By Ryan Parker
Los Angeles Times.
A tweet Monday from Men’s Health Magazine advising men how to talk to women about sports prompted a quick, and furious, backlash on social media.
The tweet, “She sees the game differently than you. Here’s how, and what to do about it,” comes with a link to the story titled, “The Secret to Talking Sports with Any Woman” and a picture of a smiling young woman holding a massive red foam finger. [see below]
What soon became no secret: Both men and women, professional sports writers and the common reader, found the premise insulting.
Among the gentler descriptions of the magazine’s angle: “tone deaf,” “misogynistic” and “ignorant.”
According to Topsy, a trend tracking website, the tweets prompted a flurry of social media activity, with about half of the Twitter mentions of @menshealthmag on Monday coming in the hour after the tweet in question went out.
Specifically, between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m., @MensHealthMag garnered more than 4,800 mentions, mostly from outraged readers, according to Topsy.
Here’s a look at some of the responses:
She sees the game differently than you. Here’s how, and what to do about it: http://t.co/AaQXS1bsWY pic.twitter.com/fh83bb6Zc4
— Men’s Health Mag (@MensHealthMag) October 6, 2014
Cancel my subscription. RT @MensHealthMag: She sees the game differently than you. Here’s how & what to do about it: pic.twitter.com/iXkHRB6Apy
— Don Van Natta Jr. (@DVNJr) October 6, 2014
hi @MensHealthMag, you don’t know me, but i run @ESPNMag’s annual analytics issue. also, i have a vagina!
— Megan Greenwell (@megreenwell) October 6, 2014
Step 1 @MensHealthMag? Know that bc we deal w crap like this & still love sports, our passion likely outmatches yours pic.twitter.com/dVCeZH6THJ
— Stephanie Haberman (@StephLauren) October 7, 2014
Excuse me @MensHealthMag, can you provide some stats to back up your claim? Also please send a man to explain them to me. A hot one. Thanks.
— Elika Sadeghi (@steakNstiffarms) October 7, 2014
