Teen Vogue writer and Hillary Clinton pen pal Lauren Duca took to Twitter on Thursday to joke about the extinction of the male gender.
Wake me up when men are obsolete
— Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) July 21, 2017
“Wake me up when men are obsolete,” Duca wrote. Duca, who writes for Teen Vogue, received a personal letter from Hillary Clinton in June in which the former First Lady told Duca that the internet is “not a friendly place for women.”
Thank you, @HillaryClinton. For this, and for everything. I promise to keep fighting (right after I'm done sobbing). pic.twitter.com/3trk8yav2p
— Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) June 9, 2017
Duca’s tweet sparked a backlash, even amongst her fans and those who consider themselves “feminist allies.” One user, who claimed he loved Duca’s work, wrote that he couldn’t support the tweet because he had a young son. “That’s not a message I can get behind,” he wrote.
Love you, genuinely love your work. But I have a young male child and so that's not a message I can get behind.
— Michael Marshall Smith (@ememess) July 21, 2017
Journalist Noah Gittell, whose work has appeared in the Atlantic, Slate, and the Guardian, claimed that although he considers himself an “ally,” he claimed it “hurts to have this kind of broad judgment made about my gender.” Ultimately, Gittell justified Duca’s tweet by arguing that joking about men can only result in hurt feelings.
Other users criticized Duca for the tweet.
Wake me up when women are obsolete
I wonder how much praise a tweet like that would get. I'd probably get doxxed and lose my job.
— ᒪEᗯIS ᗯᗩᒪᒪIᑎ (@Lewis_Wallin) July 21, 2017
Woman: I HATE YOU AND WISH YOU'D DIE.
Man: Well, I'm an ally, so I'm torn on this. pic.twitter.com/puzlTpwW10
— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) July 21, 2017
https://twitter.com/DevinSenaUI/status/888361033156485120
Replace "men" with with ANY other group…
Can you imagine the media outrage?
Just pointing out a double standard. https://t.co/MMixtITDyk
— Harlan Z. Hill (@Harlan) July 21, 2017
Duca argued that the tweet was simply a joke and mocked those who expressed concern.
I wrote about campus rape all day, so sorry if my heart is a little BLACK. s/o incredibly supportive @TeenVogue editor @ellaceron 💞
— Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) July 21, 2017
Lol calm down dude
— Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) July 21, 2017
Duca has previously been in the news for her poor understanding of Hollywood economics, and a contentious Tucker Carlson interview after her flippant tweets about Ivanka Trump.
Tom Ciccotta is a libertarian who writes about economics and higher education for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @tciccotta or email him at tciccotta@breitbart.com
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