There is no shortage of bad takes on Twitter, but one of the worst to date was penned by @ramzpaul, who on Monday morning wrote how it’s weird for men to shake women’s hands because it’s “like shaking hands with a child.”
Shaking hands with a woman is like shaking hands with a child. It seems artificial and vaguely patronizing. The handshake was designed as a greeting between men to show that your sword hand was empty.
— RAMZPAUL (@ramzpaul) April 1, 2019
He continued: “It seems artificial and vaguely patronizing. The handshake was designed as a greeting between men to show that your sword hand was empty.”
The woman expert elaborated in a subsequent tweet:
That’s why women don’t shake hands – because they’re full of swords
— Dee (@figgled) April 2, 2019
As is usually the case with male tweets so absurd it’s impossible to tell whether they are troll-baiting or earnestly misogynistic, I don’t know where to start. Wait, no, I do know. Comparing women to children seems like a good place.
https://twitter.com/KylePlantEmoji/status/1113168818300313600
Also the idea that only men can own swords.
hun u know people can read these tweets right?
— Beth McColl (@imbethmccoll) April 2, 2019
Of course a bigger issue here isn’t the question of who may or may not be carrying a sword at any given moment (because, hardly anyone.)
you'd be lucky to have any contact with a woman, dude
— bornmiserable.bsky.social (@bornmiserable) April 5, 2019
It’s the fact that it is 2019, not 1919, and applying an outdated tradition to a present-day interaction rather than admitting misogyny (or worse, fear of women!) is so…cringeworthy. But yeah, sure, the woman is the “child” in this scenario.
Also there’s the fact that women don’t just willy-nilly walk around hugging strangers or new acquaintances—they generally only hug people they know well.
Imagine feeling this triggered just because a woman tried to shake your hand. Do better, Paul.
This is decidedly not art.
Not art.
— Art Or Not Art (@ArtDecider) April 2, 2019
It is in fact the opposite.
Who knew it was this easy to tell which dudes have tiny peens without even having to sleep with them?
h/t Twitter