October 15, 2013
In the Words of Marcus
I wish more Facebook status updates were as meaningful as this one from Marcus McLean posted on October 9, 2013:
“I was visiting a friend last night (male). While I was there, another visitor arrived (also male). Within a few minutes of being there, the visitor made a joke where the punch-line was beating up a woman. I told him that I didn’t find that joke funny. His response was I needed to relax – it was a joke. I let him know I didn’t find jokes like that funny.
He became upset that I challenged him on his joke and became irate that I wouldn’t just let it go. I asked him, if I was in a room and someone made a joke about beating up asians because they are asians (the visitor was asian) what would he want me to do in those cases? He became more incensed, screamed at me, asked if I was a woman (he used a more unflattering word), and asked if I had a vagina (also using a more lewd word, which I won’t write here). When I refused to back down from my position, he suggested that I had a mental deficiency and needed to get help because, as he put it, “why would you be offended?…There’s something wrong with you.” When I attempted to speak to him reasonably, he swore at me profusely, packed up his stuff and left.I’m posting this to put other men on warning: speaking hateful, violent, misogynistic statements around me will not go uninterrupted.
I may not be able to change the entire universe, but I will not sit by and, by my inaction, give tacit approval to this kind of behaviour.
Men and boys: pay attention.
VIOLENT, DEMEANING JOKES are not acceptable!!!!!!”
