Male Tears

2012reaction image / catchphraseclassic

Male Tears is a feminist reaction image and catchphrase used to mock men who whine about being oppressed or victims of reverse sexism. It started on a French Tumblr blog in August 2012 and hit mainstream news in July 2014 after Guardian columnist Jessica Valenti tweeted a photo of herself in an 'I Bathe In Male Tears' sweatshirt.

feminism memescatchphrase memesreaction memesgender discourse memestumblr memes

Overview

Male Tears is a reaction image series and catchphrase built mostly from animated GIFs of male characters crying5. Feminists use it to taunt men who whine about being oppressed, mansplain during gender debates, or push anti-feminist arguments online5. The joke sits inside a wider ironic style Slate called 'misandry chic,' which includes mugs, T-shirts, sweatshirts, and pins printed with slogans like 'MALE TEARS,' 'MISANDRY,' and 'KILL ALL MEN'1.

The catchphrase works as a sarcastic taunt: a woman jokes that she drinks the tears of complaining men to feed her own strength1. Medium editor Jess Zimmerman, who owns a 'MALE TEARS' mug, described the joke as 'a reductio ad absurdum,' meaning the point is to inhabit an exaggerated version of what critics accuse feminists of being1. The tone is deadpan and pointedly insincere, never literal.

How It Spread

Feminist writers began recycling Male Tears reaction images in posts about street harassment and later GamerGate coverage5. In mid-July 2013, Tumblr user Lunarynth posted what appears to be the first photo of a woman drinking from a 'Male Tears' mug, captioned 'The best hangover cure. Your anguish sustains me.'5. That single post kicked off an ongoing trend of feminists on Tumblr and Twitter posing with similar mugs.

The meme hit mainstream news on July 30, 2014, when Guardian columnist Jessica Valenti tweeted a photo of herself in an 'I Bathe In Male Tears' sweatshirt while on vacation, dedicating it to the 'misogynist whiners' in her Twitter mentions1. Men's rights websites like A Voice For Men and Mansplaining Central attacked the photo as sexist, which only pushed it further into the news cycle. Slate, HuffPost, Time, and Vice all ran opinion pieces on 'ironic misandry' through the second half of 20143.

On January 7, 2015, Escapist Magazine writer Lizzyf620 posted a rival mug photo captioned 'That Means Semen,' pointing to the older slang meaning of 'male tears' as sperm that dated back to around 20107. Antifeminist accounts ran with the joke, including a parody Twitter handle called 'That Means Semen' that reposted her image as a canned reply whenever the phrase came up online7.

How to Use This Meme

The image format typically pairs an animated GIF of a male character crying, often pulled from anime, movies, or sitcoms, with a caption mocking male fragility around gender topics5. Offline, people commonly buy or make merch, mostly mugs, T-shirts, sweatshirts, and even candles, printed with slogans like 'MALE TEARS,' 'I BATHE IN MALE TEARS,' or 'I SIP ON MALE TEARS'2. Users often photograph themselves drinking from the mug and post it in reply to men making anti-feminist comments1.

Cultural Impact

Vice called 2014 'the year that misandry became chic,' pointing to Etsy samplers reading 'men are scum,' Cafe Press mugs reading 'male tears,' and the release of Gone Girl as part of the same wider cultural moment2. Slate writer Amanda Hess argued the joke worked 'like a stuck-out tongue pointed at a playground bully' and was as much an in-group solidarity signal as a reply to critics1. HuffPost's Mina Samuels tied Male Tears merch to broader empowerment slogans like 'Run Like a Girl,' writing that the pretense of contempt has its uses as a gentle reminder of how far women have come3.

Not every feminist liked the joke. A December 2014 post on the blog Tutus and Tiny Hats argued the phrase reinforced the toxic idea that men shouldn't cry, and that even ironic use fed a culture telling men to suppress their emotions6.

