REMEMBER all those T-shirts that changed the course of history and saved the world?

Remember how Ferris got saved, and Pedro got voted in, and how no one messes with Texas any more? T-shirt slogans are super powerful — that’s why they can get you kicked out of Parliament House, or arrested in Queensland.

And that’s why feminists the world over are quaking in their sensible shoes (what? You think we wear HEELS?) - because “meninism” T-shirts have finally hit the marketplace.

That’s right, January’s not even over but it seems in 2015 we can all bask in the golden dawn of a new age, because after all these years of systematic matriarchal oppression men finally have a voice — and it’s called “meninism”.

Yes, it does sound rather like a brain disease (and perhaps that’s not so inappropriate), but actually “meninism” is a way for men around the world to explain and share the heavy burden of being a man in 21st century society — by making jokes on Twitter.

Well, at least, we THINK they’re jokes.

Given that it started out as a way for men to show their support for feminism, it’s unfortunate that meninism has devolved into a parody of itself.

Feminist.com coined the term more than a year ago, describing it as “a global organisation of men that believe in and support the feminist principles of women’s political, social and economic equality”.

But in a surprise akin to opening a packet of biscuits and finding biscuits inside, this feminist hashtag has now been hijacked by the types of idiots who think telling a woman to make them a sandwich is the height of comedy, so it’s no longer a feminist movement at all.

While feminism attempts to address unimportant, inconsequential issues such as equal political, economic and social rights for all people, meninism concerns itself with more serious matters affecting men like why women aren’t expected to hold the door open for THEM, or why women don’t leave the toilet seat up for THEM, or why women tend to want to sleep with Channing Tatum but not THEM.

Now, of course, there’s been a backlash to the backlash, with eager feminist Photoshoppers (I think the official term is “Femmoshoppers”) correcting those “meninist” T-shirt slogans for accuracy.

Although as barely any of the originals have sold, we probably don’t need to worry too much.

As you may have guessed, meninism has some problems.

Not least because for all the idiots tweeting stupid jokes about toilet seats, there’s another set of blokes who apparently feel so disenfranchised by the notion of women wanting equality they actually take the hashtag seriously.

These men, who I can only assume live in caves, confusedly believe meninism speaks to them. I imagine them reading every tweet and punching the air, exclaiming things like “YEAH, why DO men always have to pay for dinner?”, while trying not to knock over their cup noodles.

Here’s a tip: if a Twitter gag “speaks” to you, you really need to sit down and examine your life choices.

While meninism is taking off on social media, it’s probably a fair bet that we won’t see any rallies springing up in the real world any time soon. (Although can you imagine that? A bunch of blokes storming the streets to reclaim their ... um ... well, you know ... er..).

So instead of wasting time and energy getting angry about it, just recognise the meninism “discussion” for what it is. Basically this:


 First published on News.com.au on January 21, 2015