Matt Taylor's shirt

[Caehlim]

I've never understood that saying.  "Oh, you do this because you have reasons do you?  Not like me, I never have a reason for anything.  Fuck you and your oppressive insistence on having reasons for doing things."

Personally I always understood it as having one of two meanings.


1. "I support the change of men's uniforms to have extremely tight pants because... reasons."

Wherein you're suggesting that you have a reason, expect everyone to be able to guess the reason but remaining vague so as not to directly incriminate yourself. (In this case it's a "nudge-nudge I want to oggle men in tight trousers but you didn't hear it from me")

On the interwebs this would usually be accompanied by some sort of illustrative picture to make the reason even more clear, while still not directly saying it. In the case of the above example perhaps a photo of the men in tight pants from a suggestive angle or a suspiciously extreme close-up.

or

2. "John's not a racist, he just doesn't like black people because... reasons."

In which case you're mocking the very idea that the person has reasons and implying that they actually don't. Potentially also used to draw attention to someone being vague as to their reasons while suggesting that they have them.


Personally I suspect the quoted example you used is an example of type 2, or at least that was my interpretation.

[Shjade]

Ok, so how about Masculinism? That could just as easily be the word of equal rights. Thats simply all about males right? Feminism is all about womens rights. The word may have equal rights in a dictionary, but I wont use it. It doesnt represent me, it represents women. Why adopt a word with Femininity in it as the word for equal rights of both genders? Why not use a word with gender ambiguity? Or right, because.... Reasons!

The Reasons:

- feminism operates on the understanding that, at present, women do not have equality with men in most contexts
- that masculinity is considered favorable over femininity (see also: the many, many insults based on implications of effeminate appearance, nature, and values)
- that issues specific to women require attention specific to those issues in an effort to achieve parity


Masculinism would, by contrast, suggest a focus on men's issues to achieve parity which, in most cases, do not exist. Are there situations in which women have advantages over men? Sure: public perception regarding child caregiving, occupations like interior design or fashion (where it is generally assumed men in such industries are obviously homosexuals since no proper straight masculine guy would be interested in stuff like that), etc. And yet, when you look at those problems, they exist because of, again, the overall social perception that masculine > feminine. These problems exist for men because of problems relating to women.

Put another way: Masculinism, if it existed, would probably be a movement about trying to devalue the cripplingly overvalued emphasis on the masculine in society. In other words, Feminism, but from the other direction.

Why be that confusing when you'd be working toward the same goals in the end?

Oh right, because...Reasons.