Since the average person is never really prepared for one of their posts to go viral, they tend not to worry about what an audience of millions will think about their messages. That's what happened to a man named Robbie Tripp, who found himself at the center of criticism after a post involving his wife went viral.
For those of you behind the times, Tripp shared a post on Instagram in which he professed his love for his wife's body type, telling a story about the type of women he is attracted to and passing it off as feminism.
Once the post started picking up momentum on social media, many women and feminists who discovered the post expressed their disdain for Tripp's message. Despite some initial positivity about his post, the general consensus appeared to be that his story was not one of feminism at all, and he was in fact still objectifying his wife by posting like he did, regardless of her body type.
strong contender for least fave type of male feminist is "man who thinks liking a curvy woman is revolutionary" pic.twitter.com/BzDhhiSHNA
If my boyfriend constantly talked about my body the way this guy does I would be super uncomfortable
I wonder what would happen if we as a society started describing men's bodies the way we constantly do with women's.
"I'm so awesome for liking average women. Because I *could* act like I deserve better despite being startlingly average myself."
That Robbie Tripp post gives me hope that one day, I too will find a man who fetishizes my weight to make himself feel like a hero. #sobrave
Facing that wave of backlash, Tripp could have decided to delete the post or retreat from social media altogether. But he decided instead to basically pretend any negativity didn't exist, and has continued posting mostly positive things on both his Instagram and Twitter accounts.
Nothing better than waking up to all this love and positivity from around the world! 💛 Be sure to watch my IG Stories (@ tripp) for more! pic.twitter.com/VNzEwRMdzZ
Try as he might, however, Tripp was not able to block out all the criticism. In subsequent posts on Twitter, he acknowledged the backlash, seeking others who had drawn the internet's scorn and eventually attempting to mock his critics as having worse lives than his.
Hey @jakepaul, Twitter haters got mad at you for having an awesome life, now they're heated about me loving my wife. Want to be friends? 😆🙌🏼
This is what I'm currently doing while sad and sarcastic people are getting angry with their keyboard.
Hope everyone is having a great day! pic.twitter.com/yydMwWwPBK
There's no surer way to let people know you're upset about their criticism than posting the photo equivalent of, "I'm not mad, I'm actually laughing." Tripp's tact since his post went viral only seems to confirm the critique that has come his way; rather than earnestly address any of the points raised by other women, he decided he would treat them all like "haters" and continue to go about his business in whichever way he pleased.
Ultimately, it's his life and his relationship, but it seems decidedly un-feminist to ignore hundreds, even thousands of feminists who have voiced concern over his initial post. To throw my own bit of advice into the mix, you might want to rethink this one, homie.
