Trolls Lose Anti-Feminist Hashtag to ... Feminists

If you missed the recent #FeministsAreUgly hashtag, one took its place this week at #HowToSpotAFeminist after conservative radio host Doc Thompson tweeted, "Any tips on #HowToSpotAFeminist???," per Mashable. Pretty much the worst of the Internet came out to play Thompson's game of helping him ID gender-equality advocates who don't "look like the stereotype of an unshaven, braless, makeup-free feminist woman, but instead just … like your average human being," as Salon puts it. Of course, the responses he got back fired insults directly at that stereotype. (Some of the most awful reactions are here, here, and from Doc Thompson himself.)

But then, amid a wave of sexism and misogyny, the tide turned "in a glorious way," as per Time. Bona fide feminists usurped the hashtag with tweets that were earnest ("look for the well educated, confident, beautiful women fighting for equality with both genders"), somewhat sarcastic ("How to spot a misogynist: they non-ironically use #HowToSpotAFeminist"), and downright hilarious ("We carry around water bottles of man tears to stay hydrated and radiant"). Or, as Jill Filipovic writes at Cosmopolitan, a feminist is "probably the one doing something slightly more productive than starting a hateful hashtag campaign." (Watch Amy Schumer's parody video on not wearing makeup.)