A few months ago, there was a viral hashtag on Twitter about the kind of things that only women writers hear. The tweets were real eye-openers (if you still needed one) about how deeply rooted sexism is. Now, another Twitter thread brilliantly illustrated (and reiterated) gender bias against women, and the results are hilarious.
All it did was talk about men’s achievements with the same tone of suspicion and surprise that women’s achievements are spoken of.
It all began with a tweet on September 2 by the Twitter account Man Who Has It All, which often parodies the ridiculous gender stereotypes which exist in the societies.
My friend is a history teacher. She's compiling a list of great historical figures and she needs a male to add to the list. Suggestions?
— manwhohasitall (@manwhohasitall) September 1, 2017
And it just snowballed from there.
not a lot of people know, but Mark Twain was actually a man
— G Swain (@Swainwalker) September 2, 2017
I think that's been debunked though. How could that wonderful writing be done by a man?
— Kate Holly-Clark (@AntikaNueva) September 2, 2017
That must be it. Because we all know men don't have the capacity to write like that....it's not in their inborn nature, bless the darlings.
— Kate Holly-Clark (@AntikaNueva) September 2, 2017
And they're so unstable. With all those mood swings, how can they concentrate on intellectual pursuits?
— Kate Holly-Clark (@AntikaNueva) September 2, 2017
True, look how 'hysterical' they get watching sport - you wouldn't want to trust nuclear codes with them.
— Sian Woolcock (@SWoolzie) September 2, 2017
All those jibes about it being women’s ‘time of the month’, about women being overly emotional, about access, about being reduced to their appearance… this thread had everything.
Whenever a man gets overemotional I have to ask "oh honey, is it that time of the season?"
— G Swain (@Swainwalker) September 2, 2017
Watson Crick i think his name was...Crick Watson... i don't know, he wasn't even attractive
— April (@SpringMorning74) September 2, 2017
Leopoldo? Wilhem? Can't quite remember who Queen Victoria married, but his name was sort of similar. Ludwig?
— Dorothy Lobel King (@DLVLK) September 1, 2017
Though, to be honest, if you just created a sort of amalgam of all the handsome princes, nobody would be any the wiser surely?
— Kerri Hereward (@KerriHereward) September 1, 2017
Boys are terrible in the lab: they fall in love with you, then they cry...
— Ilaria Meliconi (@publish_advice) September 2, 2017
Oh, yes. Word is that men in labroratories can be distractingly sexy. It's about the books, not the smouldering looks, I say.
— Van Badham (@vanbadham) September 2, 2017
What kind of wives will feminists make? The same husbands that ‘meninists’ will make. *evil grin*
I hear what you're saying, Van, but I just can't get behind Boi Powerrr & Guyliner Meninists. What kind of husbands will they make?
— Shaula Evans (@ShaulaEvans) September 2, 2017
It's just girls letting off steam. Girls will be girls!
— Shaula Evans (@ShaulaEvans) September 2, 2017
That's controversial though. I mean, there's no actual proof that men existed in the Stone Age, is there?
— Cheryl Morgan (@CherylMorgan) September 2, 2017
There are so many phalluses on Roman material culture. It just proves that men's only purpose was and is procreation.
— (((Kim Biddulph))) (@kimbiddulph) September 2, 2017
Have you tried reading the gaps in history? You men need to rediscover your voice that females have erased. Lucky you have me to guide you
— Margaret Brown (@MagsTheObscure) September 1, 2017
I think Katherine Johnson worked with some men at NASA. It's surprising because space and maths ect. is really more a girl thing.
— Kitty Em (@ChaosKittyEm) September 2, 2017
If you’re are a woman and read these tweets – was it cathartic or was it cathartic? And there's lots more where that came from. Just click on the first tweet, grab some pop corn and deep dive right in.
Described by Julian Vigo for Huffpost UK as an account between parody and political activism, The Man Who Has It All account is known for having sparked off various viral threads earlier as well, all turning sexist stereotypes on their heads.
“Instead of going for a quick laugh of women’s oppression today, @manwhoasitall sets out to frame the cultural, social and political conditions which lead to an oppressive climate from which women can do or say very little without being recriminated for possessing a thought, opinion or even—wait for it—knowledge,” Vigo wrote.