As many of you know, there have been several essays regarding misogyny in the punk scene by several prominent vocalists over the last few months. For some reason, Patrick Kindlon, singer of End of a Year/Self Defense Family, thought his opinion representing the “other side” was relevant. There is no word yet on whether he will next write an article about all he knows about racism.
He starts his bullshit out with this:
I’ve been asked to contribute to this ongoing feature about sexism in punk because I’ve been on the, “other side” of it. It’s a difficult position to write from. The danger, of course, is that I’ll come off looking like a massive douche.
Spoiler: he does indeed come across as a massive douche.
When talking about a video he created to promote a show:
The videos depicted women in sexually provocative situations. The concerned party failed to recognize the men in the videos were in similar situations. Or that the videos were resolutely tongue-in-cheek and often parodies.
Oh, men were shown the same way? That makes it all okay! It’s not like there’s a double standard that’s, you know, the reason that people are taking issues with men portraying women that way to begin with. Oh, and they were parodies? Phew, that renders any possibility of there being sexism present obsolete. Bigots are incapable of doing parodies, don’t you know?
After talking about getting kicked out of a show for allegedly being sexist, a charge he disagrees with:
The point of my story isn’t to vindicate myself more than two years after the fact, but to illustrate that when we say things like “________ has no place here” we risk mob mentality.
Yeah, we really need to stop saying that sexism has no place here, everyone! Men might be negatively affected!!!
He continues:
I think it’s important that punks ask themselves what the goal is when confronting someone. Is it to show them the “right” way to live through education? Or is it to change their behavior through intimidation? Or is it just to placate your superior attitude?
Anyone who is confronting oppression that they face has no obligation whatsoever to try to “educate” the person saying/doing harmful things. “Hey, on top of dealing with the oppression, it’s also your responsibility to teach privileged people shit!” No. If someone is doing sexist shit, I’m hardly going to feel bad for them if they feel “intimidated” by someone standing up against it. And yes, being against sexism is a superior attitude over defending it. I’m not referring to the story he tells in the essay about getting kicked off the show in Germany, but about him writing this as a response to the discussion of sexism in punk, period.
Going for the gold in the “massive asshole” competition:
As I understand it, the essays people have contributed to Punknews.org on this topic have focused on the fact that sexism is prevalent in punk and hardcore music. Seems like a waste of bandwidth and time to me. We all know that. What I’m more curious about is why you expected anything other that what we currently have.
Yeah, complaining about sexism is a waste of bandwidth, everyone! We all know that! And in case you didn’t, there’s always a dude ready to come along and shit all over you for it.
Sadly, this exercise demonstrates just how “unpunk” everyone really is. It starts with someone considered “cool” asserting their views and leveraging their popularity to make others fall in line. Congrats, you’ve reached homogony. All the freethinking qualities that people praise when discussing punk as a subculture or counterculture are replaced with the same sort of mindlessness you’d find anywhere else.
Demanding freedom from oppression? psh, if no one was sexist, everyone would just have a monotonous, homogenous hive-mindset. BOOOORING!
Sexism in Punk 
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