Hugo Schwyzer Teaches The Manosphere A Huge Lesson – Will It Listen?
by Mature Woman
"Hugo wasn't worried about those types of criticisms from non-feminists like me. "The ones who do see [the deeper flaws], you can marginalize them. You can just roll your eyes at them." Though Hugo said he knew he wasn't the handsomest man in the room, he had confidence and that's what helped propel him into the spotlight as a male feminist. Feminism was the perfect platform for him because, for one, he believes in feminism and maintains that he is still a feminist, but also because there were few other male feminists. It was the perfect platform for his need for female attention, which is something his anti-feminist critics have always asserted. He said that other male feminists merely took all their cues from women. "They weren't doing anything, they were too chickenshit." They only talked about violence against women, he said. Hugo tended to focus on female sexual empowerment or on belittling men. The latter worked and was vetted by prominent outlets, and that's one part of the story here. The prominent male feminists "weren't edgy; they weren't sexy" he said. And then the bombshell for me: "It's about having Game." "I took Game to the feminist world," he said at one point. Hugo said he made fun of Game as presented in the "Manosphere" because he was a natural at it."
-Chuck Ross, "Hugo's Last Hurrah"
With the Internet still very much ablaze in the wake of disgraced Pasadena City College professor and self-proclaimed "premiere male feminist" Hugo Schwyzer's Twitter ill mental health-induced meltdown and virtual cage match with a cabal of Black Feminists, many in the Manosphere feel rightly vindicated in their views on Hugo: that he was a charlatan, a phony and a fraud; that he threw untold scores of Men under the bus for the express purpose of ingratiating himself to the ladies; that he mocked and scoffed at Men for daring to improve themselves and their dating/mating chances, in large part because he's a Natural himself and took delight in cutting the competition down to size; and that he's a hopeless attention seeker, intent on getting the spotlight at any cost -- which, if recent reports are to be believed, seems to include his (fourth!) marriage and children.
What The Hugo Saga Teaches Us
But while the righteous indignation of many in the Manosphere -- some of whom I would call allies, colleagues and even friends is indeed rightly deserved -- I would like to suggest that we have much to learn from the Saga of Hugo Schwyzer -- and that we would be wise to take heed as to what those lessons have to say.
First, let's get right to the obvious: yes, Hugo told everyone, especially the ladies, what they wanted to hear -- his writings across numerous and high-profile venues, such as the Atlantic, Jezebel, Feministe and others, centered on all the familiar tropes of modern day, "Third Wave Feminism": buzzwords like "rape culture" and "creep" were common in Hugo's writings. But this only played a part of his mystique.
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At least as important, was the fact that Hugo is, No Homo, a good looking Man.
This is a point that cannot -- must not - be overlooked by those of us in the Manosphere -- for if -- and that in itself is a moot point, I freely admit -- we want to have any chance or hope of having our concerns taken seriously by the public, a large percentage of which is indeed made up by Women, seriously, then what the famed SNL skit featuring Tom Brady said is true, and that Hugo is the living embodiment of:
"Be handsome. Be attractive. Don't be unattractive."
The Critical Importance Of Physical Appearance
For many Men reading this, they will perhaps rightly recoil that I would dare to suggest that Hugo could teach any of us in the Manosphere anything about how the real world works, to say nothing of how to be successful in it; but the fact remains that, in a relatively short amount of time, Prof. Hugo rose from obscure academic at a collegiate backwater to, well, the premiere male feminist of his era -- and a big, huge part of the reason why, is because of the fact that he is easy on the eyes. Of the many, many posts and articles I've read by various Manospherians on the Hugo debacle, ALL of them have just-so-happened to leave this inconvenient fact out of their diabtribes.
And in so doing, they and we, run the risk of missing out on a crucial secret to Hugo's success.
We all can blame Hugo all we like, but the fact of the matter is that looks matter, and it's becoming moreso for Men in particular all the time. The reason(s) why are by now no closely guarded state secret -- in fact, I'll let Hugo himself say it:
"Until recently, however, few women could make sexual choices based primarily on physical desire and emotional attraction. In a world where few women had the opportunity to prosper without a man's protection, marriage was about survival. The more educational and economic opportunities women acquire, the more opportunity they have to choose based on what they want rather than what they need for survival. As Daniel Bergner's bestselling What Do Women Want? argues, once you level the economic playing field, women are just as likely as men to make sexual decisions based on desire alone."
The above words by Prof. Hugo come from one of his final Atlantic articles, a piece entitled "It's Okay To Call a Guy Creepy" and hammers home the point that, like it or not, Today's Women have more agency to select Men based in whole or in part, on pure physical attraction alone -- which leads me to quote this part by Prof. Hugo:
"Men's rage about sexual harassment regulations and "creep-shaming" may well be rooted in an unwillingness to accept these cultural changes that have given women unprecedented power to say "no" to the lecherous and the predatory. Complaints that unattractive, socially awkward men are unfairly labeled "creepy" miss the point. "Creepy" describes having "the creeps;" it's a word that centers on women's own feelings. It's no more "unfair" for Ashley the hypothetical barista to be "creeped out" by the advances of an older, unappealing co-worker than it is for her to be excited by the same approach from the man to whom she's attracted. In that sense, the SNL sketch got to an important truth: Women's subjective experiences and instincts matter."
