Most of the time I have faith in humanity, but then I stumble upon websites like returnofkings.com. Return of Kings is a site dedicated to renewing masculinity as defined by the pseudonym contributors, all who “believe men should be masculine and women should be feminine.”
The site glorifies sexual assault and domestic violence as central to the “masculine” mindsets, which is why Return of Kings should be disbanded and boycotted.
After the site’s article “5 Reasons to Date a Girl With an Eating Disorder” by Tuthmosis blew up online, the blog has gained more views than it ever had, begging the question of whether they posted this disgusting list just to make money or if they actually believe the misinformed information that was written.
After scrolling through their site and seeing other unfortunate displays of blogging like the article “Fat Shaming Week,” I have come to the conclusion that this blog shows how the judgments we all face in Western culture have to be eliminated.
For “Fat Shaming Week” the blog posted photos of a little girl eating ice cream and then explained why fat girls do not deserve love.
Judgments we place on body image and the concept of beauty all drive money in the media as well as on despicable websites like Return of Kings.
If we were all a little less obsessed with appearances, a topic that consumes so much of our time and money, then maybe we would be able to actually make a difference in the world and adhere less to a certain standard of beauty that is expected.
Return of Kings alone bashes people who are fat and women they define as sluts, while glorifying women with eating disorders because they are vulnerable people pleasers.
This just reinforces society’s problems while putting money in the pockets of unnamed cyber bullies sitting behind their computers.
The content on this site is so appalling, but what is even more appalling is the 3,000 plus Facebook likes that they have racked up.
With how many people are on the internet 3,000 likes does not seem like a lot, but the fact that their content, be it a money making scheme or not, has reached this many people, all who are fans and followers is alarming.
With this many people reading the articles up on this website guiding them to get women to sleep with them and encouraging male dominant behavior, it is scary to think how many men will go out there and assert violent dominance over the women in their life.
Return of Kings epitomizes everything that is wrong with the stigmas about gender in our culture and their ridicule of others goes to show how despicable people can be.
Kellie Galentine, a sophomore journalism major, is a staff writer for the Campus Times. She can be reached by email at kellie.galentine@laverne.edu.
