The Reality Blog

The critical response to my article on Anglo Feminism, which suggested that feminism is nastier in Anglo societies than Scandinavia, was pleasantly instructive. Although I was aware that there was some dissent against the state feminism of Northern Europe, I did not know that it was so strongly felt. More importantly, I didn’t realize that feminism was such a crucial component of state ideology.
The picture that is emerging is one of a bureaucratically-entrenched soft totalitarianism in Scandinavia, as compared to a more lawless, rapacious and violent form of feminism in Anglo countries. Perhaps this is because in Scandinavia the state has been more successful in efforts to socialize feminism, thereby drawing support from society at large, whereas in the Anglosphere the burden falls most heavily on individual men who have exposed themselves to the risk of marriage or cohabitation.
Whatever the reasons, according to Henry Laasanen and other Finnish commenters, with a few exceptions, dissent against feminism is notably absent from the mainstream Scandinavian discourse.
Henry Laasanen:

In the USA you may grind teeth with radical “feminazi” writings. We have no feminazis (maybe one or two), which is – paradoxically – a catastrophe for the Finnish MRM: there are no critical discussions of equlity in the media, only feminist propaganda.
[...]
There are no feminist blogs (one inactive) or feminist columnists (other than official propaganda) in Finland. In the British newspapers Guardian and Daily Mail there are gender debates every week – we have no gender debates, because feminism holds the absolute “truth”.

Vortac:

…I think Finland is one of the world’s hardest countries to talk about men’s rights. In USA, it seems to be much easier, because there are so many more people, which means there are so many more MRA’s, and there is so much variance with all kinds of different states, different environments from mountainy places to plains and many things inbetween, that even men’s rights can be discussed seriously. Even when there is the expected ridicule, there are more people to rise against the ridicules, and challenge their viewpoints. In the little Finland, it’s a very difficult thing to do, and the consequences are less challenged – especially in the ‘real life’.

Finndistan, an (American?) expat living in Finland:

As a foreigner in Finland, following the finnish news in english, the media attack is impossible to avoid.
Articles on how the recession forces women back into the kitchen, articles on comparing all women and all men’s salaries not divided by occupation etc, articles on how men have more free time when the data clearly showed that men work more (from a survey spanning the ages 10-65), the president saying that the real victims of war and conflict are women and children, etc… In a small country, in the main news outlet, when these kinds of articles appear multiple times a week, its can get overwhelming, and with what Henri says, the consensus politics, it is impossible to show people that “Look, the survey showed men worked more. It is in the data”. Talking to a brick wall gets more response.

The atmosphere described in the above comments sounds like what one might find in an American gender studies classroom, but nowhere else. Family court may be hell for men in the US, but for the most part people have stopped cooking up ideological justifications to defend the strong-arm robbery that passes for “justice” in our courthouses. Instead, they simply say something like “bend over and take it like a man.” However, this is recent development, so perhaps Scandinavia is simply a few steps behind in this regard.
Because Scandinavia has traditionally been the testing ground for progressive policies, its societies have had a disproportionate impact on the Western world’s political discourse. This suggests that if men’s rights advocates gain some political traction in the Nordic nations, it could significantly raise the profile of the movement throughout the West.
Despite the awful political climate for MRAs in Finland, it looks as though there’s actually a lot of potential there. The frustration is palpable, and the thing about a consensus, we humans being what we are, is that it is made to be broken. Paradoxically, one of the advantages we Americans have in regards to speaking out about these issues is that so many of us men have very little to lose. When you’ve already been destroyed by your ex, denounced as an “abuser” or “monster,” and had your children and property seized, what more can they do?
Although it may not be that bad in Finland now, if the feminists continue to get their way, it will get worse. If I were a Finn, this is something I’d tell my fellow men. Point out how American law metastasized in the 90s with the passage of VAWA and the unholy feminist/conservative alliance. Stress the need to fight feminism before it takes things that far. I’m sure plenty of Anglo men would be willing to tell their own personal horror stories to Finnish MRAs, who could use them as an example of what feminism has the potential to do.
Given the remarkably strong position feminism has in Scandinavia, it looks like the perfect place to take a stand against the ideology which, despite its claims, is supremacist rather than egalitarian. In fact, this may be the single best argument for the egalitarian Scandinavians: feminism ultimately leads to a society that is anything but just and equal. Through its pursuit of radical equality of outcome, it undermines legal equality, and eventually will replace rule of law with rule by law, which would erase the distinction between Scandinavia and its eastern neighbors, and thereby destroy the distinct civilization of the North.

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