BY AIMEE MURPHY
A lot of this discussion is well-researched, trust me. But when I link to something, I'm just making sure you know that, yes, it is researched. There are more links that I could put here, but won't. I'm going to recommend that you don't click the links. If you're anything like me, you'll find it raunchy, tasteless, and above all, sickening. But trust me, it's been researched.
Photo by FML (own work) [CC-BY-SA-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons.
Have you heard of Red Pill Philosophy?
I just learned about it recently, and at first I seriously thought it was a joke. The underlying idea is that put forth in The Matrix: take the red pill and see how far the rabbit hole goes -- enter reality. The basic premise as it's lived, though: man is naturally dominant and should hold the power in relationships between men and women. Women should be subordinate in basically all things. There are different variations of it, from typically conservative Christian red-pill purveyors to the much more sleazy and sickening womanizers on ReturnofKings.com -- I’ll call them "Red Pill Bros."
The "Red Pill Bros" I'm talking about aren't the overbearing Christian husbands who want overly submissive wives (though they could probably do with learning some empathy). Rather, they are the Barney Stinsons of the world. Despite the fact that I love How I Met Your Mother, I do not go to it for moral judgments -- and I especially would never trust a Barney Stinson with my dignity as a woman.
Like Barney Stinson, these Red Pill Bros have a sort of "playbook"; they work on their "game" to get laid; and they rate women on a scale of 1 to 10 constantly. All of this demonstrates their basic philosophy: women are not human beings; they are prizes to be won (and conquered), and then promptly discarded after they prove unsuitable in any way (weight gain, haircut, mental illness, etc.). In addition, it perpetuates the typical female sex-experience stereotype (they only want to marry women who are "pure," but themselves sleep with thousands of women before then).
I cannot tell you how many different articles I've read with the basic idea that because women always search for the alpha male (I'm not convinced by this argument, either, considering I myself didn't marry an alpha-type man and I'm more than thrilled with my marriage choice and never searched for "alphas" when I did date), neither should expect to get into long, meaningful relationships -- because these days really all the female is looking for is someone to sleep with (because of female empowerment, y’know). These Red Pill Bros are searching for young, tight bodies, with no consequences. Not human beings to connect with on a real level, learn to love, enjoy friendships with, or anything involving emotion, mental or spiritual connection. These Red Pill Bros are looking for an obedient doll to sleep with -- but heaven forbid that this girl would get attached or actually have consequences attached to the most intimate act we have in our human expression. The cycle that these Red Pill Bros go through is like a carousel: letting some women on, letting others off. The Red Pill Bros promote cheating (as long as you can get away with it -- because cheating is fine, but letting your woman know is cruel), and they don’t seem to express any sort of empathy with the natural emotional needs of a woman.
Photo by Karen_O'D; some rights reserved.
However, the most telling article that I found on ReturnofKings was a piece entitled "The 10 Slut Commandments." The article gives tips on how to "never fall in love with," "never invest valuable time in," or "how to tell her she’s YOUR slut." The most important rule on that list, of course? "Never Get a Slut Pregnant":
"IF you get a slut pregnant, convince her to have an abortion . . . Use bribery if necessary, offer to pay for the abortion, buy her a new purse (most sluts would love a new Prada purse), whatever you can say to convince her that [keeping the child]’s not a good idea."
Abortion not only allows but facilitates the Red Pill Bro lifestyle. This is what "bro-choice" looks like and means for the men who want to "game the system" and use women for meaningless sexual escapades. It leaves women used, abused, and left (sometimes) with a broken body and, without question, as the mother of a dead child.
Why do feminists just shrug and fail to respond with rage (but instead support!) when women are being used like objects and mere toys because the issue relates to the "sacred ground" of abortion? If they say that it's all about women, then they cannot rightfully stand silent while misogyny happens so blatantly, right in front of their faces. Abortion-on-demand opens the door for these Red Pill Bro-Choicers to manipulate, coerce, and discard women as if they were simple playthings. But we are more than that. And true feminism acknowledges both our dignity as women in the face of radical Red Pill Bros who want to use us, and as preborn human beings faced with the deadly danger of a Red Pill Bro father.
I hope you've learned something. I hope you're outraged. And I hope you know that #AbortionMatters to Red Pill Bros because, without it, they’d get stuck with "sluts" and have to face the consequences of their actions -- and maybe treat women with the respect they deserve. #LifeMatters to us because we realize that every human being's life is worthy of protection -- especially the preborn -- but even the women being victimized by Red Pill Bros everywhere.