Feminists Read Mean Tweets

Jimmy Kimmel isn't even laughing.

Mic / Via mic.com

Time Magazine is hosting their annual poll to find the most unpopular word of the year. 2014's list of apparently insufferable words boasts popular internet slang like bae,obvi, basic, and turnt. Arguably some of these words probably should die, but it isn't just fleeting, modern jargon making up Time's list. Squeezed between I can't even and disrupt is the word Feminist. According to Time, the words on this list are so unbearable that you would rather grab a pair of chopsticks and "thrust them through your own eardrums like straws through plastic lids" than ever hear them again. The thing that Time might not have predicted is that there are people who would literally rather shove a sharp object into their anatomy than have feminism discussed in their presence. Hell, there's a lot of people who don't even want it discussed on the internet.

Don't believe me? Mic asked women who openly identify as feminists to read mean tweets sent to them in the style of Jimmy Kimmel's popular series. The feminists who participated in this video include Lizz Winstead of The Daily Show, writer Soraya Chemaly,Huffington Post Senior Editor Emma Gray, and more. They each took turns reading threatening tweets they've been sent simply because they've publicly declared themselves as feminists.

mic

Some of the tweets remain at a base Jimmy Kimmel level of absurdly funny. Unlike the late night host's series, however, these tweets take a terrifying turn. These women are regularly threatened with assault and rape over social media. "The lethal combination of being a woman and having an opinion about the patriarchy is a recipe for a troll cocktail," writes Elizabeth Plank for Mic.

It isn't just prominent feminists who get harassed online, though. A study from the University of Maryland revealed that having a female username on social media makes you twenty five percent more likely to be harassed online. Demos conducted similar research which demonstrated that female journalists are more likely to receive online threats in comparison to their male counterparts. This is regardless of what stories they cover.

After watching this video, it is impossible to deny the staying relevance of and need for feminism.

Sorry not sorry, Time.