January 8, 2008...3:54 pm

The Mandom Manifesto

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Think you can’t be an asshat if you have a penis. Think a-fucking-gain.

Because the truth is, as I try to find a place for me in the sexual sub-culture to which I have been assigned by higher powers with a malignant sense of humour, it may be asshat women that make me flounder and want to killstabkill online, but in real life – that place of warmth and touch and flesh – it is mandoms that make me question whether I can ever survive in this fucking hinterland of sex and horror where the cock is a universal signifier of being in charge and dress codes are enforced everywhere to make sure women do their job and brighten the place up.

But, you know, the mandoms. Can’t we have the culled or something? Is someone breeding them somewhere? I thought there were a lot of male subs, but for each of them there are 17 mandoms strutting around, meaning that I, as a unicorn, feel somewhat overwhelmed by them.

So ridiculously copious are they that when an onstage announcement claimed that tickets for a certain fetish-stravaganza could be bought from the ‘man in the leather jacket’, Jack and I made stretchy-eyed faces at one another. ‘What? All of them? - Every second person here is a man in a leather jacket

Not all of them are asshats. But there are so many of them that even a minority asshat tendency would be overwhelming. And, face it, it’s not the minority is it?

And though manasshats don’t have the femdom demographic issue leading them to be wading through piles of needy, creepy, posturing submissives, to make then feel asshatterly superior - but they don’t need it. Because mandoms have something else.

Mandoms have science. Mandoms have ‘it’s natural’. Asshat mandoms have the power to make every woman into a submissive just by thinking about the fact that she probably is.

Here’s how the anatomy of the asshat mandom breaks down

Looks: If you’re a mandom you need to look like a MAN. And looking like a man means one thing and one thing only. Not muscular physiques. Not well pressed suits. Shaved heads. Oh no – mandoms do not need to make an effort to look manly. Mandoms express their masculinity by doing what comes naturally and just so happens to involve even less grooming than the average man. Mandoms express their masculinity one way and one way only: facial hair.

You may also like to consider a leather waistcoat and a black T shirt sporting a heavy manly music logo – or a tied up woman pic for special.

Never, ever look like you have made any attempt to look physically attractive. Femsubs hate that. Femsubs that want men to look attractive are not properly submissive. And besides if you look like you care what she thinks, you might get mistaken for a mansub and then your penis would fall off. And with it all your dominazi powers.

Personality: Are you successful in vanilla life. Do you have a car, a motorbike, a high powered career, all your own teeth? Well for god’s sake get it into the conversation. Don’t wait for an opening – just say so. You are mandom – all will listen to your self aggrandisement.

Attitude to women: All women are submissive. Or want to be. Or would want to be if they really understood themselves. Except for the ones who are submissive, but don’t do submission right. Those ones aren’t really submissive.

Social Interaction: At BDSM eventing the asshat mandom must be aware of certain groups of people and react to them appropriately.

Femdoms are all prostitutes - all of them do it for money really even if they say they don’t because no women are actually turned on by being dominant. Basically there is no such thing. And all the pros are (a) submissives denying it for profit and (b) evil. So treat every woman you meet as if she is a female submissive. *Your* female submissive. Unless she says otherwise. And probably even then.

Mansubs do exist - although it would be so much better if they didn’t. They are unnatural and need to be treated with the upmost contempt. They are spoiling it. Confusing everything by kneeling in front of women, destroying the science, the wondrous natural purity of mandom/femsub.

If they have to be submissive they can at least do everyone a favour and do it in private. Blank them or ridicule them, whatever it takes to make them go a long way away from you before any idle thoughts about what it might be like to submit yourself trail into your brain, because there is nothing worse than…

Switches! Switches are worse than mansubs, because like bisexuals in straightland, they look normal. (Nothing wrong with bisexuals of course, *female* bisexuals. It’s natural that women should be curious about other women. Women’s bodies are more beautiful after all.)

