Hundreds Gather Around the World to Protest 'Pro-Rape' Idiots

As you have probably seen on various international media outlets, self-proclaimed "pick up artist" and "neomasculinist" Daryush "Roosh V" Valizadeh had planned meet ups in over 48 countries across the world, which were to take place this weekend.

Following widespread media scrutiny, on February 3, Roosh announced that the meetings would be moved to secret locations, whose locations he would reveal only to those who could prove that they're "one of us," as he put it. (On his website, he justified this apparent retreat by saying that the meet-ups were "never intended as a confrontation with unattractive women and their enablers.") Later, he cancelled the meetings altogether.

Roosh V describes himself as a "pickup artist"; his critics call him a rape advocate. He has written numerous books instructing men on how to coerce women into having sex, including Bang: The Pickup Bible That Helps You Get More Lays and several travel guides detailing how to seduce women in foreign countries. Though he has recently denied that he supports rape, the language in these guides points less to seduction than to sexual assault.

For example, in 30 Bangs, a collection of Roosh's sexual encounters, he says, "It took four hours of foreplay and at least thirty repetitions of "No, Roosh, no" until she allowed my penis to enter her vagina. No means no—until it means yes." And, in Bang Poland: How to Make Love with Polish Girls in Poland: "I told myself she's not walking out my door without getting fucked. At that moment I accepted the idea of getting locked up in a Polish prison to make it happen."

In addition, in a now infamous article from February 2015, Roosh argued that rape would drastically reduce if it were legalized on private property and that legalizing rape would encourage a women to take care of herself, to apply the care she has for her iPhone or purse to herself. He has since claimed that his point was misrepresented by the media: A disclaimer above the article now reads, "The following article was published as a satirical thought experiment. It's [sic] conclusion is not to be taken literally." However, considering the books he has written and the general logic that he promotes, it's difficult to see how this would constitute satire if the rest of his work is sincere.

Last week, protesters planned to gather in many of the cities hosting a Roosh-affiliated "meet up." Even after Roosh announced that the meetings were cancelled, feminists gathered in cities—including Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Boston, and Toronto—in order to protest his message. These feminist groups ranged in size from just a few people to a few hundred people.

Cat Boyd, a trade union activist who co-founded the Radical Independence Campaign, was one of the few who had arranged peaceful protests in George Square in Glasgow. "Our protest represented this new generation of young women and men refusing to play by the rules of men who've been able to invade our cyber space for far too long," she told a crowd of anti-sexual assault protesters on Saturday. "We're coming offline, and we're going out onto the streets."

Vonny Moyes—another Scottish female journalist who, along with Cat Boyd, was behind the peaceful protest—said she decided to stand up and take action because the problem is bigger than one man. "Lots of people assume the best thing to do in this situation is ignore it. I don't think that's right," she said. "I think the best we can do here is challenge that viewpoint, and to show that these views are antithetical to most people's."

She believes it's important to show the world what Scotland's women are capable of. "I also think it's very important to challenge the rhetoric that women are submissive and easily intimidated, as this ratifies Roosh's belief structure," she added. "A peaceful protest is a chance to show we're not afraid, we're equal, and we won't take what's given to us."

Vonny told Broadly that she wants to know what could have possibly happened to Roosh to make him so hateful. She said, "No one comes out of the womb with this much hatred in their heart. If you want to talk, like grown ups, I'm all ears."

If you haven't come across the Red Pill (TRP) on Reddit, it's probably a good thing. It takes its name from the iconic scene in The Matrix where Neo is faced with consuming "the blue pill"— which would cause him to wake up in bed with no idea that reality as he perceives it, as a lie—or choose "the red pill," which would allow him to really see how deep the rabbit hole goes. For those who frequent TRP, the metaphor applies to reality in which feminism emasculates and disenfranchises men. To participate in the Reddit board, as they see it, is to wake up to the reality of the apparently pussy-whipped world.

Curious about Roosh V's standing among other avowed anti-feminists who perceive men as the oppressed sex, I posted on the Red Pill subreddit to gauge his popularity in a community that doesn't view his ideas as radical. Reddit user IVIaskerade described Roosh as a "clown," but said that it was "a useful façade."

"He knows that clickbait is popular, and he's using that to make money with [his website] Return of Kings. He serves to filter out people who can't differentiate rhetoric from the point being made, and on occasion, RoK produces comedy gold," the Reddit user wrote, linking to an article by a regular Return of Kings columnist, in which he argues that the best girlfriend is a woman with an eating disorder. "I don't think [Roosh] set up the meetings intending to cancel them, but he definitely knew it would be a possibility when he did, and it's certainly helped his image."

Thenemaxofredpill, another Red Pill frequenter, agreed with this characterization. "His book Bang is pretty good and stands by basic TRP principles. That about covers all," he said. "Other than that… most political pieces I have seen of his are just him whining and calling feminist 'meanies'… He has some good advice, but he whines a lot because deep down… he is a little bitch with no spine."

Talat Yaqoob is a campaigner and writer from Edinburgh who is chair and co-founder of the women 50:50 Campaign in Scotland—the campaign for at least 50 percent representation of women in Parliament, in councils, and on public boards. She considers the followers of Roosh V to be expressing their frustration at patriarchy in the wrong direction. "It's important that when [men] are listening to him, if they feel any affinity, that affinity isn't to him," she said. "The affinity isn't to a hatred of women; perhaps it's an affinity to patriarchy not working in their favor."

As Sarah Seltzer has argued on Flavorwire, many of the issues the men who espouse the philosophy of the Red Pill—including "growing anger over time [and] an encroaching sense of emasculation"—are issues that "are worsened by prescribed gender roles that demand strength, toughness, and independence." In other words, feminism's biggest critics could benefit from the movement. "What they actually need to be thinking about is joining the feminist cause, creating a fairer society for everybody involved," Yaqoob said. "If they feel any injustice, and if this man speaks to them in some kind of way… If Roosh V is the answer, then the question is wrong."

About 500 people attended the counter-protest in Scotland; no one identified themselves as a Roosh V supporter, and, as far as the protestors are aware, the Roosh meet ups in Scotland hadn't even taken place. Instead, after the rally, a group of female protestors visited local pubs and encouraged them to put up "Not Under Our Roof" anti-sexual assault posters in order to show support for the safety of those demonstrating on Saturday as well as all patrons in their premises.

But, to many, it's beside the point whether people are actually going to his "meet-ups." His ideology is threatening to the beliefs of the people of Scotland. On Saturday, men and women alike joined together in the freezing cold to make a point and take a stand—not just against Roosh V, but against everything he represents. Although the protests were originally motivated by Roosh V, the end product in Glasgow was not an attack on Roosh V or on men; rather, it was a coming together of a progressive society to say that it is not acceptable to spread hate speech endorsing sexual aggression and assault.