‘Conscious Men’: A Group of Whining Loosers Apologizing to Women for ‘Thouzand of Years of Lousy Behavior’

A rather ridiculous group called Conscious Men was making a fool of itself on the Web back in 2011 by apologizing to women for thousands of years of lousy behaviour, including burning them at the stake, prostitution, rape, genital mutilation, political and economic inequality and relegating them to “subservient chores.”  [1]  When we refers to the “pussyfication of men” that’s exactly what we are talking about. This is what happens when you got too much “sensitivity training” and watched too much MSNBC. “Dear Woman,” begins the group’s eight-minute ludicrous YouTube video, which features a diverse cast of men speaking over a weepy violin.  “We stand before you today as men committed to becoming more conscious in every way,” one man reads from the group’s manifesto. “We feel deep love, great respect and a growing sense of worship for the gifts of the feminine. We also feel deep sorrow about the destructive actions of the unconscious masculine in the past and present.” [1]  Some of the men are dad-ish and others are professorial. This is really a sickening video. There’s a teen in a hoodie, a white guy with dreadlocks and a muscular type in a flowing white shirt. One sits atop a pile of pillows, apologizing for men who have used women’s bodies for “commerce, prostitution and pornography.” Another celebrates women’s abilities to “pay attention to what is here, right now.” (There’s a painting of a kitty behind him.)  “I honour your intuition, and your profound capacity for feeling,” one says. “As men, we have often devalued feeling and intuition, in favour of a view dominated by data and logic,” adds another, overtop an image of mathematical symbols filling a chalkboard. [1]

One would think women would be thrilled, but apparently they’re mostly just disgusted and creeped out, with commenters tearing a strip off the men for being too “new-agey” on Jezebel. Others accuse the Conscious Men of being macktivists (that’s espousing a cause for sex).  Over on YouTube, a vicious backlash prompted the Conscious Men to disable comments on their video.  “We are very aware that some people resonated with it, and some did not,” reads a note under the video. [1]  “We have received thousands of comments, and many of them are highly abusive or offensive. We are happy to welcome all points of view, but not expressions of violence or hatred.”  [1] The two founders are pensive types: Gay Hendricks (no… it’s not a joke… this is really his name) offers online relationship therapy with his wife Kathlyn while Arjuna Ardagh is hawking his “Deeper Love” retreat in Corfu, Greece.  Not to be outdone, Mr. Ardagh’s wife, Chameli, has also repledged her own apology – on behalf of all women to men.  “In our bitterness and feminine starvation we empower ourselves by making you small and ridiculous. We speak of the masculine with contempt and disrespect and instead we took it upon ourselves to compete with men, when this was a futile competition to start with,” she writes to her “sisters.” [4]

While many women probably appreciated the video’s message of acceptance and celebration, its new-age-y aesthetic and goofy font choices left it ripe for parody, and none other than Will Ferrell has stepped up to the plate to do it justice.  Ferrell, along with an all-star cast including Will Forte, Tim Heidecker, Nick Kroll, Paul Scheer, Rob Huebel and Jon Daly picked up where the Conscious Men left off and recorded his own message for women everywhere, letting them know that he has their backs. [2]