But, really, switches! That lovely M/f couple with him all puffy chest and her knowing her place and then, OMG, he says he switches. Ew. Ew!. EW! Switches are all wrong because being submissive (if you are a woman) or dominant (if you are a man) is something you ARE, not something you try on for fun. Goddamnit. When will people understand. This is not about sex!

Anyway, scratch all that really because submissive women are all you actually care about and they fall into two groups.

Cute ‘n’ young ‘n’ thin ‘n’ blonde ones… and all the other ones.

Make sure you give at least 85% of your attention to the ones who look most like your average kink dot com cookie cutter rope slut bunny. All the rest of them, the older, fatter, ordinarier ones can wait for your attention. They’ll probably get off on your superior ignoring anyway.

Communication skills: Of course you can be a mandom if you have speech impediment, but how did it happen that if you have a speech impediment you *had* to be a mandom. ‘Cause only a rule like that would explain the prevalence of mandoms of, uh, well…

…who squeak…

…or worse.

Please could at least *some* of you have speech therapy or elocution lessons or whatever the fuck it takes because the Elmer Fudd mandom is becoming something of a thing. Every mandom these days is either lisping or doing funny ‘R’ sounds or has some kind of weird high pitched nasal thing going on.

And I can do without Jack sneaking up behind me when I am perusing some stuff to be mean to him with and whispering: ‘thay yeth thir… thuck my cock, thlave or I will thpank you, methilethly.

36 Comments

  • Wow. The mandoms I know and see around these parts aren’t like this at all. Well, except for the leather vests (er, waistcoats, whatever).

  • Yeah - even the ones who aren’t asshats have the waistcoats.

    Do you really call them vests? Even if they fasten down the middle? What would you call the third (non-jacket, non-trousers) part of a three piece suit?

  • I think its a shame when people get stuck in certain roles, how can you truly appreciate domination if you refuse yourself the right to feel submissive…emotion is about contrast after all

  • Well, you know, some people don’t like to switch - and that is fine, but, god, sometimes I just feel so overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the mandom view that is totally het M/f

    At a recent event there was a stall selling paddles and stuff and every single one had a small logo of a kneeling woman. And not just any kneeling woman - but the stereotypical small, long haired, slender dreamsub.

    Pah

  • Yeah I think it is fine when people don’t want to switch, but its when men in particular believe they are innately dominant and therefore could not actually be submissive. I find it extremely narrow minded.

    What also annoys me is when the strength of male subs is more glorified than female subs. Female domination seems to be partly about restraining someone who would overpower you normally, but in the male domination sector it seems to be ignored that there are women who want to be made submissive (strong women) as oppose to already being in that state. If that makes sense. You never ever see a 5ft 11 broad shouldered, powerful and strong woman being submissive in pictures

  • Do you really call them vests? Even if they fasten down the middle? What would you call the third (non-jacket, non-trousers) part of a three piece suit?

    I’m not an expert on suits, but a google search suggests they are called vests. And yeah, I call anything a vest if it’s like a jacket without arms. Including something like a fleece or nylon vest you might wear in winter. This definition from the American Heritage dictionary is right for me.

    Sorry, that was so boring. Here, the gay doms wear vests even more often than the straight doms. But then, I think that look is moderately hot, so it doesn’t offend me.

  • Why do you think it is, if it is, I’m not too sure that the male ‘dreamsub’ is presented as strong and force is needed to dominate, whilst the female ‘dreamsub’ is small and easy to make submissive?

  • I’m really hoping that this sort of mandom is a dying trend, because I don’t identify with it at all.

    Neither myself nor the friends I know that enjoy these sorts of activities have this sort of posturing. Granted, I think I’m the only one amongst us that identifies as male and dominant (and even then, with the understanding that these things are not givens, but in fact a bit negotiable from time to time), but I certainly don’t feel that I uphold the stereotype.

    And I don’t really feel the need to defend my particular combination of identities, since often these preferences do belong to fat guys with neckbeards and a healthy attitude of misogyny and privilege, but I have a lot of hope that it’s a generational thing, and with kids like myself and my compatriots starting to approach the scene with a different perspective, greater self-awareness, and some goddamn fashion sense, that this more obnoxious, less hygienic mandom will be a thing of the past.

