Women's March on Washington participants in 2017.

John Flores/Flickr (CC-BY-SA)

Men still manage to make International Women’s Day about men

Maybe mention your mom's accomplishments other than birthing you, eh?

Photo of Samantha Grasso 

Samantha Grasso

Internet Culture

Posted on Mar 8, 2018   Updated on May 21, 2021, 10:24 pm CDT

Happy International Women’s Day!

Or, by the looks of the way the internet is celebrating, Happy Men Performatively Thanking Women For Birthing Them Day. Or even, Happy Capitalism Parading As Feminism Day.

Yes, International Women’s Day actually has value. It’s one of the few scheduled reminders that women—particularly women of color, trans women, non-binary people, and women in underserved communities—are still underpaid, underrepresented, and undervalued across the board.

But for many men, it’s a day to celebrate the ways in which they themselves celebrate women. Instead of, you know, focusing the spotlight on women’s accomplishments and struggles themselves.

Men are here to support women, especially the ones they’re related to.

https://twitter.com/Rachelagain/status/971543590747983872

https://twitter.com/itselliotknight/status/971795991430082560

https://twitter.com/SpencerBoldman/status/971795851835314176

Politicians are totally down to talk about the ways they support women! Or have helped women exist! You know, instead of highlighting women’s accomplishments.

https://www.facebook.com/SenatorDavidLeyonhjelm/videos/1644960372246191/

Corporations themselves are all about supporting women, too. Or, at least, promoting the ways they say they support women.

https://twitter.com/CharlotteAlter/status/971756140018241537

https://twitter.com/CharlotteAlter/status/971758671637204993

https://twitter.com/geniepee/status/971779381575249920

Men are sure to let women know that they should be happy to be the bearers of life! Because it wouldn’t be International Women’s Day without having to be cheerful at the thought of childbirth.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1749265801792718&set=a.1749265655126066.1073741857.100001279452047&type=3&theater

Or weirdly calling for men to take on the pain of childbirth themselves? Honestly, what is with y’all’s obsession with childbirth? Do people know that not all women have uteruses and that not all people with uteruses care to house a child? All I wanted was equal pay, sheesh.

And pleeeeenty of men are here to remind us (or convince us?) that women are doing much better than men. And, you know, ask for an International Men’s Day of their own (which already exists).

https://twitter.com/andizeisler/status/971779816985899008

And that, you know, feminism is the work of Satan, as the Bishop of San Sabastian, Spain, has so accurately claimed.

https://twitter.com/andizeisler/status/971769855627137024

So thank you so much, men, for giving us this one day to celebrate women.

https://twitter.com/WendiAarons/status/971744981173063686

https://twitter.com/WendyMolyneux/status/971772175785934848

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*First Published: Mar 8, 2018, 12:01 pm CST

Samantha Grasso

Samantha Grasso is a former IRL staff writer for the Daily Dot with a reporting emphasis on immigration. Her work has appeared on AJ+, Vox, Splinter, Los Angeles Magazine, and Austin Monthly.

Samantha Grasso