The misogynist group, Return of Kings, has received international media attention for its recent staging, and subsequent cancellation, of 165 meetings in 43 countries. The meet-ups were scheduled for February 6th, but called off after Roosh V, the groupâs founder, released a statement saying he could no longer ensure participantsâ safety due to threatening backlash and widespread protests incited by the media.
The group was created in 2012 by Daryush Valizadeh (Roosh V), a graduate of the University of Maryland who dropped his career in microbiology to begin a neomasculine blog. Since then, he has published over a dozen books on how to pick-up women, two of which are entitled Bang and Day Bang, because apparently picking-up women at night and in the day time warrants two separate manuals.
Roosh Vâs personal blog lays out the âprinciple tenantsâ of Neomasculinity in which his beliefs are rooted. Included in these is the idea that âA womanâs value significantly depends on her fertility and beauty. A manâs value significantly depends on his resources, intellect, and character.â A pre-established question in the FAQ portion of his blog reads:
âIâm a girl. I want to ask you a question.â
I probably wonât answer your email unless you include a link to your picture (both face and body must be visible).
Roosh V, the founder of Return of Kings
Like Roosh Vâs own beliefs, Return of Kings is founded on the principles of male superiority and feminist oppression of males. The website contains over 2,000 articles infused with misogynist ideals, anti-liberalist views, and criticisms regarding the current refugee crisis. It features titles such as, âWhy Vladimir Putin May Be The Last Guardian of Traditional Values,â â21 Quotes Of The Vikingsâ Havamal To Guide A Masculine Lifestyle,â and â8 Things That Make A Girl Stupid and Useless.â An article written by Valizadeh himself, titled âGermany Proves That âRape Cultureâ Is Merely A Political Weapon Against Western Men,â focuses on the New Yearâs Eve proceedings in Cologne, Germany, where 90 women were sexually assaulted by 1,000 Syrian refugees, and the supposed âdouble-standardâ manner in which the government handled the event.
Saturdayâs meetings sparked the attention of the masses when the media dubbed Roosh V as a âpro-rape campaigner,â referring to a wildly successful article (in his circle of followers) that he wrote last year, titled âHow to Stop Rapeâ . In the article, he proposes a thought experiment introducing the legalization of rape on private property, stating that,
âIf rape becomes legal under my proposal, a girl will protect her body in the same manner that she protects her purse and smartphone. If rape becomes legal, a girl will not enter an impaired state of mind where she canât resist being dragged off to a bedroom with a man who she is unsure ofâsheâll scream, yell, or kick at his attempt while bystanders are still around. If rape becomes legal, she will never be unchaperoned with a man she doesnât want to sleep withâŠConsent is now achieved when she passes underneath the roomâs door frame, because she knows that that man can legally do anything he wants to her when it comes to sex.â
Valizadeh claims that the article is satire and should not be taken literally. The writer of a recent piece titled âWhy the Media Manufactured Outrage Against Our Meetup: We Were Used,â argues that the media exaggerated and took the article out of context in order to incite public backlash. He even goes as far as comparing Valizadeh to Jesus, stating
âRooshâs ideas are not compatible with the established order, and he has many followers. This is a very real threat to the Machine [government], which must control the narrative. Throughout history, people who have their way of thinking threatened lash out. Their way of thinking was implanted by the System [government]. Socrates, Jesus, Galileo, Malcolm X, Salman Rushdie, and the staff of Charlie Hebdo are a few notable targets of people who had their way of thinking challenged.â
Originally captioned:Â One of these men is Roosh, the other is a migrant rapist.
Satire or not, Roosh V and Return of Kings have managed to gain public attention. The writer of the latter article may argue that the spotlight has had a positive influence in increasing readership and followership. However, it has also created a heightened awareness of the groupâs perpetuation of negative and archaic societal ideals, and reinforced the necessity for individuals of being well-informed and prepared to combat these views.
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Works Cited:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-35491495
http://www.returnofkings.com/52295/top-35-most-important-articles-on-rok