    This is likely just me being a bit hopeful, though.

  • “Switches! Switches are worse than mansubs”

    Woohoo, I’m the worst! Sorry, just had to get that out of my system.

    I’ve been reading a while so decided to comment at last. I must say that I’m grateful to have never encountered such mandom-ness, but then I’ve never been to an “event” so I think I’m fairly safe.

  • I don’t go to many - and this is kind of the reason why

  • Why do you think it is, if it is, I’m not too sure that the male ‘dreamsub’ is presented as strong and force is needed to dominate, whilst the female ‘dreamsub’ is small and easy to make submissive?

    I imagine it is likely to be because there is no such thing as a dominant woman so the male dreamsub is pretty much as defined by gay men.

    Luckily - as far as I’m concerned gay men pretty much like what I like.

    I’d be interested to see femsub stuff about her being strong rather that all purty in her bondage. But then - as I have said before - I am so obsessed with my noble-sufferance ideas of submission and masculinity that I find a lot of mandom/femsub *strange*.

    Sound interesting to have her strong and suffering and shouty-angery, but I’m getting out of my comfort zone here.

  • Even other men hate mandoms. Not only because they appear to get more women… they’re also usually utter cunts.

  • When will people understand. This is not about sex!

    ::bangs head on desk::

  • You should be careful,now,Bitchy,for Master Bator may come knocking on your door.

    The way femsubs ( btw,is masochist a non word,now?) are portrayed is always the same,but bad porn exists everywhere.The problem is when I read/hear some hetsubs writing /talking: either pretending or not,they always state they hate pain,that they only desire to please their master and more sheepish stuff like that.

    Taking Mistress Matisse and Calico and few women I know personally, none of them assume being a masochist or actually enjoying BDSM because it’s their kink;it’s never their kink being knelt in front of a man, they never desire to be forced,they never crave being hurt,because they have been already inoculated with the spiritually-God ordered-submissive- gene when in their mother’s wombs and are incapable of wanting and desiring.

    This leaves me in a bad position,because BDSM is my kink,I like pain and I enjoy being dominated,yet,all those Master Batorss are ,deep inside, Gandhi’s followers and,when they hear the word “violence” they kinda get shocked .

    Worst thing is,sometimes,black leather and beard do look hot and dominating and dangerous and sadistic and hot,but I think that only happens when is Richard Armitage wearing them and he’s playing Guy of Gisbourne,on Robin Hood .

  • I thought Jack’s closing comments (which I actually want to hear out loud) would be the funniest thing in this article: I was wrong. Innocent Loverboy’s comment is.

    The worst thing about mandomishness for me isn’t actually the stereotyped mandom per se - it’s that the very concept is one giant, vastly unimaginative, cliché. And that it therefore predominantly (geddit?) attracts vastly unimaginative and clichéd people. The two worst things, then - and that by and large it divorces the whole thing from actually caring about the other person involved. (This - the divorcing-of-physical-pain-from-love, shall we call it? - is a characteristic it arguably shares with the prodoms). The *three* worst things about mandomishness, then - and that they’re usually utter cunts.

    The *four* worst - I’ll come in again.

  • You know, every few days something like this comes along and reminds me how glad I am I’m not overwhelmingly interested in men at all. (Except Callum Keith Rennie. But he’s Canadian and twice my age and probably gay, so I don’t think it matters there anyhow.)

    _Sound interesting to have her strong and suffering and shouty-angery, but I’m getting out of my comfort zone here._

    *Ai.* Okay, you’ve just told me exactly what sort of smut I want to write next.

    … um. Anyway. Been lurking for quite some time, and I figured it was about time to crawl out of the woodwork and introduce myself. *waves*

  • I don’t even understand how these deeply scary individuals can be considered, or consider themselves, ‘dominant.’ To me, if you’re strutting, puffed-up, and domin*eering*, forget it. You’re not even in the right building.

