“Make Women Great Again”—that’s the tagline of the upcoming “The 22 Convention” that will happen in May in Orlando, Florida. It’s causing some huge waves of disbelief and anger both online and in the media.
Some people are outraged at nearly every part of the convention. That it costs 2,000 dollars for a ticket (though there’s a 2-for-1 early bird deal going on now). That the speaker lineup is composed only of men. That the convention promises to show women how to be “ideal” and “ultimate wives.”
Meanwhile, the convention styles itself as an opponent of feminism and claims to promote “all forms of positive femininity.” It also states on its website that it will be “the mansplaining event of the century.”
"The 22 Convention" with the tagline "Make Women Great Again" is causing outrage
Image credits: ECMcLaughlin
Image credits: ECMcLaughlin
It promises to show women how to be “ideal” and “ultimate wives”
Image credits: ECMcLaughlin
All the speakers will be men
Image credits: ECMcLaughlin
This year will be the first time the “Make Women Great Again” convention will be held. It’s a spin-off from Anthony Dream Johnson’s “The 21 Convention” that’s been running since 2007. “The 21 Convention,” according to the organizers of the event, is a “pro-father, pro-man, pro-masculinity” event that teaches men to be men in the 21st century. Among the speakers at the “Make Women Great Again” event are Mike Cernovich, as well as Stefan Molyneux.
This is what the convention claims on its website
Meanwhile, the main speaker of the event will be Johnson, who styles himself as “The 1st President of the Manosphere.”
The so-called manosphere is defined on Wikipedia as a loose collection of mostly web-based misogynist movements that are associated with the alt-right. Johnson lashed out at this description and told the media that “this is a standard lies and nonsense smear campaign to undermine the growing strength, size, and positive impact of the manosphere.”
Johnson received "thousands of comments attacking" him but expected all of them
Bored Panda reached out to Johnson to see his side of the story and to talk about the criticism that he’s received online. He started off by clarifying that ‘The 22 Convention’ is “an evolution” of ‘The 21 Convention’ which he founded when he was only 17 years old.
“There have been thousands of comments attacking me in public, including explicit threats of domestic terrorism and mass violence against the event, people hoping I die. We'll be coordinating with law enforcement and licensed security regarding these threats to have a safe, successful, and amazing convention experience,” Johnson explained the size of the backlash that he received.
He said that he’s been on the receiving end of almost every negative comment imaginable: from being told that he “sucks with women” to being called “short” and other NSFW comments. Johnson stated that things are going exactly as he expected and that he’s been “laughing his ass off the past few days.”
“I enjoy building great things, making dreams come true, and triggering the [crap] out of people. I get to do that all at the same time with #22CON and #MWGA. I've also enjoyed posting photos and videos to upset the haters even more.”
“The mission of ‘The 22 Convention’ is exactly what the tagline states, to Make Women Great Again. We're referring primarily to American and Western women here, it's not as relevant in countries like Poland where gender relations are still positive, most women are still great, don't hate men, embrace natural femininity and motherhood.”
Johnson believes that the US has to change for it to survive
He continued: “I'll put this in very blunt terms: America has zero future with masculine women and feminine men. None. The consequence of not making women great again will be the total collapse of the American family this century and the resulting collapse of the USA.”
In Johnson’s opinion, his critics “know we're right but can't accept it yet, so they freak out and slowly realize we're right later on.” He also encouraged his critics to be more vocal because it helps spread his message: “We appreciate your irrational hatred.”
Johnson also stated that he believes there is currently a “feminist war on motherhood” going on and called for it to end. He also expressed his belief that feminism “should be viewed and examined as a national security threat.”
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Arif-Fear, founder of the Voice of Salam which promotes interfaith humanity and human rights, has a different view on feminism
Arif-Fear told Bored Panda that the main things that make women lose respect for men are a misogynistic attitude and lack of respect for people around them. Bored Panda was also interested to hear Arif-Fear’s opinion about what character traits she’d like all men to have. This is what she had to say: “Egalitarian values, respect for women and all human beings, kindness, compassion, loyalty."
The founder of the Voice of Salam had some advice on how parents should raise their sons. “Raise them with a sense of positive masculinity and egalitarian values. Positive masculinity, to teach them that it's ok to cry, that they should not be scared of their feelings, that they should be proud of who they are and that being a man doesn't mean controlling or feeling threatened by women.”
“Raise them as proud feminists with an ethos of positive masculinity. This leaves no room for misogyny or misandry either. Avoid rigid toxic gender stereotypes—let them develop as individuals into who they are, whilst nurturing a sense of strong respect for them and people of all sexes and genders.”
Arif-Fear continued: “I'd like to add that raising sons to be feminists (knowing what that really means) and to respect all women and people of all genders and sexualities, is not just about teaching young men to respect women, but also critically teaching and modeling a sense of positive masculinity. Men should not feel 'ashamed' to cry or ashamed to be male due to the suffering of women.”
“Rigid gender norms need to be addressed. Equality, compassion, and respect for everyone should be taught, including (and due to the state of society today) a spotlight on how to treat women, women's rights, and what makes a good son, brother, father, husband, friend, colleague, neighbor.”
“Raising sons as feminists and with a sense of positive masculinity should and must go hand in hand, whilst also allowing for gender fluidity, individualism and ignoring rigid gender stereotypes,” Arif-Fear explained her position.
Some women couldn't believe that an event like this could take place in modern society
Image credits: ECMcLaughlin
Image credits: ECMcLaughlin
Image credits: ECMcLaughlin
Image credits: ECMcLaughlin
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Dear readers, what was your first reaction when you read about the “Make Women Great Again” convention? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
Here's what some other people thought of the upcoming event
