GREENWICH VILLAGE — A "pro-rape" rally set to take place in Washington Square Park on Saturday has been canceled, after drawing counter-protesters and an additional police presence.
A subculture of Internet users known as "men's rights activists" claimed they were organizing "meetups" around the world, at the behest of a man known as Roosh V.
Roosh V canceled the rallies, taking down the list of locations, late Wednesday night out of concern that he could "no longer guarantee the safety or privacy of the men who want to attend."
"I apologize to all the supporters who are let down by my decision," he wrote on his website.
Roosh V is a guru of sorts to the men's rights community, who see him as a skilled "pick-up artist" who knows how to talk to women and sympathizes with their difficulty doing so.
He doles out advice in blogposts titled "Men Should Start Recording Sex With A Hidden Camera" and "When No Means Yes," in which he tells his followers that if a woman says no when they try to remove her underwear, she means, "Don't give up now!"
His followers also have difficulty making friends in real life, according to Roosh V, which is why he has urged them to gather in different cities.
In New York City, men's rights activists in search of friends were instructed to go to a "spiral kids slide" in a playground on the Upper East Side or meet under the Washington Square Park arch at 8:20 p.m.
In order to figure out who their allies are, they were told to ask people, "Do you know where I can find a pet shop?" Other Roosh V followers would respond, "Yes, it's right here." Followers were warned not to get confused and go to a pet store.
Police in Des Moines, Iowa, posted on Facebook that some believe similar meets there are "a lure to get young women and girls to come" in "a ruse to commit rape."
The 6th Precinct, which patrols Greenwich Village, planned to station additional officers in the park Saturday night after they saw mentions of a plan for a "pro-rape" rally on Facebook.
A New York University administrator also told police students might stage a counter-protest.
Sources at the 6th Precinct were baffled at the notion of a pro-rape group.
"That's ridiculous," a source said. "It's insane."
The Department of Parks and Recreation, which issues permits for events involving 20 or more people, and coordinates management of the event with the NYPD, said they had not been contacted by anyone requesting a permit.
The counter-protests were being planned by people who consider Roosh "pro-rape" after he wrote an essay last year advocating for making rape "legal if done on private property."
He has since said the essay was "satire," though the beliefs on which he bases his argument are present in other blogposts on his site, such as "All Public Rape Allegations Are False" and "When No Means Yes."
In other "satirical" pieces, such as "I am a Rapist," he says a woman who objects to rape "just deeply resents the fact that sex is where men completely dominate."
