On the #killallmen Twitter hashtag

My thoughts on the #KillAllMen hashtag which is causing quite a storm on Twitter these days.

First point of note: There is a large schism in the online feminist community (which I do try to keep up with to some degree, mostly failing miserably :( ) with some supporters of the hashtag and many other detractors. Most, but not all men are among the detractors. I don't want to generalise but mainly the more radical women are in favour and the more liberal ones are more against. So it's completely baseless to say this is a feminist conspiracy, because many of them don't support it.

The hashtag originated with the so-called TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminists). As they are not Intersectional (an idea I discussed in a previous post) I don't agree with them about that. But I still value their other opinions.

One joke I can't resist: Intersectionalists want to turf out the TERFs; TERFs off our turf; there is a TERF war in feminism...I could go on but I'd better not or I might get in trouble ;-)

Personally, I have no problem with the #killallmen hashtag, but would only use it myself in talking about the hashtag directly rather than making some other point. The more suicidal part of me wants to say: “OK, I'll be first in line when you start to #killallmen but only if you look me in the eye and make it quick” (Get me help now!) Lol ;-)

Let's get some things straight. There are a few possibilities here, here are some of my ideas:

1. It's a “joke”. OK not a particularly funny one, but provocative. I think if it was written out fully it would be “kill all “men”” meaning put an end to the idea that toxic masculinity is a virtue. Such ideas that a “real” man needs to own and control “his” woman, as expounded by MRAs, are blatantly wrong and highly damaging.

2. It's a clever psychological trick to lure out the MRAs and other such loons. You have to be an extremely insecure man to think that #killallmen is actually a valid feminist intention and feel threatened by it.
3. It's a warning or expression of anger or rage at how dreadfully women are still treated in our modern world, progressive as it is in so many other walks of life. Men need to start helping, or become increasingly seen as “opponents”. If you're not helping you're hindering, as they say.

Or some combination of these. These are all valid reasons to use the #killallmen hashtag. There are other reasons for using it too I'm sure, too many for me to mention here.

There is no need to feel threatened by the #killallmen hashtag. There is no credible threat here. Although I'm sure some feminists fantasise about a world without any men and how much better a place it would be (the thought has even crossed my mind on occasion), the ends does not justify the means, it is not something we will ever be able to achieve in the short or long term, whether they actually want it or not.

Any violence can legitimately be met with self-defence. That goes without saying. If feminists actually did start killing men, they would instantly lose the moral high ground and become no better than their former oppressors. Let's put this nonsense away and get back to the real issue.

By “no credible threat” I mean no ingrained culture of violence against men by women. Sure, we occasionally may hear the odd story about DV by a woman, but they are so rare that you can't make any patterns from them. This is why misandry (irrational hatred of men, analogous to misogyny) is not a “thing” as they say.

On the other hand, the thought of a ( #killallwomen ) hashtag makes me shudder with revulsion and terror. This type of thing is already happening, DV and sexual abuse are so common, there are many examples of precedent, and there is a huge credible threat. VAWG (violence against women and girls) is a massive and real problem. There actually is that hashtag on Twitter, it largely is pretty frightening and some real misogynists on there. Also, some feminists who opposed #killallmen have posted, which is good to see.

That hashtag really is the sort of thing that would warrant some sort of pre-emptive strike! Oh hang on, we already have this by another name: #waronwomen. Thankfully this has been gently adopted by women's groups (please check it on Twitter to support) to raise the profile of the damaging effect of rape, DV and other forms of physical and sexual abuse. We should support these campaigns as they do good and important work.

One valid criticism of the hashtag is that some men could be genuinely threatened by it if they are oppressed/underprivileged by another aspect of Kyriarchy. It is a very incendiary hashtag. It could cause upset but again, that credible threat would not come from women.

Anyway enough of my inane ramblings, here are some proper feminist perspectives on both sides of the argument. All are valid and make for very interesting reading:

Against #killallmen hashtag:

http://londonfeminist.com/site/killallmen-the-antithesis-of-intersectionality/

http://itsjustahobby.wordpress.com/2013/05/07/learning-from-history-or-how-to-free-feminism-from-its-adherents/

For #killallmen hastag:

http://stavvers.wordpress.com/2013/05/07/kill-all-men/