Take a jab and give a right hook

Take a jab and give a right hook
Hannah Greenslade-Yeats

Social media is a pretty fantastic place for activists, lobby groups, causes and people who feel strongly about a subject. It allows people to campaign with a cause, and if they they're smart, they can reappropriate a negative conversation. That's exactly what the Twitter's feminist community did earlier this year and a conservative radio host has walked away with his tail between his legs.

In May, Doc Thompson from American radio show The Morning Blaze started the hashtag #HowToSpotAFeminist.

It got big. The hashtag became a vehicle for men's rights activists and other deeply confused individuals to express their anti-feminist rants. It swiftly hit the platform's trending ranks.

What happened next, though, demonstrated the beautiful malleability of social media. Pro-feminists entered the #HowToSpotAFeminist conversation with heat.

These Twitter users turned the sentiment of the hashtag on its head. Feminists, women's groups and battlers for equality used the hashtag to promote equality and the power of people. Soon, witty and clever pro-feminist remarks and quips outweighed weak anti-feminist banter. Even the United Nations joined the conversation:

It's a small win for the feminist in all of us and, perhaps more importantly, a nail in the coffin of obnoxious social media behaviour.

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