  • Though the genre Bitchy described is awful enough,there’s also another sub-specie of dom,equally quite negative: the “I’m so gentle and I respect you so much and I’ll make you travel to another dimension” type.

    This one does not wear black leather or beard nor he openly considers women to be inferior. Actually,he wears normal clothing and is normally a middle /upper class man.

    This animal here is,at first,gentle,then,he starts trying to manipulate you into thinking what you want is what he wants and he’s offering nothing but what you want ( yes,it’s weird and confusing ). Then,you say no,but the creature keeps talking like if you have just said “Yes,you’re my master”.

    Ahah…and the mails!God,that’s torture,and not in a good way!Exclamations marks everywhere,chaotic sentences and always,always,the “I’m so sweet and nice and I respect you” tone,while calling you retarded and always trying to manipulate you!

    Yuck…only thinking about this makes me sick. Give me a leathered insecure creature any time,instead!

  • BJ: I just feel so overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the mandom view that is totally het M/f. Yes, I feel bad that I’m mostly interested in M/f, as it IS seen as the norm, but if all I could get was this kind of mandom I’d rapidly develop my dominant and/or lesbian side.

    Leah: it seems to be ignored that there are women who want to be made submissive (strong women) as oppose to already being in that state - yup, I prefer to be fairly evenly matched physically and mentally to people I’ve submitted to, that way it’s more interesting, as if it could go either way until the last moment.

    I’ll comfort myself with the fact that I’m pretty much invisible to asshat mandoms, seeing as I fail most requirements of the dreamsub, I won’t even kneel at the moment with my dicky knees…

  • There’s something cute about submissives with dicky knees. I don’t know why.

  • Don’t think I have ever seen your stereotypical mandom, Jones. I wouldn’t consider myself a dominant male as I feel so divorced from this whole aspect of sexuality but I definetely consider myself an alpha-type male, (or at least I did when I actually gave a fuck about anything at all).
    It strikes me that so much of the sex you refer too in your blog is just that…sex! I have no problem at all associating sex with cash transactions, (my first trip to a whore-house was when I was 9 years old with a bunch of junior officers on the ship my father was on - of course they didn’t let me go with any of the hookers, much to my annoyance at the time, but I had a few beers and sat with a group of scantily clad Burmese whores while my responsible guardians went upstairs). I guess that is why the transaction based pro-doms don’t offend me terribly. Sex for money is just a transaction. I cannot understand the guys who feel that the woman they are paying sees them as anything other than a customer or why they get attached to hookers or strippers. After all you don’t really get attached to the guy who installs your cable TV or to your maid.
    What is illuminating is that when you write about your experiences, (and other bloggers such as Dev, Eileen and May), that are non-financial they do seem to be hotter than the average pro’s sex blog .

  • There’s something cute about submissives with dicky knees. I don’t know why.

    Aw shucks, I try to enjoy the pain, I really do, but it’s all about context isn’t it?

    I honour of this post I called my partner a mandom asshat when he got in. He was most bemused.

  • Bah, have these men no sense of style? Although I can personally get behind leather clothing in its many varieties, I think turning up in a tatty t-shirt is so… uncaring. Perhaps it is just my part of the kinky world, however I feel that when I am in the mood for ensnaring some poor unfortunate, I should look my best!

    Equally, such chauvinistic and bigoted in general attitudes are highly distasteful. However I may be biased, as a switchy bisexual who delights in reducing smart women (who are rarely blonde bimbos) to quivering wrecks by whatever means are necessary!

  • I so hesitate to call myself a sub, because to me it is just sex, and it is just a game — a really fun game, but not the only one… but anyhow, the dom man with whom I have played liked, in fact encouraged, the idea of me being a switch, although not with him. I think he liked the idea of dominating someone who was also capable of dominating others. Really, what would be the fun in being stronger than someone who just rolled over and played dead?

  • Hah! I love you so much I wish I liked women. At least then there’d be no STUPID FUCKING FACIAL HAIR to contend with. Ugh. I hate it. Dorky little come-catchers, chinstraps, monstrous full beards that look like weasels- mandom grooming is horrible.

