Navy veteran speaks out after his mother's bizarre 'HimToo' post drew criticism

Mother’s tweet which belittled recent conversations around sexual assault spectacularly backfired and resulted in a plethora of memes 

Maya Oppenheim
Women's Correspondent
Wednesday 10 October 2018 14:39 BST
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Pieter Hanson’s mother fired off a tweet claiming he was scared to go on dates with women alone due to the modern day landscape of false sexual assault allegations
Pieter Hanson’s mother fired off a tweet claiming he was scared to go on dates with women alone due to the modern day landscape of false sexual assault allegations

An unsuspecting man almost became a poster boy for a conservative men’s rights movement after his very own mother posted an inflammatory tweet claiming her son was frightened to go on dates with women.

Pieter Hanson’s mother, whose identity is not known, fired off a tweet claiming her son was scared to go on dates with women alone due to “the current climate of false sexual accusations by radical feminists”, and used the #HimToo hashtag.

The hashtag surfaced in the wake of allegations from Christine Blasey Ford that Brett Kavanaugh - who has just been sworn in as a Supreme Court justice - sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers. The hashtag became a way to boost the cause of men who claimed they were victims of false sexual assault allegations.

“This is MY son,” the since-deleted tweet read. “He graduated #1 in boot camp. He was awarded the USO award. He was #1 in A school. He is a gentleman who respects women. He won't go on solo dates due to the current climate of false sexual accusations by radical feminists with an axe to grind. I VOTE. #HimToo.”

The tweet immediately went viral – amassing thousands of shares and replies – as people copied the tweet text but interchanged the picture of her son with images of Buster Bluth from Arrested Development, Gritty the Philadelphia Flyers mascot, and countless other key meme figures.

The #HimToo hashtag started trending on Twitter as critics mocked the 32-year-old’s mother – with other spoofs including SpongeBob SquarePants and US president Donald Trump holding a gun.

After the original tweet went viral, a Twitter user claiming to be Jon Hanson said the original sender was his mum and the subject of the tweet was his brother Pieter.

“My brother is trending on twitter because of my mom's ridiculous tweet. I'm a mixture of laughing hard and feeling bad for him,” he wrote on Twitter.

Pieter Hanson then also joined Twitter - with the handle @thatwasmymom - and has quickly gained more than 35,000 followers.

Mr Hanson sought to set the record straight via Twitter by explaining that he is not in support of #HimToo - a movement which strives to position men accused of sexual assault as victims.

“That was my mom. Sometimes the people we love do things that hurt us without realising it,” he wrote.

“Let’s turn this around. I respect and #BelieveWomen. I never have and never will support #HimToo,” he continued. “I’m a proud navy vet, cat dad and ally. Also, Twitter, your meme game is on point.”

Jon Hanson also said that his mother meant well and the original tweet was “just my mom trying to get my brother a girlfriend.”

“She had good intentions but I never expected this to go viral,” he said.

A Facebook page appearing to belong to their mother claims one or more of her social media accounts “may have” been hacked.

Mr Hanson told the Washington Post his mother’s reference to #HimToo had surprised him – with both him and his brother deeming her to be a progressive while they were growing up.

The #HimToo hashtag initially emerged as a way for men to speak up about their experiences as victims of sexual assault or harassment in conjunction with the #MeToo movement.

But it has now been by used by conservatives as a way to counter the #IBelieveDrFord campaign which sprung up during the Kavanaugh hearings.

Fake sexual assault allegations are rare - the National Sexual Violence Resource Centre deems no crime to be more underreported than rape and estimates the rate of false reporting is somewhere between two and ten per cent.

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But Mr Trump has bolstered the #HimToo cause after saying he believed it was a “very scary time for young men in America” due to the allegations against Mr Kavanaugh which the president believed were false and Mr Kavanaugh himself has denied.

Women across the US and elsewhere have broken cover to share stories of abuse and harassment which may have taken place decades ago in the wake of the allegations.

An outpouring of stories of sexual assault has also been spurred by the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment and assault. The movement exploded last autumn after a series of sexual misconduct allegations were made against powerful men in entertainment and other industries.

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