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In 1995 and 1996 Rich held Take Back the Penis Rallies in Ottawa, Canada; Cambridge, Massachusetts; Madison, Wisconsin; and San Francisco, California. Yes, they were stupid -- that was the whole point. But through the ensuing radio, TV, and print coverage in the U.S., Canada, and Australia 20 million people were exposed to men's issues. It was an old Abbie Hoffman trick, and it worked.
Press Release: NEWS
Boston "Take Back the Penis" Rally a Spontaneous
Success
A "Take Back the Penis" rally to oppose anti-male propaganda and the
mass media-shaming of men was held at 6:00 P.M., July 22, [1995] in Harvard
Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
In an interview with the Harvard Crimson organizer Rich Zubaty said, "It started as kind of a goof. Craig and I brought about 100 flyers expecting to be out on Harvard Square for an hour or so. But...we were immediately besieged with requests for flyers and dozens of volunteers who wanted to help hand them out. We ended up being there five hours, handing out over 700 flyers, and engaging thousands of passersby in discussions of our issues. Some guy I don't even know went off to Kinko's and copied 600 more flyers for us, with his own money, when we ran out. Incredible."
Said Craig Moberg, "Sure, we had some people mocking and hooting at us, but I was surprised by the number of women who took our flyers and told us they'd had it with feminist male-bashing and how it was hurting men and women...One blind guy, Glenn, heard Rich on the radio (that) afternoon and took a bus out to the rally -- blind! He stayed the whole five hours holding a sign that said 'It's OK to Be a Man'."
One young woman drove by and shouted from her car, "Lorena Bobbitt for Surgeon General." That gave the crowd a big hoot.
Zubaty and Moberg handed out cucumbers to men and women wiseacres who were determined to go home with their new penis.
The Cambridge police provided a protective envelope to preserve Rights of Free Speech.
Tourists from Japan, Egypt, Australia, and all over North America wanted their pictures taken with Rich holding the "Take Back the Penis" sign. Said Zubaty, "I've never made so many people laugh at one time in my life...It was a lot of fun, and we got an opening to make our point -- Stop Shaming Men."
Rich Zubaty is the author of Surviving the Feminization of America and Water People.
For information on how to organize a "Take Back the Penis" rally in YOUR community call us at: 978-568-3626 or email us at richzubaty@hotmail.com.
and the coverage it got:
A small group of men held a rally in Harvard Square Saturday evening to protest "anti-male propaganda" and "the frauds of feminism."
The event, which organizers called "Take Back the Penis," lasted about five hours and drew many inquiries and curious looks from passersby. But the men holding placards and signs took the rally very seriously.
"It's okay to be a man," said organizer Rich Zubaty, who was simultaneously protesting and promoting his book Surviving the Feminization of America. "In this society men are shamed. There's a mass shaming of men going on..."
"American women are the healthiest, most coddled, most protected women on the
planet," Zubaty said. "They are not expected to fight in wars, mine coal, pour
asphalt, or lay bricks. Women receive welfare benefits that are withheld from
men. Women are an exalted majority, not a victimized
minority."
Several of the men protesting with Zubaty handed out cucumbers, apparently to
symbolize the penis.
Zubaty said he chose to protest in Harvard Square because "I'm a very liberal guy. I'm not a right-wing guy and I won't be painted as one. This is about equality."
Robert A. Sides, a member of a local men's group who stopped to take a leaflet, said he was generally receptive to the protesters' message. "The demonstration points out the problem facing men which is that to make their issues known, they have to do something silly," Sides said. "They feel like they have to put propellers on their heads or something to get attention. But in doing so, they are dismissed because of the very things they have to do to be heard."
Several men and women who stopped to argue with the protesters expressed contempt for some of their messages.
"I think this is just more woman-bashing," said one man who would not give his name. "It's pathetic."
Zubaty said that he was not attempting to appeal to the so-called "angry white male" constituency, but rather was appealing to men of all ages and races who "have been made to feel shamed by their masculinity."
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