Frequently Asked Questions

Male Tears

2012reaction image / catchphraseclassic

Male Tears is a feminist reaction image and catchphrase used to mock men who whine about being oppressed or victims of reverse sexism. It started on a French Tumblr blog in August 2012 and hit mainstream news in July 2014 after Guardian columnist Jessica Valenti tweeted a photo of herself in an 'I Bathe In Male Tears' sweatshirt.

feminism memes catchphrase memes reaction memes gender discourse memes tumblr memes

Overview

Male Tears is a reaction image series and catchphrase built mostly from animated GIFs of male characters crying5. Feminists use it to taunt men who whine about being oppressed, mansplain during gender debates, or push anti-feminist arguments online5. The joke sits inside a wider ironic style Slate called 'misandry chic,' which includes mugs, T-shirts, sweatshirts, and pins printed with slogans like 'MALE TEARS,' 'MISANDRY,' and 'KILL ALL MEN'1.

The catchphrase works as a sarcastic taunt: a woman jokes that she drinks the tears of complaining men to feed her own strength1. Medium editor Jess Zimmerman, who owns a 'MALE TEARS' mug, described the joke as 'a reductio ad absurdum,' meaning the point is to inhabit an exaggerated version of what critics accuse feminists of being1. The tone is deadpan and pointedly insincere, never literal.

How It Spread

Feminist writers began recycling Male Tears reaction images in posts about street harassment and later GamerGate coverage5. In mid-July 2013, Tumblr user Lunarynth posted what appears to be the first photo of a woman drinking from a 'Male Tears' mug, captioned 'The best hangover cure. Your anguish sustains me.'5. That single post kicked off an ongoing trend of feminists on Tumblr and Twitter posing with similar mugs.

The meme hit mainstream news on July 30, 2014, when Guardian columnist Jessica Valenti tweeted a photo of herself in an 'I Bathe In Male Tears' sweatshirt while on vacation, dedicating it to the 'misogynist whiners' in her Twitter mentions1. Men's rights websites like A Voice For Men and Mansplaining Central attacked the photo as sexist, which only pushed it further into the news cycle. Slate, HuffPost, Time, and Vice all ran opinion pieces on 'ironic misandry' through the second half of 20143.

On January 7, 2015, Escapist Magazine writer Lizzyf620 posted a rival mug photo captioned 'That Means Semen,' pointing to the older slang meaning of 'male tears' as sperm that dated back to around 20107. Antifeminist accounts ran with the joke, including a parody Twitter handle called 'That Means Semen' that reposted her image as a canned reply whenever the phrase came up online7.

How to Use This Meme

The image format typically pairs an animated GIF of a male character crying, often pulled from anime, movies, or sitcoms, with a caption mocking male fragility around gender topics5. Offline, people commonly buy or make merch, mostly mugs, T-shirts, sweatshirts, and even candles, printed with slogans like 'MALE TEARS,' 'I BATHE IN MALE TEARS,' or 'I SIP ON MALE TEARS'2. Users often photograph themselves drinking from the mug and post it in reply to men making anti-feminist comments1.

Cultural Impact

Vice called 2014 'the year that misandry became chic,' pointing to Etsy samplers reading 'men are scum,' Cafe Press mugs reading 'male tears,' and the release of Gone Girl as part of the same wider cultural moment2. Slate writer Amanda Hess argued the joke worked 'like a stuck-out tongue pointed at a playground bully' and was as much an in-group solidarity signal as a reply to critics1. HuffPost's Mina Samuels tied Male Tears merch to broader empowerment slogans like 'Run Like a Girl,' writing that the pretense of contempt has its uses as a gentle reminder of how far women have come3.

Not every feminist liked the joke. A December 2014 post on the blog Tutus and Tiny Hats argued the phrase reinforced the toxic idea that men shouldn't cry, and that even ironic use fed a culture telling men to suppress their emotions6.

Frequently Asked Questions