You want to know something?
Prof. Hugo's RIGHT.
Sour Grapes And Self-Improvement In The Manosphere
As a denizen of some years of the Manosphere, I can vouch for what he's saying along these lines. Look, it's time to face facts: a tremendous amount of the Sturm und Drang that can be heard daily in Manosphere venues, is thinly veiled Sour Grapes over the fact that Women (or a certain type of Woman) doesn't find those who howl the loudest attractive -- that they have the ability and power and right to say "N*gga, please" and it makes these guys spittin' mad. In fact, even in those venues where the ostensible goal is to discuss and learn Pickup, you can and will see far and away MORE comments filled with vitriol directed toward Women (as well as racist invective) than detailed discussions on self-improvement of one's looks, fashion sense or behaviors. Please don't take my word for it, go and see for yourself: for many in the Manosphere, "Chateau Heartiste", formerly known as Roissy, is the Manosphere's go-to source for Red Pill Game and Pickup knowledge - yet, on any given day, you can and will find more commenting and discussion dogging Women and/or non-White people out, than you will about self-improvement. Anyone who knows anything about the Manosphere, knows what I'm saying is true -- and which goes to explain at least in part, how and why the Manosphere writ large, continues to be seen as a gaggle of disaffected White Guy(TM) losers, frothing at the mouth in their mama's basements.
For those who are not convinced with what I've just presented above, I can give you another example. A few years back, I wrote a simple "Men's lifestyle" piece for the Spearhead, one of the better known and longest-running venues in the Manosphere; in it, I counseled fellas on the importance of looking good, especially if you had any intentions to retain a high-value mate. I wrote that piece and sent it off early in the morning, and then left out with my sweetie for the day.
By the time I got back that early evening, there were more than 400 comments calling me everything but a child of God, for daring to suggest that making an effort to look good for any Woman, was a laudable goal for ANY Man. By the time midnight came in, there were more than 700 comments calling for my head on a pike; among the more colorful names was "fag" and compared to Anderson Cooper; a "proto-feminist"; a "crypto-Marxist"; a "pussy-beggar"; and I was accused of pandering to Women and of "putting the pussy on a pedestal", when all I said was that it was a good idea to get a shave, wash one's ass, get a haircut and get some clean clothes. To date, and as far as I am aware, that post of mine remains the highest-commented on in the Spearhead's history -- a dubious distinction that, in equal measure, fascinates and repulses me.
That experience, as well as those I witnessed (and continue to witness from time to time) at Roissy/Chateau Heartiste and quite a few other venues in the Manosphere, confirmed for me that for a not insignificant number of Men, they do not wish to improve themselves, and will savagely attack any other Man for merely suggesting that they should. And yet, here comes along Prof. Hugo, who not only said and did all the right things, but most importantly, was handsome enough to pull it all off. Indeed, we all know the reason why Jill Filipovic is going to the mat for the guy on Twitter, why Jessica Coen at Jezebel is so evasive in her recent article about Schwyzer -- because, he's easy on the eyes.
That's something we in the Manosphere, need to take seriously.
Taking A Page From Hugo's Book
Sure, there's always something to be said for the facts and the truth, being important; and I'll be the first one to say that, in the words of Omar Little from the famed HBO series The Wire, that "A Man's got to have a Code" - granted.
But if there's anything to be learned from the Hugo Affair, especially for us Manospherians, it's that Appearances Matter. We all know that Abe Lincoln, talented and smart as he was, couldn't be elected in today's visually-focused age. And we all also know that you can't tell the potential boss you're about to work for what you really think of him or her -- not of course, if you're really serious about getting that job. While there will be some in the Manosphere who attempt to argue that Game and Pickup is passe' or oldhat, Prof. Hugo is living proof that, now more than ever, in an age where What Women Want is the Coin of the Realm, having Game, matters.
And those Men who refuse to learn even a little of it, can and will bite the dust.
With the crash and burn of Prof. Hugo Schwyzer, the Manosphere finds itself at a serious crossroads:
Do we preen in self-righteous indignation, shouting "Aha!" in a flurry of sanctimonious "I told you so's" to the world in the wake of Hugo's downfall -- and in the process only confirm yet again what the outside world thinks of the Manosphere -- or, do we take stock of this most powerful teachable moment, look at what got Hugo onto the national stage, and take a page or two out of his book? Because, if we want our issues and concerns taken seriously by a larger world, we will have to look -- and sound -- the part.
