Yet again, men of the internet are completely missing the point of International Women's Day

Sirena Bergman in news THE INDEPENDENT

iStock/Canva/indy100

Sometimes it feels as though International Women's Day should just be renamed to International Male Fragility Day, and 2020 is no exception.

Once again, and as always, men across the globe are having meltdowns because for ONE DAY women's issues are at the centre of the media narrative.

According to stats from digital marketing company SEM Rush, global searches for "International Women’s Day" and related terms decreased by 41 per cent between March 2016 to March 2019, meanwhile searches for "International Men’s Day" and related terms have increased by 1002 per cent between November 2016 to November 2019. Yes, you read that right. One thousand and two per cent.

Meanwhile, "When is International Men's Day" is trending on Twitter, in large part due to comedian Rickard K Herring, who takes 8 March every year to reply to every such tweet, reminding men that yes, there is an International Men's Day, and it's on 19 November (coincidentally the same day as World Toilet Day, which provides no end of amusement).

To be fair to Herring, the slightly obnoxious choice of once-a-year hobby is for a good cause: he tweets out every response alongside a link to raise money for Refuge, a charity which supports women who have experienced intimate partner violence. At the time of writing, barely a third of the way through IWD (depending on your timezone), he's already raised over £30,000.

Asked about why he does this every year, Herring said in 2019:

I do this so that everyone else can get on with celebrating International Women's Day and using it to raise awareness of the issues that affect women. And trying to achieve equality.

But having performed this service for the last few years, I’m assuming that everyone will know when International Men’s Day is by now (it’s November 19 by the way), so I’m hoping to have a relatively quiet day.

By the looks of his timeline today, this is clearly not the case.

Are we here for men trying to make IWD all about themselves? No. Are we here for turning fragile masculinity into cold hard cash for some of the most vulnerable women? Yes.

Last year, a graph compiled by a Reddit user showed that since 2010, more people google "International Men's Day" in March than they do in November, when it actually falls.

(Reddit)

Interestingly, it seems no one is really searching for International Women's Day on International Men's Day.
(Google Trends)


It's almost as if women have enough to worry about living in a patriarchal society which systematically demeans and degrades their value on a daily basis, and don't feel the need to come for days that raise awareness of issues that may not affect them.

In case any men have made it this far, here's your annual reminder that really International Men's Day is every other day of the year, when men's needs, points of view and interest are protected and elevated by the vast majority of the world's output. You're welcome.


MORE: On International Women's Day, let's consider these overlooked issues facing women for the other 364 days of the year