Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Misogynistic Men Mad Over 'Mad Max'
All of us at LAist are very, very excited about the new Mad Max movie. We're even more excited now that it has drawn the ire of gross, misogynistic men on the Internet.Thanks to We Hunted The Mammoth doing the dirty work of keeping an eye on Internet misogynist "movements" (so the rest of us don't have to), we've been treated to the frothing-at-the-mouth rant of Aaron Clarey at the "neomasculine" blog Return Of Kings, who calls Mad Max: Fury Road "a feminist piece of propaganda posing as a guy flick."
Bear in mind that Clarey, "resident economist" of whatever this dumb movement is, hasn't seen the new Mad Max. But he's definitely not seeing this feminazi agitprop after what he saw in the trailers:
Charlize Theron kept showing up a lot in the trailers, while Tom Hardy (Mad Max) seemed to have cameo appearances. Charlize Theron sure talked a lot during the trailers, while I don't think I've heard one line from Tom Hardy. And finally, Charlize Theron's character barked orders to Mad Max. Nobody barks orders to Mad Max.
Glenn Greenwald famously called out Zero Dark Thirty for "torture-glorifying" without seeing it. But at least he eventually saw the movie in question—even if it only emboldened his stance. Clarey already knows, though, that Fury Road isn't the movie for him, since director George Miller brought The Vagina Monologues author Eve Ensler on board as a script consultant.
In an interview with Esquire, actress Rosie Huntington-Whiteley reveals that Ensler was tapped to share stories she learned from working with rape victims in the Congo, since the latest installment of Mad Max is about a group of women fleeing sexual enslavement. Leading them is the bossy woman played by Charlize Theron, Imperator Furiosa.
Clarey feels betrayed by Hollywood, which has spent a century pandering to the tastes of straight white men and not hiring women:
[The issue is] whether men in America and around the world are going to be duped by explosions, fire tornadoes, and desert raiders into seeing what is guaranteed to be nothing more than feminist propaganda, while at the same time being insulted AND tricked into viewing a piece of American culture ruined and rewritten right in front of their very eyes. The truth is I'm angry about the extents Hollywood and the director of Fury Road went to trick me and other men into seeing this movie. Everything VISUALLY looks amazing. It looks like that action guy flick we've desperately been waiting for where it is one man with principles, standing against many with none.
But let us be clear. This is the vehicle by which they are guaranteed to force a lecture on feminism down your throat. This is the Trojan Horse feminists and Hollywood leftists will use to (vainly) insist on the trope women are equal to men in all things, including physique, strength, and logic. And this is the subterfuge they will use to blur the lines between masculinity and femininity, further ruining women for men, and men for women.
So... who wants to see this movie twice this weekend?
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.

-
The L.A. City Council approved the venue change Wednesday, which organizers say will save $12 million in infrastructure costs.
-
Taxes on the sale of some newer apartment buildings would be lowered under a plan by Sacramento lawmakers to partially rein in city Measure ULA.
-
The union representing the restaurant's workers announced Tuesday that The Pantry will welcome back patrons Thursday after suddenly shutting down six months ago.
-
If approved, the more than 62-acre project would include 50 housing lots and a marina less than a mile from Jackie and Shadow's famous nest overlooking the lake.
-
The U.S. Supreme Court lifted limits on immigration sweeps in Southern California, overturning a lower court ruling that prohibited agents from stopping people based on their appearance.
-
Censorship has long been controversial. But lately, the issue of who does and doesn’t have the right to restrict kids’ access to books has been heating up across the country in the so-called culture wars.