Note: This article isn’t intended to publicize the group. There are no links to the group, nor pictures of their posts. I only want to explore the boundaries of satire and how to react when such “satire” doesn’t meet the requirements of the technique.
You know when things make you sad? Like when you drive past roadkill or watch five straight hours of the ID channel? The kind of sad that makes you wonder about people? That’s how I felt after stumbling on the Facebook group No Hymen, No Diamond, only worse.
My first thought, that the group had to be satire, was dashed after a quick run to Google:
But one of the group administrators, who wanted to be known as ‘A’ said the ‘satirical’ page was legitimate and the group believed in its message. "It’s legit—we aren’t trying to troll anyone. We firmly believe that we’re preaching on this page," one administrator told news.com.au.
Although other sites argue the group is satiric, most of us aren’t buying it. Started by Men’s Right Activist “Ty,” the Facebook group celebrates the archaic concept of female virginity until marriage. Men, of course, aren’t expected to abide by this double standard.
The content is revolting. The group commonly mocks how women may naturally break their hymen. Earlier posts call for women to wear an armband or insignia once they’ve reached a certain amount of sexual partners. The administrator then explains this already exists – in the form of tattoos. The group condemns feminists as being literally evil and feminism as oppressive to men.
But the hate doesn’t stop there. It goes on. And on. And on. And on. Multiple posts per day for over a month. A recent video (posted October 1st) named the so-called “heroes” of the page “white privileged males” fighting the “evil feminist hivemind that ruled the world” with the purpose of reinforcing traditional gender roles to make America great once again.
Despite “A’s” claims, I can't help but wish the Facebook page was satiric. The content is disgusting, the men who follow more so, as women are reduced to something less than human, a vagina that exists solely for one man’s pleasure. Nothing, not even her looks (one of the attributes most prized by patriarchy), matter if a woman’s hymen is not intact. Meanwhile, men are welcome to have as much sex as they please with the belief that a woman, as inherently lesser, is lucky to land a man, any man. His body is his choice; meanwhile, women are creatures to be controlled.
But let’s pretend this page is satiric, our faith in humanity restored. Even then, is this group okay? Does shrugging off the revolting claims about women as “satiric” make this group something not to be condemned, but celebrated?
To understand that question, we need to consider the goal of satire first. And for that, we can turn to the dictionary. Satire is the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. In other words, satire uses humor to criticize the message it appears to endorse. It is a tool commonly used to bring about social change.
Yet even if we pretend the page is satiric, it doesn’t uphold the purpose or standards of satire. The group crosses all lines of good taste, decency, and common sense. Worse, the group encourages support from those unaware that the page may be a joke itself.
Horrible as the group is, it doesn’t break any laws. More likely than not, it’s here to stay. So the question becomes, what can we do to fight back? Ironically, our best bet is to ignore it. Don’t look them up. Don’t send them nasty messages. Don’t show it to your friends as a joke. Don’t write a blog or share this one unless the focus is on the discussion about satire.
In this instance, doing nothing is our best strategy. Ignore what’s so obviously beneath us and let the group die out naturally. It isn’t worth your time.
