A woman called out toxic men who pass off misogyny as 'edgy' humor

Trigger Warning: Violence Against Women

In a now-viral Twitter thread, one woman called out the mean-spirited and often sick jokes that misogynists—more often than not, men—try to pass off as humor. They are encouraged by other men who validate and even enjoy their vile, so-called gags. Twitter user Emrazz, who calls herself the "feminist next door," collated a bunch of screenshots about one joke in particular. A fellow user on the platform made a "joke" about murdering a woman from a women's shelter. Instead of receiving criticism for it, hordes of men congratulated him on the "brilliant" joke and even joined in on it. Emrazz pointed out this is why women have a hard time trusting men.

The joke posted by the misogynist reads, "Going to the women's shelter to pick up a wife. 10 of them immediately jump up and start rubbing my shoulders and asking how my day was. But then I see the runt of the litter at the back of the room, shyly eating Doritos by the handful. A tear runs down my cheek. 'That one,' I say." To some of you familiar with the term "negging," this joke may seem like a case-in-point example of how negging begins. Negging is a form of emotional manipulation; a person makes a deliberate backhanded compliment or otherwise flirtatious remark to another person to undermine their confidence and increase their need for the manipulator's approval.

Emrazz, nonetheless, wanted to highlight how problematic the tweet was. "I want to talk about how misogyny is often framed as edgy jokes," she wrote. "I want to talk about how this guy is comparing battered women to dogs in an animal shelter and mocking how traumatized and easy to manipulate they are as a result. I want to talk about why men think this is funny." In subsequent tweets, she added, "I want to talk about how the internet is foaming at the mouth for this kind of content. How men dive into the replies to participate like starving sharks diving onto a steak."

And indeed, it was true. The Twitter user shared several screenshots featuring men who applauded the original poster for their "hilarious content" and joined in on it. One person commented, "I'm a repeat customer. They all know me by name there. I keep returning my women because they 'have PTSD' and won't put out or get a job." Another stated, "Women's shelter? We called it 'The Slap Shack.' Best place to find primo attachment." More than anything, Emrazz pointed out how the jokes, apart from being terribly misogynistic, were poorly written comedy at best.

"I want to talk about how tossing out lazy, bottom of the barrel, vitriolic misogyny online is always done in the key of 'king willing to say what we’re all thinking,' and that it’s a common part of the discourse among young men, and especially among progressive or leftist men," she posted. "I want to talk about how even the men who know that comparing battered women to dogs is wrong can’t quite bring themselves to say it, and how they’re ostracized and dismissed for the lowest of low effort attempts."

She went on to condemn the narrative that's currently being spewed about men who make such jokes. "I want to talk about why we call it the old boys club when it’s very clearly alive and well among the young," Emrazz noted. "I want to talk about how people say there’s less misogyny, when what they mean is that it’s slightly less institutional, but twice as insidious. They hate us, but funnier... How the f*ck can anyone read this and tell us it’s not fair to be angry at men. How... And you wonder why we don’t trust you."