-
HOME
-
WHAT IS STANDOur Mission Our Values Our Help Contact
-
WHAT WE FIGHT FORReligious Freedom Religious Literacy Equality & Human Rights Inclusion & Respect Free Speech Responsible Journalism Corporate Accountability
-
RESOURCESExpert Studies Landmark Decisions White Papers FAQs David Miscavige Religious Freedom Resource Center Freedom of Religion & Human Rights Topic Index Priest-Penitent Privilege Islamophobia
-
HATE MONITORBiased Media Propagandists Hatemongers False Experts Hate Monitor Blog
-
NEWSROOMNews Media Watch Videos Blog
-
TAKE ACTIONCombat Hate & Discrimination Champion Freedom of Religion Demand Accountability
The “Mammoth” Misogyny of David Futrelle
David Futrelle writes a blog, We Hunted the Mammoth, which heralds itself as “misogyny, hunted and tracked.” I thought this meant that Futrelle hunts, tracks down and annihilates misogyny—defined as the hatred or contempt for women or girls—wherever it appears. But I was mistaken. In a hatchet piece I just came across directed at a powerful, beloved female entertainer who happens to be a Scientologist, Futrelle hunts and tracks misogyny, all right, but then lassos it, trains it, tames it and uses it for his own sexist purposes.
You’ve got to hand it to Futrelle for his economy. In less than 300 words he exposes himself not just as a misogynist, but as a bigot and hypocrite as well—three for the price (free) of one.
Futrelle’s penned prejudices, moreover, need a rewrite. They are wishy-washy and inconsistently doled out. In a 2013 piece on discrimination, for example, he spotlights Mad Men, the hit TV series set in the 1960s, as an example of the inequality and subservience women were forced into at the time. His object of admiration in the series is a smart, upward climbing character played by another powerful, beloved female entertainer who also happens to be a Scientologist.
Futrelle likes one for her talent and trashes the other for her religion. OK. Let’s get this straight: David Futrelle admires the one powerful, beloved, talented woman because she dares to be different, forges her life her way, and speaks her mind, while trashing the OTHER powerful, beloved, talented woman because she dares to be different, forges her life her way, and speaks her mind.
Futrelle hunts and tracks misogyny, all right, but then lassos it, trains it, tames it and uses it for his own sexist purposes.
Possibly no one enlightened him that both of these women are Scientologists. Possibly no one has enlightened Futrelle at all. Or possibly he simply doesn’t wish to be enlightened. What is it with this mammoth?
Futrelle is not only bigoted, he is stupid. Not only does he dismiss an entire religion by referring to its member as a “[insert name of religion] crank” but he misspells the word “Scientology.” He is also arrogant. He sets himself up as an arbiter of who should or shouldn’t teach kids right from wrong (he finds the idea of members of certain religions sharing moral values unpalatable).
The mammoth has long been extinct. One can only hope that Futrelle’s Mammoth, a platform for the writer’s own self-indulgent petty hates and prejudices, meets the same fate as its namesake.
