BBC reported that in late 2014, when the hashtag gained prominence, it simply “started by men sharing jokes” or “expressing the difficulties of being a man in the 21st century.” Soon afterwards, it became an attack on feminism and simply mocking the idea of it.

 

Some of the mocking feminist comments include attacking the ideas of chivalry by asking questions like “Why can’t she hold the door for me,” (@kingdimas_) or “Why can’t she carry me when my feet hurt?” (@duckfan05). Some went as far as questioning why abortion only required female consent (@samstaydipped) or why females weren’t punished for domestic violence (@Marc_Solo), despite both circumstances not having parallel examples.

 

It wasn’t long before Twitter users began to mock #Meninism, posting things like “nothing quite like misogynists inadvertently giving validation to feminism (@alternis_) and @MrPooni posting a picture of men in joking costumes asking to be taken seriously.

 

For the most part, it seems rather clear that this trend is not used to promote men’s rights or women’s rights, but rather mock the claims made by feminists, as men feel that females are pushing for their rights too much and that they should do the same.

 

However, some claims do have some validity. For example, Buzzfeed showed many Tinder messages in which if a woman asked a man’s height, it wasn’t considered objectification, but if a man asked her weight, it was immediately offensive. Since then, the #DoubleStandards hashtag has also been commonly paired with the #Meninist one.

 

#Meninist has made its way into fashion as well, with new t-shirts advocating its “cause”. Surprisingly enough, it has become popular with men and women. Hundreds of supporters have tweeted pictures with the hashtag #Meninist, even going to the extreme of calling out girls for their “faults”.

 

“The problem that I have with it is that it is being promoted on more than just comedic Facbook pages. it’s on merchandise that do not promote it as satirical, and it’s one with the intent to anger people who classify themselves as feminists. Instead the intent is being perverted and people are actually starting to follow the trend blindly,” says sophomore Ariel Smith.

 

Furthermore, Mika Ruder, sophomore, says that “Meninism is a parody of feminism, used to battle feminism. But in reality they just want women to do things that men do which is exactly what feminism is all about: women being able to do everything a man can do.”

 

Senior Nook Muenseeprom points out that “a lot of comments make fun of the elements that feminists point out, such as the wage gap. Rather than talking about why women make less than men, Meninists point out that its because females more often choose careers that pay less. But thats not what we’re talking about -- we’re asking why we make less pay for the same work.”

 

On the other hand, some support it.

 

“I fully support [meninism] because I do we feel we need more rights,” said junior Travis Hua. “I feel that women don’t treat men right at times... such as expecting men to hold doors or pay for things. They’re always expecting us to do all the “manly” work when it could be done by females as well.”

 

What Meninism has done is brought about the discussion of feminism once again. A moment that seemed to dwindle towards the beginning of the 21st century, new discussions about equal pay, equal position management, and equal rights has begun.

 

However, this is not the right discussion of feminism. Rather than pointing to the issues, people who tweet #Meninism seem to often satirize it. While few individuals seem to talk about the real cause, the majority seem to be using it as a new trend to mock the ideals of feminism. Meninism is exactly the kind of movement that feminism is trying to prevent.

In order to bring about a more egalitarian society, we need to refresh the talk about feminism and the fact that females generally have fewer rights than men. But Meninism is not the right way to do it. Rather than a right step forward, its making us move backwards as we separate ourselves and avoid the real issue.