Equality! Puts a whole ‘nother angle to the runner-up, too. Cate only gets up to $5,000 an appearance, according to News today …

Jill Thomsen said :

LATEST UPDATE: Return of Kings has now cancelled all official events, however members are still free to meet casually if they wish. Mr Valizadeh has said that he has cancelled official events because can no longer guarantee the safety or privacy of the men attending these events. There is some irony in cancelling an event that promotes harassment and assault out of fear of harassment and assault.

Its important to note, though, that just because the Return of Kings branded events have been cancelled, doesn’t mean these events won’t go ahead unofficially, and certainly doesn’t remove misogyny from our society. The conversation about misogyny and violence against women does not, and should not, end with the cancellation of these events.

Dutton has said he won’t get a visa …

Charlotte Harper said :

I was conflicted as to whether we should publish an article on this issue… However, I also felt Jill’s article made some important points and combined with the strong Canberra angle on the story, decided the positives of publishing outweighed the negatives.

And what points would they be? I can’t see any ‘important’ points; a complaint that the minister didn’t sign a petition and a totally speculative (and highly unlikely) link to a far right group.

This cretin’s entire career depends upon publicity, without it he would be nothing.
In my view the media do a disservice to society in giving him oxygen. Likewise for aspiring politicians who use his name as a prop to smear their political and cultural enemies.

LATEST UPDATE: Return of Kings has now cancelled all official events, however members are still free to meet casually if they wish. Mr Valizadeh has said that he has cancelled official events because can no longer guarantee the safety or privacy of the men attending these events. There is some irony in cancelling an event that promotes harassment and assault out of fear of harassment and assault.

Its important to note, though, that just because the Return of Kings branded events have been cancelled, doesn’t mean these events won’t go ahead unofficially, and certainly doesn’t remove misogyny from our society. The conversation about misogyny and violence against women does not, and should not, end with the cancellation of these events.

I agree with henryans.

I’m familiar with Daryush (aka ‘Roosh’) and Co. from Dave Futrelle’s blog We Hunted the Mammoth. Futrelle regularly criticises these ‘neomasculinists’ and has made it clear that stirring up media outrage is Roosh’s MO. The Project’s Waleed Aly made a great argument for a social media blackout on Roosh and his followers, as featured in this Guardian article: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/feb/02/waleed-aly-social-media-bait-misogynist-provocations

I’m a woman and consider myself to be a feminist, and I don’t think Roosh’s proposed visit to Australia is a good topic to start a productive discussion about misogyny. Roosh is as backwards as they come with respect to gender equality, but the sexism that myself and other women I know have experienced doesn’t come from people who share Roosh’s beliefs. Most of the sexism I’ve experienced personally has been much more insidious and easier to overlook than one man loudly proclaiming over the Internet that he doesn’t think I should have the right to vote.

It’s abundantly clear that going around and declaring that you think rape should be legal is not something Australia is okay with. It’s actually been really great to see the number of men who’ve come out and disagreed very strongly with the things Roosh says. But I think a real, productive conversation about sexism in Australia should involve both everyone affected by sexism and make it clear that Australia is not okay with the insidious stuff as well – for example, working parents and how to give them more support as well as tackling the stigma around mental health that means men are less likely to seek help. Making the discussion about hardline misogynists has a big risk of overshadowing the issues that many Australians – both male and female – face due to sexism every day.

I’m sure everyone passing on this story has good intentions, but this is how Roosh works – he stirs up outrage, uses it to fuel his followers’ opinion that they’re an oppressed minority who can’t express their masculinity, and basically enjoys free publicity.

In any case, Roosh has been bragging on Twitter about taking capsicum spray into the airport to protect himself (unlikely to be popular with border security), and according to Dutton has not applied for a visa (and is facing rejection if he does on the same grounds as Julien Blanc). So I very much doubt he will make it into Australia, let alone the ACT.

Jill Thomsen said :

henryans said :

Why do the media persist in giving this dude any air time?
Whats to gain? cause more divisiveness between men and women?
If fairfax didnt start airing this guy, no one would have known he existed let alone was coming here, and he and his dero mates could have met at maccas themselves, all 5 of them!
you guys should know better and not give this any airtime

Hi Henryans, I take your point. However, those who are interested in those events knew it was coming up (The ReturnofKings blog has been active for a long time, and I’ve been an occasional follower their attrocious blog since 2013 – know thy enemy). I’m not sure they are getting any MORE supporters because of the media coverage. What it has done, however, is provide an opportunity for politicians, police etc to publicly condemn misogyny and violence against women in all forms and provide opportunity for proactive leadership. We can’t shy away from this opportunity for debate and discussion because we are concerned about the click-through rate for these events.

A petition by a Canberra-based young woman on Change.org received over 100,000 signatures, and this prompted a response from Peter Dutton’s office after he demanded a briefing on these meetings and Mr Valizadeh’s travel plans. If this was not brought to Dutton’s attention, it may well be that Mr Valizadeh would have applied for a visa and entered the country, starting a group in Canberra.

I, for one, feel Canberra women are safer without Mr Valizadeh walking around it, with or without his friends.

So you’re using extremist groups like these with extremely miniscule online followings as “clickbait” for your cause(s)? Utilising the worst extremists to conflate smaller as part of the same (much bigger) problems?

You could get a job on the government’s terrorist taskforces, they’re right into that sort of stuff.

henryans said :

Why do the media persist in giving this dude any air time?
Whats to gain? cause more divisiveness between men and women?
If fairfax didnt start airing this guy, no one would have known he existed let alone was coming here, and he and his dero mates could have met at maccas themselves, all 5 of them!
you guys should know better and not give this any airtime

Hi Henryans, I take your point. However, those who are interested in those events knew it was coming up (The ReturnofKings blog has been active for a long time, and I’ve been an occasional follower their attrocious blog since 2013 – know thy enemy). I’m not sure they are getting any MORE supporters because of the media coverage. What it has done, however, is provide an opportunity for politicians, police etc to publicly condemn misogyny and violence against women in all forms and provide opportunity for proactive leadership. We can’t shy away from this opportunity for debate and discussion because we are concerned about the click-through rate for these events.

A petition by a Canberra-based young woman on Change.org received over 100,000 signatures, and this prompted a response from Peter Dutton’s office after he demanded a briefing on these meetings and Mr Valizadeh’s travel plans. If this was not brought to Dutton’s attention, it may well be that Mr Valizadeh would have applied for a visa and entered the country, starting a group in Canberra.

I, for one, feel Canberra women are safer without Mr Valizadeh walking around it, with or without his friends.

Why do the media persist in giving this dude any air time?
Whats to gain? cause more divisiveness between men and women?
If fairfax didnt start airing this guy, no one would have known he existed let alone was coming here, and he and his dero mates could have met at maccas themselves, all 5 of them!
you guys should know better and not give this any airtime