News of the Tweet: Battle of the Sexes

By Seb Kemp

This past week I’ve noticed more gender-based antagonism and friction than ever before. Is there something in the water or something more malicious building?

I’ve always, always avoided this subject because absolutely no one can come out of a discussion about it without a bit of egg of their face and do-do on their shoes, two things I just don’t have the inclination to wipe down right now. So, I present to you, Man versus Woman: the Twitter battle.

you are right @jillkintner ! It should say “women try and ride bikes too”… @dirtmagazine

— Josh Bryceland (@Ratboy_Bryce) March 13, 2013

@jillkintner bit of fightin talk jilly? tomake it fair shall i go chainless? or handlebarless?

— Josh Bryceland (@Ratboy_Bryce) March 13, 2013

Josh Bryceland seems like a nice sort of chap. A bit of a Northern monkey, yes, but I think this was more of a bit of gentle joshing between friends. Perhaps.

Then there is MTBrealtalk, a collection of vile little masturbators with a penchant for bowel movements, potty-mouth insults and matte black-hearted humor. I don’t think they are going for a spot of gentle teasing, but rather some full-blown, attention-seeking insults.

Share this, you know it’s the truth! #snailrace #onlygoodforcooking #makemeasandwich #realtalk twitter.com/mt_mtb/status/…

— MTBrealtalk (@mt_mtb) March 19, 2013

@mt_mtb please, if you are going to write posts at least learn how to spell and use punctuation first. That would be “I’ll” not “ill”

— gill dando (@gizzledizzled) March 19, 2013

@mt_mtb Tip of the day: Don’t be a tool.

— gill dando (@gizzledizzled) March 19, 2013

If biking does seem to be male dominated, sexist, and off putting to women then perhaps there is scope for an outlet that represents women’s version of mountain biking. I mean, there must be loads of women who all think exactly the same way about everything bike related and who love the opinion of other women…

@theridejournal most interesting thing will be how advertisers respond – very few have female-friendly ads right now.

— Andy Waterman (@andywaterman) March 18, 2013

I suppose some people like reading about a niche/ tribe be it dh/ track etc. but sex seems quite broad. Won’t slate till I’ve seen it though

— The Ride Journal (@TheRideJournal) March 18, 2013

And then, as if by magic, it appeared.

What’s next, gender-specific foods? Oh, hang on…

‘World’s first’ gender-based breakfast cereal, improves sexual performance ow.ly/j8ZS8

— The Creative Finder (@findcreatives) March 18, 2013

I guess that roughly 95 percent of the nine people reading this are men (85 percent if the bowlegged teenagers from MTBrealtalk work out how to read), so listing out a heap of dirty, sexist tweets is the web equivalent of boozy pub banter between a posse of cuckolded men who are just out of reach of their wives metaphorical whip. I guess, I’ll finish my pint and get back to reality.