Steve Adler, the mayor of Austin, Texas, has schooled an email writer who was upset about a women-only screening of the Hollywood blockbuster, Wonder Woman.
Adler didn’t just respond to email writer Richard A. Ameduri; the mayor posted Ameduri’s email about Wonder Woman to his website, and added his full response as well. The mayor’s send up of the Wonder Woman event critic has now gone viral.
The exchange began when Adler says that Ameduri wrote him an email to complain that people should boycott Austin because a screening of Wonder Woman was limited to women. The screening in question took place at Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse cinema on Thursday, June 1, according to Rolling Stone, which added that, men accused the “popular theater of discrimination, some demanding to know whether the venue had ever offered ‘men-only’ movie nights.”
The event outraged the email writer.
“I hope every man will boycott Austin and do what he can to diminish Austin and to cause damage to the city’s image. The theater that pandered to the sexism typical of women will, I hope, regret it’s (sic) decision,” the email said. You can read the full email at the bottom of this story. The writer then went even farther, saying, “virtually everything great in human history was accomplished by men, not women.”
Adler retorted, “I am writing to alert you that your email account has been hacked by an unfortunate and unusually hostile individual. Please remedy your account’s security right away, lest this person’s uninformed and sexist rantings give you a bad name. After all, we men have to look out for each other!” He then ticked off a series of historic accomplishments by women.
Wonder Woman is earning raves across the country and features a strong female protagonist. According to the blurb on Rotten Tomatoes, “An Amazon princess (Gal Gadot) finds her idyllic life on an island occupied only by female warriors interrupted when a pilot (Chris Pine) crash-lands nearby. After rescuing him, she learns that World War I is engulfing the planet, and vows to use her superpowers to restore peace. Directed by Patty Jenkins (Monster).”
Here’s the full Ameduri email, according to Mayor Adler’s website:
I hope every man will boycott Austin and do what he can to diminish Austin and to cause damage to the city’s image. The theater that pandered to the sexism typical of women will, I hope, regret it’s decision. The notion of a woman hero is a fine example of women’s eagerness to accept the appearance of achievement without actual achievement. Women learn from an early age to value make-up, that it’s OK to pretend that you are greater than you actually are. Women pretend they do not know that only men serve in combat because they are content to have an easier ride. Women gladly accept gold medals at the Olympics for coming in 10th and competing only against the second class of athletes. Name something invented by a woman! Achievements by the second rate gender pale in comparison to virtually everything great in human history was accomplished by men, not women. If Austin does not host a men only counter event, I will never visit Austin and will welcome it’s deteriorati on. And I will not forget that Austin is best known for Charles Whitman. Does Austin stand for gender equality or for kissing up to women? Don’t bother to respond. I already know the answer. I do not hate women. I hate their rampant hypocrisy and the hypocrisy of the “women’s movement.” Women do not want gender equality; they want more for women. Don’t bother to respond because I am sure your cowardice will generate nothing worth reading.
Richard A. Ameduri
Here’s Mayor Adler’s full response:
Dear Mr. Ameduri,
I am writing to alert you that your email account has been hacked by an unfortunate and unusually hostile individual. Please remedy your account’s security right away, lest this person’s uninformed and sexist rantings give you a bad name. After all, we men have to look out for each other!
Can you imagine if someone thought that you didn’t know women could serve in our combat units now without exclusion? What if someone thought you didn’t know that women invented medical syringes, life rafts, fire escapes, central and solar heating, a war-time communications system for radio-controlling torpedoes that laid the technological foundations for everything from Wi-Fi to GPS, and beer? And I hesitate to imagine how embarrassed you’d be if someone thought you were upset that a private business was realizing a business opportunity by reserving one screening this weekend for women to see a superhero movie.
You and I are serious men of substance with little time for the delicate sensitivities displayed by the pitiful creature who maligned your good name and sterling character by writing that abysmal email. I trust the news that your email account has been hacked does not cause you undue alarm and wish you well in securing your account. And in the future, should your travels take you to Austin, please know that everyone is welcome here, even people like those who wrote that email whose views are an embarrassment to modernity, decency, and common sense.
Yours sincerely, Steve Adler
It turns out that Richard Ameduri lives near St. Louis, Missouri. He told KVUE-TV that he has never been to Austin but “he saw a story about the all-female screenings online, and felt they were ‘unnecessarily sexist.'”
Ameduri said he wasn’t going to read the mayor’s response, telling the television station, “I don’t know that that’s a response from the mayor, it may be signed by him or his name is at the end. I don’t pay any attention to it.”