Saw some toolbag “horror author” this morning on my FB feed post this thing about how some WOMEN IN HORROR group is advertising itself using an image of a vampire woman (replete with fangs) licking blood from her lips.
And said toolbag whipped up an image that put this banner image next to the anatomical image of a woman’s vagina and from there proceeded to explain how it was silly for this feminist group to advertise their efforts using what was effectively a woman’s ladyparts. He also explained that women paint their lips red in order to simulate flushed labia. Translation: he sees every woman’s mouth as a place for him to, erm, stick it.
In the comments, which were a delightful circus act of dipshittery, he went on to explain that OH IT’S OKAY because he took a writing class taught by a lesbian once (why is it that lesbians are the token “black friends” of misogynists everywhere?) and he was the only man in that class and it was cool to have to defend the male gender from all their misinformation.
I don’t have much to say here except, goddamn. What the fuck is wrong with people?
I want to excise all this toxic stuff out of genre. Because most genre authors are awesome.
And this was decidedly not awesome.
And we wonder why women don’t feel welcome at the table.
Sarah Gilman says:
I’ll never understand people like the FB poster, but I’ll forever cheer the women who sit at the table anyway, and the awesome male writers who know better.
February 12, 2014 — 7:14 PM
Laura W. says:
*facepalm* HOW DARE WOMEN BE SEXY. HOW DARE THEY WEAR MAKEUP.
*headdesk*
Clearly, the only images we should see of “Women in Horror” are those of terrified, chaste heroines waiting to be rescued.
February 12, 2014 — 8:19 PM
Eva says:
Thank you for standing up for NON dipshits everywhere.
February 12, 2014 — 8:32 PM
Annetta Ribken says:
Dammit. Now EVERYBODY knows about the fangs in our hoo-hahs. There goes our SEKRET WEAPON.
February 12, 2014 — 10:44 PM
Billie Sue Mosiman says:
Cheers, Chuck! I hope you liked my “pisswidgets” post. The man you talked about here is a toolwad and he’s ignorant as a horny toad. See what I did there? Muahahhaha!
February 12, 2014 — 11:27 PM
Sharon Gerlach says:
“Goddamn – what the fuck is wrong with people?” is a perfect reaction to asshattery (I say it at least twelve times a day – more when I’m answering phones at work). That fine specimen of modern manhood (feel my sarcasm) probably has one or six sexual harassment seminars under his belt. Likely ALL he has under his belt. And thank God the comments on this have not morphed into a “circus of dipshittery” (well, at least they hadn’t until I came along). As a writer of paranormal sort-of-romance, I am pleased to say the lipstick-labia connection never occurred to me. Unfortunately that bell cannot be unrung, but that’s what scotch is for.
February 13, 2014 — 12:00 AM
Paul says:
The posting that went with the image (I copied it to my wall cos I was curious what women actually thought) was this:
“This one’s going to sting a little folks…
I like women.
Both as humans and as sexual partners and either and neither and both.
As long as they do the same amount and quality of work I believe they should receive the same amount of pay and vice versa.
But do you seriously think that a sideways vagina dentata with a huge clitoris is a great logo for your feminist horror movement?
I’ve read the feminist horror film theory and criticism have you?
If that’s not a vagina dentata, then a knife plunging into a female victim isn’t a substitute metal male penis being used out of impotence frustration.
Stay classy ladies.
Oh, and anyone that finds this offensive, grow up.
Every single one of you was shoved out of a vagina at birth and if the picture on the right of the attached image arouses you, you have a serious school book sex-ed diagram fetish.
Let’s see how long this stays up before someone complains.
February 13, 2014 — 12:51 AM
Alicia says:
Thank you for sharing the post. Yes, the poster is a toolbag based on that.
You can do a reasonable (and facile) Freudian analysis of much of the vampire genre where blood is an analog of semen, but that is hardly the same thing as saying every set of lips is a vagina.
February 15, 2014 — 9:37 AM
Jeremiah Boydstun says:
What will never cease to amaze me is how eager some people are to publicize their toolbaggery-ness, which they obviously think the rest of the world will agree with. Dude needs to get the program.
February 13, 2014 — 1:11 AM
alexlaybourne says:
I know who it was, his feed popped up on my screen too. He often pushes the boundaries with his comments but this went too far!
February 13, 2014 — 2:18 AM
Kody Boye says:
Whenever someone uses the argument that ‘everyone was shoved out of a vagina, blah blah blah,’ I always reply: I was a cesarean.
Sadly, being a gay man, I can say that women have it MUCH shittier than me — which you would think would be the polar opposite, because, yannow, I’m more of a minority than they are. It sucks too, because with this whole thinking, all lips (even men’s lips, CHILDREN’S lips) should be seen as ‘vaginas.’
I just eventually couldn’t even anymore.
February 13, 2014 — 4:22 AM
Jim Mcleod says:
I’m sorry to say I gave this idiot space on my website. I really need to do more digging before accepting interviews. Just a quick glance at his Facebook feed would have revealed him as the tool he is. I’ve now removed his interview from my site.
February 13, 2014 — 6:42 AM
Mercedes M. Yardley says:
Jim, that’s very cool of you. Rock on.
