I really don't want want this blog to turn into a merely a dissection and analysis of incidents involving misogyny. From time to time though I do think I will comment on whenever something happens in the media. I was not aware of the events involving Maggie Serota and Kevin Smith until someone else wrote an article about it that I saw in a sidebar. That blog linked to a third party's blog, that of Jill Pantozzi of The Mary Sue; a blog I've never much cared for personally. I read over Jill's blog, then Maggie's original blog, and finally Kevin's wrap up blog to get the full picture of what happened.
To summarize, Maggie wrote an article reciting what someone else wrote on Reddit listing a number of titles that are expiring at the end of the year on Netflix. In her article, Maggie had a throwaway line about no one missing "Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back" from Netflix Streaming. That joke was tweeted to Kevin Smith who then Retweeted it asking why Maggie's holiday spirit had left her so soon after the holiday. This apparently resulted in numerous fans of Kevin Smith to harass Maggie Serota with your typical nerd rage abuse and, of course, rape and violence. Maggie slammed Kevin Smith for his fans' behavior and Smith apologized for them. Finally, Kevin Smith took to his blog to summarize the incident from his point of view and asked his fans to stop with the misogyny. End of story.
This is such a minor incident that it doesn't seem worth commenting on, but I thought why not comment with my own unasked for opinions, much as Jill had done?
First, I wouldn't consider myself a fan of Kevin Smith. I've enjoyed his movies. I even own "Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back" on blu-ray because it came in a box set... although I don't believe I've watched it since it came out in theaters. Maggie's joke was just a throwaway gag and one she should've singled out "Troll 2" instead. It would've hit the exact same note and no one would've gotten riled up about it. I'm a bigger fan of "Troll 2" than "Jay & Silent Bob", but if that film gets slammed, I'm not at all offended or upset. I doubt even the biggest fans of "Troll 2" would've come after Maggie with death threats because of her joke. Her joke was probably accurate however because Smith's fans already own the movie; I actually doubt all that many people will be upset they will no longer be able to stream it. Kevin Smith also tends to go overboard with his bonus material, so it pays to buy his films on disc anyway. Although, I do know the blu-ray is devoid of extras, but I know there's a 2-disc Collector's Edition of the movie with loads of extras I'm not too interested in seeing.
I want to point out one piece of ignorance in Jill's blog where she excerpts one threat made against Maggie of "put a dick in your mouth". I know that's a reference to a podcast of Kevin Smith that he does with Ralph Garman. I've listened to that podcast off and on and I know that it's a phrase with no malice behind it. Kevin Smith says it to every man and woman who is visiting Los Angeles. Jill is unfamiliar with the podcast, so she took it as pure misogyny. These kind of offenses are what bug me.
Misogyny accused against words or phrases with no malice behind them is leaping to the worst conclusion. In fact, this whole incident is a case of everyone leaping to the worst conclusions. Kevin Smith explained he knew the dig wasn't an actual rib against him, but his fans took it personally. Maggie saw more responses to her Twitter than she normally sees and immediately figured Kevin Smith commanded his army to make her life a living Hell. Not the case either. Smith then explains in his blog that his fans actions are uncalled for and then does something I appreciate: He continues to call out Maggie Serota for bullshit. Normally with celebrity apologizes they have to apologize for the whole kit and caboodle, including for things they are right about. Smith does lay it out that Maggie did leap to conclusions and is reacting too defensively to what has happened. While correct in condemning her attackers, her own crucifying of Smith was wholly unfair. Also to Smith's credit, he does acknowledge that an artist is partially responsible for the actions of their fans. Thus, Smith chided those that threatened to rape Maggie.
As for the fans, I know the internet is an evil place. At this moment, I'm reading comments for a story about an underage prostitute that Kristen's Archives over at the Alt Sex Stories Text Repository posted. Several of the comments are putrid with their appreciation of the illegal acts in the story and some even wish it was even more brutal against an even younger girl. I'm not condemning the story written by Chris Hailey, because I'm a firm believer that fiction is a safe realm to explore taboo actions and topics. I'm well aware that there are men out there that desire underage girls. Child pornography is one taboo I am absolutely turned off by, but I would rather men with that fetish get their kicks from works of fiction than to ever act upon their desires against real girls or hunting down actual photos. There's no reason to with our internet culture.
Back to my point, reading the comments of the story, I am willing to bet the men posting would NEVER say any of the things they are writing aloud to anyone in real life. They have just found an outlet to release their dark halves. So to is Twitter used to make vile threats against others. This goes into a bit of Rape Culture.
Rape is a weapon for men. Rape is about power and control. Men use threats of rape to put a woman down or "in her place". Men like to be dominant, both with women and other men. This of course is abhorrent to women like Maggie and Jill, it makes their environment all the more colder, crueler, and dangerous. Jill wrote about her own receiving rape threats from Smith's fans for putting down his reality show "Comic Book Men", because the show did not let her be on it. As I mentioned, I'm not a fan of Jill's blog because of her "voice" in her blogs. It's one that I do not respond to personally, and frankly I'm not surprised several men get riled up by her posts, so much so they have to threaten her with rape. That said, in America there is freedom of speech and Jill is allowed to post whatever she wishes without fear of getting viciously attacked by insecure men. That is why I do not comment on her posts explaining how ignorant she can be, I simply do not read her blog.
This is also true of Maggie Serota. She is allowed to post whatever she wishes too. All she did was repost an abridged version of a post on reddit and added a joke of her own, which to be fair wasn't that funny. Kevin Smith's fans then leaping on her was of course an overreaction. Even calling her a "cunt" is taking things too far.
As 2013 is ending, was this another horrible case of misogyny this year? No. It is a sad case of one's fans being immature. It's also a case of pointing out how the incident is part of a much bigger problem both on the internet and in real life. I do hope Smith's fans will listen to his pleading for them to stop with the misogynist threats. Also, women like Jill Pantozzi and Maggie Serota will post what they always do, no matter how biting it may be. They have every right to and they have fans of their own. They will continue to call out criticisms against them as misogyny even when it isn't malicious. They do this to make their fans aware of this issue of men immediately going to rape as a weapon. They do not want men to do this, so they call attention to it. I'm not sure how to combat Rape Culture's Rape Weapon, but I see what they are trying to do and until there is a better way of getting men to stop harassing women on the internet (and real life) they should continue both. But as Smith points out, while doing that, we mustn't then be less responsive to communication. We cannot get on a high horse and no longer talk to anyone else. We cannot group the haters with the person they follow. Through communication we do get posts like Smith's where they very boldly chastise their fans and tell them: Your behavior is wrong, stop doing it, or else you are no fan of mine.
I also type all these thoughts in defense of my own blog. While I do not consider myself a misogynist, as I love women dearly, I do know I am occasionally turned on by misogyny. Stamping out that fetish from my psyche is not going to help, if anything repressing it will make it worse. Instead, I find safe places to revel in those dark fantasies, then I come back to the real world and do whatever I can to help women against actual hate crimes against them. But using this blog to reflect on the misogynist perspective I feel will ultimately be constructive. I know some readers will absolutely be repulsed by my writings and thoughts and mark me the worst of the worst. For everyone else, I hope we can find balance between what is appropriate both in reality and on the internet in our safe zones.
Happy New Year to you all. I hope 2014 is a good year for men and women equally.
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