Saudi women retaliate to 'don't want girls on Twitter' hashtag
Women started their own hashtag "We don't want men on Twitter" among other retaliatory tweets
A woman using an iPhone visits a festival on the outskirts of Riyadh February 13, 2012. PHOTO: REUTERS
Some Saudi men seem intent on extending gender segregation to social media but their efforts have gone in vain.
A hashtag in Arabic that translates to "We don't want girls on Twitter" was mentioned almost 400,000 times over the weekend.
The origins of the hashtag are unclear but it spread rapidly in just a few days, the BBC reported.
However, determined to not leave Twitter, women and even men took to the social networking site mocking the hashtag, clarifying their stance against gender segregation.
One female user mocked the hashtag with a crying emoji face and the caption "Why? What have we done?"
Another tweeted a photo of a woman holding a gun tweeted with the caption, "Show me the man who started this hashtag!"
"This is the person who started the hashtag," tweeted another with a picture of a goat.
Another claimed if there were no women on Twitter, no man would sign up.
One user pointed out a maxim heeded by advert writers and nightclub owners the world over. "If there were no girls on twitter," said @arts121, "no man will sign up."
In retaliation, some women also started a hashtag "We don't want men on Twitter" but it did not do well and only gathered around 1,500 tweets.
A hashtag in Arabic that translates to "We don't want girls on Twitter" was mentioned almost 400,000 times over the weekend.
The origins of the hashtag are unclear but it spread rapidly in just a few days, the BBC reported.
However, determined to not leave Twitter, women and even men took to the social networking site mocking the hashtag, clarifying their stance against gender segregation.
One female user mocked the hashtag with a crying emoji face and the caption "Why? What have we done?"
Another tweeted a photo of a woman holding a gun tweeted with the caption, "Show me the man who started this hashtag!"
"This is the person who started the hashtag," tweeted another with a picture of a goat.
Another claimed if there were no women on Twitter, no man would sign up.
One user pointed out a maxim heeded by advert writers and nightclub owners the world over. "If there were no girls on twitter," said @arts121, "no man will sign up."
In retaliation, some women also started a hashtag "We don't want men on Twitter" but it did not do well and only gathered around 1,500 tweets.