Man Calls for Austin Boycott Over 'Wonder Woman' Screening & the Mayor's Response Is Classic
If Wonder Woman ever wants a new sidekick, she should call Austin, Texas mayor Steve Adler. (Side note: There's something about Steves -- Steve Trevor, Steve Rogers, and now Steve Adler.)
Austin's Alamo Drafthouse is among the theaters planning to hold some women-only screenings of Gal Gadot's "Wonder Woman" to "celebrate a character who's meant a great deal to women for close to eight decades." That has garnered criticism from some people, and the most vocal critics have been male. They probably don't want to attend the screenings -- it's pretty clear many of these guys will go out of their way to avoid any movies starring women, and view any request to see more than one female character in a movie or TV show as feminist propaganda -- but they are still upset at what they perceive as hypocrisy.
One of those men wrote a letter to the mayor of Austin, and the mayor's letter in response was a glorious mic drop.
Both letters are posted in full on Mayor Adler's website. Here's just a portion of what Richard A. Ameduri wrote to the mayor:
"I hope every man will boycott Austin and do what he can to diminish Austin and to cause damage to the city's image. The theater that pandered to the sexism typical of women will, I hope, regret it's decision. The notion of a woman hero is a fine example of women's eagerness to accept the appearance of achievement without actual achievement. Women learn from an early age to value make-up, that it's OK to pretend that you are greater than you actually are. Women pretend they do not know that only men serve in combat because they are content to have an easier ride. Women gladly accept gold medals at the Olympics for coming in 10th and competing only against the second class of athletes. Name something invented by a woman! [...] Does Austin stand for gender equality or for kissing up to women? Don't bother to respond. I already know the answer. I do not hate women. I hate their rampant hypocrisy and the hypocrisy of the "women's movement." Women do not want gender equality; they want more for women. Don't bother to respond because I am sure your cowardice will generate nothing worth reading."
Oh, but the mayor did respond to this gentleman, and here's part of his response:
"Dear Mr. Ameduri,
I am writing to alert you that your email account has been hacked by an unfortunate and unusually hostile individual. Please remedy your account's security right away, lest this person's uninformed and sexist rantings give you a bad name. After all, we men have to look out for each other!
Can you imagine if someone thought that you didn't know women could serve in our combat units now without exclusion? What if someone thought you didn't know that women invented medical syringes, life rafts, fire escapes, central and solar heating, a war-time communications system for radio-controlling torpedoes that laid the technological foundations for everything from Wi-Fi to GPS, and beer? And I hesitate to imagine how embarrassed you'd be if someone thought you were upset that a private business was realizing a business opportunity by reserving one screening this weekend for women to see a superhero movie."
Read his full response for more, which includes this perfect "bless your heart" closing:
"And in the future, should your travels take you to Austin, please know that everyone is welcome here, even people like those who wrote that email whose views are an embarrassment to modernity, decency, and common sense."
BOOM. Of course, this is not settling any debates and will hardly change the OG writer's mind. Plenty of fans are still waging gender wars in comments across the Internet, with stars like Marvel's Don Cheadle defending the screenings, and explaining from his perspective how they don't represent a double standard.
That's a thimble deep analogy. And a double standard presupposes equal footing. This ain't that. https://t.co/babyaR313J
— Don Cheadle (@DonCheadle) May 30, 2017
Stupidly. There's no point to men making a point about celebrating themselves. That's called "the planet." Claro? https://t.co/DyaIS3iIaq
— Don Cheadle (@DonCheadle) May 30, 2017
The movie was made to appeal to EVERYBODY WORLDWIDE! That's how our biz works! It's a few screenings. Good for them. You should ???????????????????????? https://t.co/XN61M8szwu
— Don Cheadle (@DonCheadle) May 30, 2017
I support women only screenings of Wonder Woman, I also think the ticket price should only be 85% of normal to reflect gender wage disparity
— David Schneider (@DaveSchNJ) May 30, 2017
[h/t: EW]
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