Interviews
Revoke Male Suffrage – An Interview with @girlybullshitmemes
According to the internet, if only men voted, Trump would win in a landslide. When it’s only women or people of color voting, Trump loses. I don’t know if that’s true, but if so, taking away men’s right to vote seems not only justified, but imperative. :-)
I’d never thought about taking away men’s right to vote until I saw this meme from @girlybullshitmemes (& realalcoholicme). Revoking male suffrage seemed like such a simple and radical solution to the nation’s problems, that I became curious as to where such a wonderful policy proposal came from.
@girlybullshitmemes doesn’t post simple Twitter screenshots, she creates beautiful mid-to-late century advertising posters that carry wry, radical-seeming messages like taking away the right of males to choose the nation’s leadership.
I wanted to know more about her and her work, so here’s a quick interview.
Where are you from and where do you live now?
GBM: I am from sunny San Diego California. I’m a west coast babe living in Cincinnati Ohio. Side note, Cincinnati is a fun up and coming city with a very eclectic music and art scene. Come and visit, you’ll be surprised.
When did you discover memes and when did you start making them?
GBM: Like everyone I found out about memes at some point in the last ten or so years. I always made stupid shit on photoshop. I started making actual memes a little over a year ago. I was made admin of a couple Weird FB pages and I guess it just became my life.
It seems like some of your memes focus on female dominance, rather than equality. This is, in part, what makes them funny/interesting to me. Like I can’t stop laughing about taking away the male vote, or “riding the wave of total misandry.” Is this how you really feel (that women are or should be the dominant sex), or is this focus for comedic effect?
GBM: When you are a woman you are treated as a lower class human in many settings. As a feminist I feel all people are equal… However, women should be in control of their own bodies and we need to confront rape culture. I suppose what I am doing is lightly poking fun at myself and my group, making memes that are what antifeminist groups imagine we stand for. It is like their nightmare. In their minds feminists hate men, praise The Ultra Cosmic Vag God and think men should be second class citizens. I think that nightmare is hilarious personally. Not all of my memes are playing into that, many are honestly just the way I feel. I hope my followers realize this.
What’s been the reaction from people? I imagine you receive a lot of negative comments and weird DMs from idiots?
GBM: I was a little hesitant to say where I live because of a few of the comments I have received. I had a kid threatening to find me and kill me. He was a teenager, some of my meme buddies found his mom and DMed her a screenshot of his comment. I honestly don’t receive as many negative comments as you would imagine, I am getting more as my fb and insta pages grow but comments like that teenager’s are uncommon. Usually it is just people that don’t get feminism, I will talk to them to get them to understand if they are respectful. My favorite thing in the world though is the fact I have so many teen girls that follow me on Instagram, they get the joke side of things but are strong young women. They are amazing beautiful people and I love them so much.
Your memes have a poster-feel to them, do you have a background in poster design? or is there period of advertising you like?
GBM: Thank you! I have made posters before for friends’ bands and my art shows. I just love the aesthetic of advertisements. I love vintage ads specifically, my favorites are from the 60’s and 80’s. Those really inspire me. When I was a kid I used to collect old magazines and cut out the ads I liked and put them on my bedroom wall. I am also inspired by my awesome meme friends, Lettuce Dog, Content Zone, Real Alcoholic Memes and Teenage Stepdad to name a few.
Do you share your work with family and friends? Or do you stay completely anonymous?
GBM: Recently I started sharing some of my work with my family and friends. I am proud of what I am doing and want them to know about it. For a long time I was completely anonymous but I am ready to be up front about it and stand on top of my computer and scream “I make a bunch of girly bullshit and you should pay attention!” This bullshit is partly satire partly true.
As long as we can also mandate that every woman then has to vote, i’d give it a shot for a cycle or two. And I enjoyed the “zero chill menthol” image, thanks.