#YesAllWomen Is Getting A Play. Written And Performed By A Man.
Sure, this will end well.
It’s been barely three weeks since the #YesAllWomen hashtag took over Twitter — a complicated online reaction to a mass murder perpetrated by a man who did it because women wouldn’t sleep with him.
The hashtag was a response to the “not all men” defence favoured by some men in the face of feminist arguments, and it brought with it a valuable discussion of the culture of misogyny and men’s rights activism that pervades the internet and the world as a whole. The occasionally misdirected conversation was nuanced and fraught with pressure points and reached into every hole of the web, bringing with it some extremely good think-pieces, and a couple of awful ones too.
The logical next step? Let’s put on a show!
#YesAllWomen is the initial title given to a one-man show which is taking over the stage at the Public Theatre in New York. I say “one-man show” because that’s what it is: one man, who is not a woman, writing and presenting a monologue about the extremely sensitive topic of “how our world is built on the subjugation and ownership of women, and how men perpetuate that violence every day”.
I repeat: not a woman. Hell hath no fury like a Twitter scorned.
Hey dude, celebrate the spirit of “yes all women” hashtag by making it abt a man. Cool idea, bro http://t.co/oHsqH4QNo8 (via @grammar_girl)
— Katje (@silentkpants) June 18, 2014
I'm all for a good redemption arc, @mdaisey, but you're hijacking something important (& for many women, painful).
— Kelly Hills (@rocza) June 18, 2014
LOL TORNADO RED ALERT: BEARDED WHITE MAN DOES ONE MAN SHOW ABOUT THE SUBJUGATION OF WOMEN GLOBALLY. http://t.co/HdLyw9LLg8
— MADDD GRRRL (@MADDDGRRRL) June 18, 2014
Which man decided to hijack the hashtag to put on his show, you ask? Well, it’s a man called Mike Daisey. You might remember his name from 2013, when This American Life dedicated a one-hour program to his story about Apple’s working conditions in China — which included details about Daisey’s trip to a factory, that it turned out he totally made up.
At the time, Daisey defended his fabrication by claiming his story was “not journalism” and “operated under a different set of rules and expectations” from a show like This American Life. Which would have been fine, except it was presented as journalism, and broadcast on a show very much like This American Life.
Proud to announce my new one-man show called, “I Can’t Explain Mike Daisey.”
— Glenn Fleishman (@GlennF) June 18, 2014
After initially dismissing the resultant backlash to his #YesAllWomen performance, Daisey has been swayed enough by the outrage to change the name of his play to Yes This Man. “I should have realized that often people judge me for what they know of my work, and I am sorry for anyone who felt hurt or betrayed,” he wrote on his blog. “I’m especially sorry for anyone who felt like this was belittling #yesallwomen, which I think is a fantastic and necessary hashtag and conversation.”
Which is all well and good, but it’s hard to believe anything he says he didn’t know exactly what he was getting into.
TL;DR: a discredited voice who has offended a whole lot of women now has an highly publicised show about misogyny, told from the perspective of a man. Can’t wait!
