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Hashtag #IfMenHadPeriods sets off firestorm of transgender tweets

Hashtag #IfMenHadPeriods sets off firestorm of transgender tweets
Photo: CartoonsForYou via Twitter

Cisgender women and transgender men have one very sore topic in common: the awfulness that is menstruation. And in an attempt to call attention to institutional sexism, a Canadian OB/GYN decided to create a hashtag she thought would generate conversation.

But Dr. Jennifer Gutner‘s hashtag, #IfMenHadPeriods, has also called attention to other social ills: the erasure of trans men, the treatment of trans women as not women, and a backlash to the backlash by people who argue trans people just like to complain about everything.

Some of the tweets have been funny, many have been angry and most have been very pointed examples of how the twitterverse can turn anything into a controversy.

First, the funny:

The attempt at funny:

https://twitter.com/GatesRobin/status/773547520161185792

And the ewwww, not funny (but potentially true).

But it wasn’t long before the trans community and its allies caught wind of this hashtag.

https://twitter.com/Lefty31/status/773560116968730624

And then came the inevitable backlash against the backlash.

https://twitter.com/wealthy_person/status/773593937730793473

And of course the right wing represented by Breitbart weighed-in, too.

While not addressing the transphobia issue, Dr. Gunter did tweet an explanation of what she had hoped to accomplish.

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