The Anti-Feminist #HimToo Tweet that Went Viral
The #HimToo movement has been floating around Twitter for a while now as a way for men to open up and connect with allies across the internet from their experiences of sexual assault and rape. It was part of the #MeToo movement, which spoke out against sexual harassment and assault and allowed people to open up more about their experiences. The #MeToo movement has dominated the internet, connecting people all over the world who are fighting for the same cause.
But after the Kavanaugh case, the #HimToo hashtag started straying away from its original purpose. The #HimToo movement became no longer about men opening up their experiences with sexual harassment and assault, but about how men get falsely accused of rape.
And it gets worse from there.
On the night of Monday, Oct. 8, one Twitter mom, BlueStarNavyMom3, posted a picture of her military son, Pieter Hanson, criticizing the #MeToo movement. She wanted to show that her son was the emblem of the #HimToo movement and that her son is a “victim” of women falsely accusing men of rape. With the Kavanaugh case being concluded just the Friday before, it was clear where her tweet came from.
Her caption read: “This is MY son. He graduated #1 in boot camp. He was awarded the USO award. He was #1 in A school. He is a gentleman who respects women. He won’t go on solo dates due to the current climate of false sexual accusations by radical feminists with an axe to grind. I VOTE. #HimToo.”
While a tweet like this might normally receive countless amounts of backlash due to it criticizing an important movement, this tweet gave some Twitter users a laugh as they took the original tweet and made it into a meme.
BlueStarNavyMom3 deleted her Twitter account after deleting the post that went viral in just minutes.
But despite the laughs that did go with her tweet, there was also criticism from activists. Many sent backlash tweets to the mom, from sarcastic tweets to argumentative essays directed towards her.
Pieter Hanson was turned into a laughingstock all over the internet, but he didn’t ask for any of this. The poor 32-year-old never even heard of the hashtag before he was verbally attacked on Twitter for being part of the #HimToo movement.
He said many people knew him, and what his mom tweeted wasn’t a good representation of who he is. In defense, he tweeted:
“That was my Mom. Sometimes the people we love do things that hurt us without realizing it. Let’s turn this around. I respect and #BelieveWomen. I never have and never will support #HimToo . I’m a proud Navy vet, Cat Dad and Ally. Also, Twitter, your meme game is on point.”
The whole Hanson family was brought into this mess from BlueStarNavyMom3’s tweet. The older brother, Jon Hanson, had to help clear things up with her by doing interviews and teaching her social media as Pieter Hanson was much too upset to even talk to her.
This tweet proves people’s oblivion to movements and causes like #MeToo. As mentioned in a tweet by the son himself, Pieter Hanson, the intentions of this mom was to display her son in a positive light, but the way it was said certainly gave everyone the impression that she was an anti-feminist #HimToo supporter. The #HimToo movement was meant to help male survivors, but instead of giving itself a positive name, it became about victim-blaming and false accusations of rape.
Regarding her tweet, the mom needs a reality check: false accusations of men are exceedingly rare. BBC News said that over the past 20 years, “2-10% of rape accusations are fake.” Victims of rape should not be shamed for something that rarely happens. Maybe her intentions weren’t bad, but her naivety was the problem, and how it was handled didn’t help.
Turning victim-blaming into a meme is very 2018, but this is a serious topic, and no one should make a joke out of it. The mother was clearly not taught what #HimToo really means to the world. The brothers said that “she meant well,” but we can all agree that hijacking a movement. that was meant to help bring awareness to rape is not completely up to everyone’s standards of “meaning well.” If we are tweeting something, especially about a topic that involves sexual assault and rape, research should be done before anyone decides to post it on the internet for everyone to look at.
But while we watch people all over the internet interpret comments and tweets differently every day, we can all remember:
Pieter Hanson is single.
