#HimToo was a Twitter hashtag started by 32-year-old marketing student and Navy veteran Pieter Hanson’s mother who tweeted, “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”
Hanson, who had not been on Twitter prior to his mother’s tweet going viral, said her tweet wasn’t accurate and that he does not support #HimToo. However, before he could set the record straight, men all over twitter started using the hashtag. Many said they are afraid to go on dates with women because they are afraid of being falsely accused.
These men aren’t actually afraid of women — they are afraid of women having a voice. Women finally have a platform to speak up about their negative sexual experiences with men, and men have made it clear they don’t like it.
Because of the #MeToo movement, women feel more comfortable sharing their experience with sexual assault, harassment and rape because they know they’re not alone. Now that women like Dr. Christine Blasey Ford are being accused of lying and falsely accusing their abusers, less women are going to want to be open about their experiences.
When Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh was appointed, it was clear his job was more important than Ford’s experience. He went in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee and made a fool of himself, screaming about beer and wrestling, as opposed to Dr. Ford, who calmly told her story. America is telling women that no matter how they act or what happens to them, their voice is less significant than a man’s.
The people who came out against Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein were told they were lying because these men were loved throughout the entertainment industry. People couldn’t believe someone they respected for so long could do something so terrible. Many people didn’t believe the women because, despite their detailed and corroborated stories, many still chose to respect the accused more than the accuser.
There should be no #HimToo because men who commit these crimes are not the victim. The number of false accusations is negligible compared to the number of sexual assaults. The number of men who are actually convicted for their crimes is minuscule compared to the total number of reported sexual assaults.
The #MeToo movement was created by Tarana Burke in 2006 and was popularized by Alyssa Milano in 2017. The well-known #MeToo cases are white women, but women of all different skin tones and identities are assaulted every day. #MeToo only picked up momentum last year, and men are already making their own hashtag to silence women.
Women are not getting the justice they deserve. The victims of sexual assault and harassment should still be able to use the #MeToo movement to share their stories without a contrarian hashtag trying to minimize them.
Ashlon Lusk is a 19-year-old mass communication sophomore from Houston, Texas.
