PJ Vogt
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A few weeks ago, writer Katie Notopoulos created a holiday called Unfollow a Man Day, wherein everyone (women and men) was encouraged to Unfollow a Man on social media. Men's rights activists were enraged, cable news was intrigued, and a lot of people felt quiet relief. This week PJ talks to Katie about her mission and her manifesto.
Thanks for listening. Katie wrote about her experience of Twitter without men, and about #UnfollowAMan, here. If you like our show, please subscribe to us on iTunes. You can also follow PJ and Alex and TLDR on Twitter.
Comments [7]
It is disheartening to hear MRA's and 'TROLLS' lumped together. Mra's are gentle guys who want to say 'men have feelings to' and trolls are cyber bullies.
Is this woman serious? I.... I don't understand. She has to be joking. This is the definition of something which is "sexist". I'm at a total loss of words, on the Internet mind you, for how stupid this whole thing is.
All the above... but it's still somehow irresistibly sweet to remember there's a selective delete button. Like magic, or a video game. It is a game after all, isn't it?
Welp, for one zen second there I actually grasped this whole passive-aggressive, doublespeak-sexist, feminism-preceived-as-feminazi nonsense that certain dudes get up in arms about whenever you're like, "yeah but feminism is pretty cool because it keeps helping ladies have rights..." Every word that came out of her mouth in this interview was so baffling I thought the whole thing was a troll by you guys. I mean, it's clear she ISN'T trolling in some self-aware manner that's commenting on the absurdity of twitter, right? I mean, as a woman, I can not understand why anyone, much less another woman, would generalize so breezily about "what women do on the internet" versus "what men do" etc. What is even going on with her twitter-following choices is what I want to know.
Bwahaha! Poor Ron! Poor Rob! The Female Oppressor once again flexes her boundless muscles and triumphs over the downtrodden male! No one thinks of him, no one cares for him, no one pays him any mind. OPPRESS!
Interesting idea, but falls apart at the end.
- It's "actually a joke", I'm recommending anyone actually do this!
...one minute later in interview
- It's not a joke. We're all sick of this guy -- let's unfollow him. That's what it's about.
IT's either a joke or it isn't. And since she unfollowed all guys, it's clear not a joke to her.
No biggie -- I don't know this person and she can do what she wants. But I don't think she's making Twitter a better place, if that's her goal.
This is not a joke. It's sexist. Like really pure, active, uncomplicated, obvious, prima facie sexist.
If you punch someone in the face and say "just kidding!" that doesn't make it a joke. You did something really for real. Jokes are jokes. Doing something is doing something. She didn't joke about #UFAMD. She actually did it.
And "Man are also invited to unfollow a man day."
Oh, well, thanks so much.
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