Anything that’s critical of anything at all to do with a woman is misogynistic. That’s what Salon seems to think, at least.
You see, the Alamo Drafthouse decided to do a women-only premiere of the eagerly anticipated Wonder Woman starring Gal Gadot. The film has already sparked controversy for some of the dumbest of reasons, from Gadot’s stand on Israel (she’s an Israeli who thinks her country should exist. Shocking!) to her lack of armpit hair.
However, some people also took issue with the theater chain deciding to exclude men from the premiere, arguing that the chain would never do a men-only screening of a movie.
Which they wouldn’t.
That prompted Salon’s Matthew Rozsa to write a post titled, “Manbabies cry digital tears over women-only ‘Wonder Woman’ screening.” Ah, you can just smell the misandry wafting off of a post that pretends to be about battling misogyny and stuff.
Women are woefully under-represented in movies, and as the misogynist backlash against last year’s “Ghostbusters” reboot revealed, there are plenty of people who resent it when women celebrate efforts to create empowering figures in our pop culture zeitgeist.
This brings us to the backlash against Alamo Drafthouse who will be hosting a women’s-only screening of “Wonder Woman”across several locations on June 2.
Said Morgan Hendrix, representative for the nationwide theater chain, “We asked ourselves, ‘How do we create a land of Amazonian women? Well — we just hold a women’s only screening!’” Morgan added, “After all, she lives on a women’s only island and comes from a land of women. This makes perfect sense.” Indeed it does.
Sure, it makes sense. However, in a world of everything being made so damn political, it’s hardly surprising that some would get bent out of shape. Now, based on the title, you’d think the people voicing their annoyance at being excluded would be both all-male and really, really rude.
Except, they’re not.
@drafthouse Not impressed Alamo. If there were a men’s only screening, the uproar would be deafening. Feminism is about equality, not gender-exclusivity
— Lachel (@Lachelai) May 25, 2017
Is that a woman taking issue with this? Why yes, yes it is.
Most of the other comments Salon found to bolster their argument are in a similar vein to Lachel’s. They are pointing out the hypocrisy and little more.
Not that Salon gets that.
The idea that a women-only screening is analogous to a hypothetical men-only screening is clearly absurd, especially considering that women are the group that has been under-represented in superhero movies, not men.
That point would stand… if people were complaining about there being a Wonder Woman movie, which they’re not. They’re complaining about being excluded from a showing of the movie by a business that ordinarily excludes no one. Period.
In other words, the only absurdity that is clear is the hypocrisy involved.
Luckily, Salon’s male writer got an opportunity to step up and signal how he’s a good little ally to the feminist cause with his internalized misandry by penning the most pathetic criticism he could come up with.
There’s no defense against hypocrisy, and he just proved it.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member