The official Twitter targeted men on International Women’s Day essentially telling them to curb their masculinity with a tweet, “not today, men.”
Despite Twitter CEO Jack Patrick Dorsey claiming that the platform and its staff were non-partisan in an interview with Joe Rogan and Tim Pool, they have continued to take actions on conservative accounts in the UK, USA, and Australia. Although it may seem harmless their latest tweet is largely perceived as being divisive and man-hating… but why?
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Twitter slammed! Twitter have a tendency of punishing accounts for engaging in, what they consider, targeted harassment. When Jack and his attorney, Vijaya Gadde, were asked to define exactly what ‘targeted harassment’ meant, they failed to give a straight answer and insinuated that it was left to interpretation of the moderator.
Not today, men.
— Twitter (@Twitter) March 8, 2020
However, there seems to be a strong bias when it comes to who can be an actual victim of targeted harassment and, in most cases, it seems as though complaints lodged by ‘straight white men’ are mostly ignored.
Straight white ‘cis gendered’ men are not victims
There seems to be an ever growing resentment for straight white men on the platform. More and more hateful tweets, some even calling for violence, are appearing on the platform and barely any, if any, have been actioned.
Twitter slammed for divisive man-hating #InternationalWomensDay tweet.
Tweets such as ‘kill all straight white men,’ or ‘all straight white men are rapists’ are plentiful on Twitter and they get shared and usually garner thousands upon thousands of likes. Many of these kind of tweets have been reported but Twitter’s response is always the same, “we didn’t find this Tweet to violate our rules.”
Please sign my petition to kill all straight white men
— Daddy Wilf (@RustyMelvin) October 29, 2016
People who respond in anger, however, calling the account out for being hateful and divisive are immediately and permanently banned.
@Nick_JLA it’s oppressive that a man gets a holiday, men rape and they all deserve to die with the white cis gendered privilege
— Robie (@Hillier_10) June 20, 2015
Twitter counsellor Viyaya alleges that this is because their research indicates that trans people face the most bullying and usually self harm or worse as a result. “We want to create a safe environment for everybody to speak, and we want to protect people from being bullied,” she told Joe Rogan.
Twitter receive backlash for ‘not today, men’ tweet
The International Women’s Day tweet is considered the proverbial cherry on top and many men and women are fed up, this much is evident from the replies.
Melonie Mac, a popular YouTuber with over 300,000 subscribers and live-streamer, expressed her concern for Twitter’s divisive #InternationalWomensDay message by writing, “as a woman, this is yikes. I’d have much rather seen women celebrated in a positive way than telling men to shut up, this doesn’t accomplish anything and only makes the lives of women worse through division.”
Twitter slammed on #InternationalWomensDay: Melonie Mac responds “this accomplishes nothing.” (photo credit meloniemac.com)
As a woman, this is yikes. I’d have much rather seen women celebrated in a positive way than telling men to shut up, this doesn’t accomplish anything and only makes the lives of women worse through division.
— Melonie Mac?? (@MelonieMac) March 9, 2020
Twitter’s hypocrisy was called out by others. “They’d never write something like this about women,” an annoyed user wrote.
All-in-all, the Tweet would have not kicked up such a fuss if it wasn’t for Twitter’s clear gender bias when it comes to targeted harassment. A lot of Twitter users have reported that they’ve been permanently banned for the platform for making ‘get back in the kitchen’ or ‘women can’t drive’ jokes.
— Graham Bradley, Artisan of the Highways (@DreadPennies) March 8, 2020
So when November 19th comes around, will we be expecting a “Not today, women.” tweet from you?
— Edgarmash #NewGuy (This is the Way) (@edgarmash791) March 8, 2020
If tomorrow this post read “Not today, women” heads would roll, people would be fired, protests would be launched, and groveling public apologies would be dispensed.
— Princess Sparkle Krogan (@NiftuCal) March 8, 2020
Women banned on International Women’s Day for trans women comment
Strangely enough, though, Twitter appears to be confused when it comes to their own Terms and Conditions. Even on International Women’s Day.
Twitter continues to ban women for voicing their concerns for biological men, identifying as women, competing in women’s sports. This trend of banning kind of implies that transgender women have a higher priority on Twitter.
Twitter slammed after they ban women on #InternationalWomensDay for criticising trans women.
Today alone we’ve had 3 women reach out to us claiming that they were banned for the platform for saying that women are at a disadvantage when they are competing against transgender women who were born male.
What are your thoughts on the Twitter #InternationalWomensDay “not today, men” tweet? Are people right to be angry or are they over reacting? Let us know in the comments below.