Women Against Feminism and Women Against Women Against Feminism – Why Everybody Loses A Bajillion IQ Points

If you're reading this you probably know all about #WomenAgainstFeminism. At any time if you head over to Twitter and search the hashtag you are likely to be bombared with a wrecking ball of fuckwittery from either side. Don't get me wrong, there are certainly a few people from both sides trying to engage in proper dialogue, but these folks are completely lost in the din of idiots screaming insults at each other. I can't be bothered to click the hashtag and see the latest because my eyes may start bleeding but to save you the trouble of reading it yourself it can essentially be summed up thusly:

#WomenAgainstFeminism Because [insert some bizarre and unlikely reason which completely misrepresents feminism] and also because feminists are bitches/sluts/satan-worshippers who eat the remnants of aborted babies!

#WomenForFeminism Why the fuck are you so God damn stupid, my fucking brain hurts just thinking about you.

#WomenAgainstFeminism See, I knew feminists were bitches. STOP OPPRESSING ME, YOU STINKING NO-ARMPIT SHAVING BITCHES!!!

#WomenForFeminism WHAT? YOU STARTED IT! You insulted my beliefs based on misinformation, you dumb mother-fucker!

And so on and so forth until everybody loses a bajillion IQ points.

As you can see, some really well versed and reasoned arguments on both sides there... Excuse me for being flippant (or don't, I don't care) but my frustration lies in experience, because I took to Twitter myself to try and dispel some of the BS grenades being thrown around about feminism. I'd perused the Tumblr account (I know, eurgh, don't even-) and found that many over at Women Against Feminism think that feminisms is about hating men, not shaving your pits and generally running around screaming "BUT THE PATRIARCHY!" I wanted to show people otherwise. I was attempting to be friendly and helpful, here's an example of one tweet that seemed to really get folks talking ('See, feminists don't hate men') --->

"Oh how nice, did people respond well, Pleb?" No, internet. No they did not. The responses I received to this attempt at friendly dialogue were so out of this fucking world that I had to stop replying to them through fear that my brain would actually implode if it had to process that amount of crazy. I was accused personally of calling all men rapists (I had never once done this before... but I do now, just for lolz), my boyfriend was accused of being an 'internalised misandrist' (because sure, why the fuck not?) and of course, as must always happen in any debate, I was compared to Hitler (I shit you not... evidence below and here). 

It was shortly after that I realised hardly anyone wanted to have a sensible chat about anything and the ones that did were being completely drowned out by the crazies. People just wanted to scream at other people. So I decided to leave it alone, carry on with my awesome life and let the rest of Twitter fight it out between themselves. (Well, almost...)

But now I'm done, honest. Because if you want to be a dick to people on Twitter that's cool, I personally love being a dick on Twitter, or on Facebook, or in the supermarket for that matter (‘Steal the last Pizza Express Individual American, will you? NOT ON MY WATCH, ASSHOLE!’). And yeessss, I know not EVERYONE has been a dick and if that's you, thank you, you did good, kid and I mean that. But to the rest of you who called people names and told them to “STFU” well, you just wanted to be dicks, so please stop pretending this is even remotely about Feminism. Because it's not, it's about dickishness. And you’re not helping either side of the argument. 

Personally, I'm proud to call myself a feminist. I'm proud of all the passionate men and women out there busting their hump volunteering at Rape Crisis Centres; or working with Police Forces to try and end domestic violence; or campaigning hard to stamp out female genital mutilation; or providing health care to pregnant women in need or HIV infected rape survivors. I'm proud of all the strong feminists out there who are trying to make real and lasting changes to make the world a better place for all of us. If you feel you don’t need them, meh, that’s cool. Seriously. But please don’t call a bunch of strangers on the internet 'idiots' and 'bitches' because they do.