February 18, 2014 — 1:47 PM
Mitzi Reinbold w/a Mitzi Flyte says:
I’ll assume partial responsibility as I might have been the one who started this mess. I mentioned on FB that in my lit class there was a question about why women have used red lipstick for years and I said (in class and on FB) that it was because it reminded men of female genitalia. And that I’d learned years ago from a pysch class. It was implied on FB that I was dissing women and the female body. As a woman who was a woman alone for most of my life and raising a single daughter throughout that time, that is NOT what I did. I am a woman. I respect women. I’ve worked for women’s rights. I take issue with the idea that I would ever be disrespectful of a part or parts of my own body. If anyone is going to mention me or my comments om FB or on their blog, I hope they will also mention WHO I am – a woman who has always loved every part of her body and who respects all women and have fought for their rights and add the context of the remark/FB post.
February 13, 2014 — 7:22 AM
decayingorbits says:
I remember first hearing about the lipstick business on one of those multi-episode documentaries about human sexuality on PBS. I assumed — mostly because the documentary had received rave reviews across a number of different media outlets — that the story was true. Now, I completely understand where the practice may have started — but I’m not sure every girl who puts on lipstick is subliminally thinking about making her mouth look like a hoo-haw.
February 13, 2014 — 7:59 AM
Ria (Bibliotropic) says:
Completely minor nitpick, but I was always under the assumption that the purpose of lipstick to make ones lips more red was to simulate the flush that occurs there during sexual arousal. Specifically on the lips of the face, not the lips of, er, somewhere else.
That aside, I’m in agreement with the douchebaggery here. Gotta love the, “I have friends who are gay/black/trans/etc” arguments. As though that excuses the idiocy, gives them carte blanche to say whatever they want because hey, if their gay/black/trans/etc friend wouldn’t find it offensive, then clearly it must be okay and right, amirite?
February 13, 2014 — 7:54 AM
decayingorbits says:
If I allowed myself to be outraged every time I saw something idiotic on FB or posted to Twitter, or printed in the Wall Street Journal, or broadcast on MSNBC…I’d just be pissed off all the time. It’s taken while for me to be able to read annoying crap and let it pass since it is just that — annoying crap. How many people are on the internet? Billions. I’m just going to tend my garden.
February 13, 2014 — 7:55 AM
M.A. Kropp. says:
First, thank you.
Second- well, actually, I can’t even… I don’t know.. Oh, hell, I’m just gonna go upstairs and smear on that red lipstick. He’s an idiot.
February 13, 2014 — 11:24 AM
Kody Boye says:
YOU’RE DOING IT TO MAKE YOUR LIPS LOOK LIKE A VAGINA DON’T YOU KNOW?
😉
February 13, 2014 — 12:56 PM
CE Martin says:
Now see, I’d have pointed out that Women in Horror should have picked October, not February. I mean, February? The shortest month? Which has Valentine’s Day in it? WTH?
February 13, 2014 — 12:20 PM
Mary says:
I’m continually amazed by people like him who don’t understand that women can be sexy and classy and professional and OMG talented all at the same time. Like somehow being one negates all the others. Also, his comparison to a knife being plunged into a woman falls flat because the knife also implies casual violence with women as victims. Lips…um, don’t. In fact, his whole stance is not arguing for women being less sexualized — it’s right in keeping with the dismissive, condescending attitude the mildest of misogynists still have and think is ok. Ugh. Anyway, my little two cents — thank you for pointing this out, Chuck, and for being the kind of man we’re proud to have on our side. 🙂
February 13, 2014 — 1:20 PM
terribleminds says:
#highfive
February 13, 2014 — 5:17 PM
Paul Mannering says:
To balance this with some actual human biology, the reason men have lips (and nipples) is because in the womb (even those of us born via cesarean) we all start out the same. Only later in foetal development do we diverge into girls and boys.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-men-have-nipples/
The reason why women have lips that they may or may not colour to represent sexual arousal is more subjective (though I have yet to see a lipstick commercial that doesn’t focus on woman using cosmetics to amplify their sexual availability).
To me, a few things that remain constant:
1. Women writers deserve more than just one month (and a short one at that) to celebrate their talents.
2. Women can be as sexual as they like,
3. Desmond Morris has a lot to answer for.
February 13, 2014 — 3:34 PM
Daniel Quentin Steele says:
I entered this discussion late and I don’t have the background to comment on the general situation of female horror writers. So I’m not really sure what roused so many writers’ ire about the comparison of female vampires’ bloody fangs to women’s vaginas. Granted it’s kind of a silly comparison. But, despite the comments of one writer, men do look at women’s mouths as a site to stick things into. Women are sexual objects. Fully dressed, educated and with absolutely no interest in sex, they’re still sexual objects to men. Maybe women are a different species and they don’t look at men with sexual interest, but a lot of years and a lot of experience has convinced me MOST women, not all, are just as horny as men. I don'[t have any idea at all why the uproar over red lips and use of lipstick. The use of cosmetics to redden lips goes back at least 5000 years and applies in every society I’ve ever read about. Men like red lips. Maybe it’s because of the vagina connection, or as others would say to the intimate parts of baboons, but regardless, who cares? But, if anyone could explain what the uproar is all about, I sincerely would like to hear from them.
February 13, 2014 — 11:00 PM
Eva Caye says:
I’m going to go find some blue lipstick, and green lipstick, and confuse the hell outta all the men out there! Teehee!
February 13, 2014 — 11:23 PM
decayingorbits says:
Green Lipstick? Everyone knows that just makes your mouth look like a space alien vagina…
February 14, 2014 — 7:56 AM
Eva Caye says:
LMAO! Given that I write science fiction romance, I say, “Great! Gimme something tentacular-looking, too!” Hehehe, gonna laff all day over that!
February 14, 2014 — 8:00 AM