Twitter has long been a place where debates and controversy reign, but perhaps one of the most notable fights has been the hashtag war between #NotAllMen and #YesAllWomen – the former begun to as a response to complaints of misogyny online, and the latter created in reply. And now the battle has reared its head one more following Elliot Rodger’s rampage on Friday and how the Twittersphere reacted to the news.
In his last video uploaded to YouTube before the rampage, Rodger admitted he was a virgin and that he was planning on have ‘vengeance’ on the girls who had rejected him. It has now also emerged that the 22-year-old frequently visited and posted in ‘men’s rights’ forums, and that he left behind a 137-page manifesto detailing his hatred for women and his fantasies of imprisoning females in concentration camps.
But even as these horrific details emerged, there were some on Twitter seeking to distance Rodger’s actions from his clear misogynistic tendencies and once again pointing out that ‘Not All Men’ are like that.
This is all well and fine but, as we said in our piece last week about the #MeninistTwitter hashtag – an offshoot of #NotAllMen – hijacking these important conversations about sexism is not helpful, and can be quite damaging. It’s now becoming clear that Rodger felt some sort of entitlement towards women and that the fact that they rejected him was therefore a justification for his deep-rooted hatred of the female sex.
So in the face of such horrific violence, it’s good to see #YesAllWomen coming out in force, once again highlighting the need to continue these difficult conversations about misogyny. We know that not all men are sexist, but we also know that most women will face sexism at some point in their lives, and it’s time that everyone starts to try make that change.
And one man sensibly pointed out:
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Picture: Twitter
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.