Cheesy Hashtag Campaign Accidentally Becomes Brilliantly Feminist

Not too long ago, Mel Gibson starred in What Women Want, a movie that concluded that what women want—what they really, really want—is Mel Gibson. But for many people who are—shockingly!—not a fan of the xenophobe, what they want is a little bit different. A couple days ago, Karbonn Mobiles started a twitter hashtag campaign for men to discuss what women want. Soon enough, women took over, and their answers impressed us all.

Mobiles initially planned to offer people a prize for their romantic tweets, but this campaign quickly became political. “Women,” DreamWeasel wrote, “want to be taken seriously when they talk about sexual harassment/discrimination.” From Fawcett Society: “Equal representation, equal pay, and not being defined by their outfit choices.” From Landesa: “Women who own land are eight times less likely to suffer from domestic violence.”

What about flowers? Cake? HGTV? Don’t women love those things too (say the ancients?) Sure they do, and they appear in the Twitter campaign, but feminism has never been about shutting women’s wishes down: it’s about expanding their options, exploring their range of desire, and employing their power. Check out some super smart tweets from this accidental viral campaign below.

Via: The Mary Sue

#WhatWomenLove is to be treated with respect and not be mocked for life choices.. @KarbonnSmart

— Nabanita (@nabanita21) July 20, 2015\n

#WhatWomenLove to be valued for their spirit and intelligence over their body type and cleavage.

— Lady A (@she_nutt) July 20, 2015\n

Hashtags generalizing us based solely on our gender. #WhatWomenLove

— OhNoSheTwitnt (@OhNoSheTwitnt) July 20, 2015\n

#WhatWomenLove Being treated as humans rather than as objects

— fiona (@cinnameechbun) July 20, 2015\n

#WhatWomenLove depends on the woman. But I imagine everybody loves being treated like a human being who matters.

— Sylvia Margeaux (@CasualTeaTime) July 20, 2015\n