Petition To Ban Events By Roosh V: Controversial Pick-Up Artist And Legal Rape Advocate


A petition has been started against Daryush Valizadeh, an anti-feminist blogger, pick-up artist, and legal rape advocate.

Daryush writes under the pen name Roosh V on his personal blog, and also the website “Return of Kings.” Roosh has self-published 15 books, most of which offer advice to men on how to seduce women in specific countries. His writings have received widespread criticism.

The Independent reported that the 36-year-old from Maryland argued that a women who consented to go into a man’s house had consented to sex.

Daryush has organized international meetups, scheduled to take place on February 6, in 43 countries. The eight U.K. cities listed include Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Newcastle, Manchester, Shrewsbury, and London. He himself will not be present for the U.K. events. It is reported that Valizadeh will attend an event in Australia — after posting a tweet with his flight details.

The petition is against those events in general and for the event in Glasgow in particular. It was started by Cat Boyd and has been signed by more than 50,000 people.

The petition, which is hosted by 38Degrees, says as follows.

“RooshV, a militant pro-rape pick-up artist is holding gatherings for his followers in Glasgow and Edinburgh. This makes our cities unsafe for at least half the population. Promoting rape is hate speech, and should be treated as such.”

In February, 2015, Roosh was criticized for a blog post that he wrote titled “How to Stop Rape,” in which he proposed legalizing rape. He argued that this will encourage women to protect themselves more and eliminate uncertainty regarding consent. He has subsequently claimed the article was a thought experiment.

The Guardian reported that his other writings leave little doubt about his attitude to women. In one of his blog posts he wrote, he states as follows.

“Modern women are too broken, unreliable, and narcissistic to give men anything reliable besides fornication.”

He is also the founder of the blog Return of Kings, which has been roundly criticised for misogyny.

[Image via Facebook]
[Image via Facebook]
Protesters are already planning to disrupt a meetup planned for the center of Glasgow. More than 600 have already signed up to the Glaswegians Against RooshV Facebook event. It says the following.

“Pro-rape women-haters are not welcome in Glasgow, as they will find out when they gather in George Square at 8pm on Saturday, February 6th and have the pish ripped right out of them by decent Glaswegians. (Any unnecessarily confrontational or abusive posts, hate-speech or threats will be deleted. These men deserve derision and pity. Violence and intimidation is their game and we will not join in)”

Valizadeh’s planned meetings — and the backlash against them — come in the midst of “Sexual Abuse and Sexual Violence Awareness Week” in the U.K., which aims to generate discussion about rape and abuse among the general public, statutory bodies, and third sector organizations.

A spokesperson for the organizers said the following.

“It is important for everyone who has been affected by sexual abuse and sexual violence to be aware that as a country we will be having a public discussion about sexual abuse and sexual violence. Perpetrators also need to know that these discussions are taking place. It is time to put the topic at the forefront of a national conversation to promote specialist services that many organisations are offerings. The focus is going to be on the fact that all forms of sexual abuse and sexual violence are unacceptable and survivors should not have to tolerate it. There should also be adequate services to support those who have experienced it and clear guidelines for reporting it.”

Only time will tell how the story unfolds and how the petition against Roosh V works in protesting against the controversial blogger.

[Image via Bartek Kucharczyk/Wikimedia Commons]

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