Today on BuzzFeed Adam Serwer and Katie Baker published a chilling profile of Paul Elam, the founder of A Voice for Men and “men’s rights” movement figurehead. As the writers expose, Elam disguises a campaign of harassment and misogyny — reflected in his personal relationships with women as well — behind an justified front of political advocacy.
In one powerful passage, the writers explain (TW for victim-blaming, violent language, and everything terrible ever):
Elam and his website have become known less for political or policy advocacy than for his abrasive approach to debate. In one post, Elam wrote that “all the PC demands to get huffy and point out how nothing justifies or excuses rape won’t change the fact that there are a lot of women who get pummeled and pumped because they are stupid (and often arrogant) enough to walk [through] life with the equivalent of a I’M A STUPID, CONNIVING BITCH – PLEASE RAPE ME neon sign glowing above their empty little narcissistic heads.”
“The claim that Elam and his friends are merely trying to have a conversation about the rights of men in modern society is bogus. What it’s really about is the defamation of women as a group; that’s called misogyny,” said Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has described AVFM as part of a network of “misogynists” and “women haters.”
You can and should read the whole article here.