    Rant about femsubs next- the ones who are all, “I do this for love of service an’ purity an’ Jesus an’ I don’t get any pleasure out of it at all. Really. It’s all about making him happy. I hate pain and degradation”. Really? I do it to get off.

    And women occasionally need real restraining, too. I’ve been doing martial arts for a long time, and while I’m not brilliant, pinning me down quickly turns into a lesson. “No, no, not that way. This way. Move your arm. Other arm, other arm, dipshit- I mean, Master Sir Guy.”

    Probably shouldn’t've chucked him into the coffee table, though.

  • I imagine it is likely to be because there is no such thing as a dominant woman so the male dreamsub is pretty much as defined by gay men.

    Luckily - as far as I’m concerned gay men pretty much like what I like.

    I never thought about that, but now that I do, I think you’re on to something with that statement. Which begins to explain a lot of why I don’t feel like I’m a good example of most women’s dream male sub either, including yours.

  • Completely, totally, and randomly off-topic: in the top right-hand corner of this blog’s pages lurks a tiny and almost invisible emoticon which, when copy-and-pasted, is actually a link to the page you’re on. How bizarre!

    *ahem* I’ll be quiet now.

  • Well, I do like to sprinkle my blog with little treats for bored people digging around - however that smiling creature belong to wordpress. You should be able to find it on any wordpress blog if you look.

    It’s the stat counter. When you load the page your browser asks wordpress for the emoticon and wordpress counts how often this happens and then it can tell me how many bazillion page loads I have had by my screaming fans.

  • My first comment…wow, you finally got me to stop lurking. Though I have to say I’ve had the pleasure (even as a female sub) of never interacting with the specimen described above, I’d have to agree that it is despicable. I live in the San Francisco area and it seems like there’s a lot of open-mindedness, so pretty much everyone goes with the “not for me, but that doesn’t mean it’s not for you” idea at the very least.
    Oh, and holy shit, I hate people that think that it’s natural for males to dominate females. I’ve encountered this more outside of “the scene,” like at my Christian family’s get-togethers. Bleh.
    Keep up the good work, Bitchy, you make my dominant boyfriend laugh every time I share your blog with him.

  • Oh dear lord. THOSE guys. Please, please, please can I join in the killstabkill? Pretty please? I’ll even shave and let you dress me if I get to wreak some havoc on the asshats. *smile*

  • Also, coralina - I lost the thread in your first comment. Are you saying that most women you know who sub are only pretending. (I freely admit I may have just completely misread what you wrote.)

  • I usually just wear the same things to an event that I’d wear to a club. Some kind of collared shirt, jeans and nice shoes.

    After a while of that, though, I really started to feel underdressed and people were saying that they’d figured i was going to be a dick because I was dressed in “tourist” garb. So I tried to put together a “look”. I had no idea what I was doing (how in gods nameare you spposed to dress switchy as a male?) so I opted for a large assed chain around my neck with padlock (sorta Quinton “Rampage” Jackson) with similar but smaller chains around my wrists. I got some compliments about it, some confusion; (”So, you havn’t been collared, you just did that yourself?” ;) and an incredibly sore neck the next day from the weight of it all. Thus ends my brief experiment with bdsm fashion.

  • BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

    Oh, Bitchy, I love you.

    I have a lot of mandom friends, and most of them suffer from one or more of these traits.

    Unfortunate facial hair, stinky leather (I wonder if they know you can clean it), the deep conviction that dominant women are submissives who just haven’t met the right (aka MY) penis yet…

    So true, so funny.

  • I have a question…

    Does you enlightened opinion on switches extend to women, or just to men?

  • What?

    How could they not extend to women? You think I could possibly think that women couldn’t or shouldn’t be switches.

    Switches are the best ones. I think switching is amazing. The closest I ever get to it is the kind of rawr/escape thingy. And I don’t really like submissive stuff - but I can certainly feel the points where I give.

  • I cackled at the last paragraph. And then felt vaguely bad about it…

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