1
How It Ought To Be

How It Ought To Be

Part of a series on 2017 Hurricane Harvey. [View Related Entries]

Updated Aug 30, 2017 at 01:15PM EDT by Matt.

Added Aug 30, 2017 at 12:09PM EDT by Matt.

PROTIP: Press 'i' to view the image gallery, 'v' to view the video gallery, or 'r' to view a random entry.

This submission is currently being researched & evaluated!

You can help confirm this entry by contributing facts, media, and other evidence of notability and mutation.

About

How It Ought To Be refers to a series of image macros based on a tweet by conservative blogger Matt Walsh. In the original tweet, Walsh shared a picture from the Hurricane Harvey recovery effort of a man carrying a woman and child to safety with a caption that enforced and endorsed stereotypical gender roles while belittling the idea of studying gender. People responded to this by posting humorous images of one thing holding another and copying Walsh's caption, similar to the This Is The Future That Liberals Want meme.

Origin

On August 28th, 2017, Twitter[1] user @MattWalshBlog posted a picture of a man carrying a woman who was cradling a baby during Hurricane Harvey. He captioned the picture, "Woman cradles and protects child. Man carries and protects both. This is how it ought to be, despite what your gender studies professor says." The post (shown below) received more than 7,600 retweets and 20,000 likes in two days.


Matt Walsh @MattWalshBlog Woman cradles and protects child. Man carries and protects both. This is how it ought to be, despite what your gender studies professor says

Spread

The following day, Twitter[2] user @PraxisKenzie posted an illustration of a muscular depiction of the comic strip character Garfield cradling his owner Jon Arbuckle in his arms. The user copied Walsh's caption verbatim. Within one day, the post (shown below) received more than 230 retweets and 850 likes.


Woman cradles and protects child. Marn carries and protects both. This is how it ought to be, despite what your gender studies professor says

Throughout the day, more users began posting pictures of animals, cartoon characters and/or people in humorous or uncommon situations being carried by another (examples below).

Several media outlets covered the popularity of the meme, including The Daily Dot,[3] BuzzFeed] Mic,[5] and more. On August 29th, Twitter[6] published a Moments page about the popularity of the meme.


Woman cradles and protects child. Man carries and protects both. This is how it ought to be, despite what your gender studies professor says Woman cradles and protects child. Man carries and protects both. This is how it ought to be, despite what your gender studies professor says Baby cradles and protects grandfather. This is how it ought to be, despite what your gender studies professor says.

That day, Twitter[8] user @GMPaiella posted a picture of a cat on top of a dog. The post (shown below) received more than 5,100 retweets and 18,000 likes.


Woman cradles and protects child. Man carries and protects both. This is how it ought to be, despite what your gender studies professor says

As the meme began to take off, another Twitter[9] user and gender studies professor, @C_Wolbrecht, posted a popular thread that contested Walsh's assertion that "this is how it ought to be." She writes about how Walsh's initial assertion has economic and social fallacies that hurt society as a whole, specifically those in care industries, when upheld. The posts (shown below) received more than 33,000 retweets and 72,000 likes within 24 hours.

Twitter[10] published a Moments page about the thread.


Christina Wolbrecht @C_Wolbrecht Aug 29 I was going to stick w sarcasm but as an actual gender studies prof, there's just so much to unpack here, I can't help myself. THREAD! 1/ hdil Matt Walsh Φ @MattWalshBlog Woman cradles and protects child. Man carries and protects both. This is how it ought to be, despite what your gender studies professor says Christina Wolbrecht @C_Wolbrecht Aug 29 Care work (for children, infirm, elderly) is necessary for human flourishing & has been traditionally performed by women for free, which 2/ 56 926 9.1 K a Christina Wolbrecht @C_Wolbrecht 24h contributes to women's lesser financial & politics power. As care work has moved into the market, it remains poorly paid & overwhelmingly 3/ 034 t 848 8.5K Christina Wolbrecht @CWolbrecht 24h contributes to women's lesser financial & politics power. As care work has moved into the market, it remains poorly paid & overwhelmingly 3/ 35 t 848 8.5K Christina Wolbrecht @C_Wolbrecht 24h female, which again makes women more vulnerable. We ,to laud a woman "cradling her child" but don't provide paid maternity leave or 5/ Christina Wolbrecht @C_Wolbrecht 24h support quality childcare & good pay/benefits for childcare workers (women, immigrants). But wait! There's more! 6/ 25 t 928 9.6K Christina Wolbrecht @C_Wolbrecht 24h As budgets for care work (mental health, health care) have been cut, a lot of that work has shifted to agencies like police & fire, who 7/ 19ti 716 7.7K Christina Wolbrecht @C_Wolbrecht 24h often lack training & capacity, and result in troubling outcomes. At same time economists note that a central challenge to male workers 8/ Christina Wolbrecht @C_Wolbrecht 24h is skills mismatch - men reluctant to take jobs in expanding care sector, partly bc jobs are "female", partly bc they are low paying, low 9/ 28 t60 7.5K Christina Wolbrecht @C_Wolbrecht 24h prestige (bc their "women's jobs"). IN SUM your rigid and illogical sexual division of labor, & related hierarchy of value, hurts both 10/ 43 t 873 9.6K Christina Wolbrecht @C_Wolbrecht 24h women & men, the US economy, & the flourishing of society as a whole. The value of work - holding the baby or carrying the mother 11/ 19t790 9.1K Christina Wolbrecht @C_Wolbrecht 24h should be recognized & rewarded, no matter who performs it. Given how much care is needed, all hands on deck. /end for now 161 t 792 10


"I was going to stick w sarcasm but as an actual gender studies prof, there's just so much to unpack here, I can't help myself. THREAD! Care work (for children, infirm, elderly) is necessary for human flourishing & has been traditionally performed by women for free, which contributes to women's lesser financial & politics power. As care work has moved into the market, it remains poorly paid & overwhelmingly female, which again makes women more vulnerable. We ❤️to laud a woman "cradling her child" but don't provide paid maternity leave or support quality childcare & good pay/benefits for childcare workers (women, immigrants). But wait! There's more! As budgets for care work (mental health, health care) have been cut, a lot of that work has shifted to agencies like police & fire, who often lack training & capacity, and result in troubling outcomes. At same time, economists note that a central challenge to male workers is skills mismatch – men reluctant to take jobs in expanding care sector, partly bc jobs are female', partly bc they are low paying, low prestige (bc their "women's jobs"). IN SUM your rigid and illogical sexual division of labor, & related hierarchy of value, hurts both women & men, the US economy, & the flourishing of society as a whole. The value of work – holding the baby or carrying the mother – should be recognized & rewarded, no matter who performs it. Given how much care is needed, all hands on deck."

On August 30th, Redditor [7] becuzyoudbeinjail posted the original tweet on the /r/The_Donald subreddit, received more than 5,100 points (92% upvoted) in 15 hours.

Various Examples


This is how it ought to be, despite what your gender studies professor says THIS IS HOW IT OUGHT TO BE, DESPITE WHAT YOUR RACCON STUDIES PROFESSOR SAYS This is how it ought to be, despite what your gender studies professor says
finn carries and protects bb-8. poe protects both. this is how it ought to be, despite what your gender studies professor says Woman cradles and protects child. Man carries and protects both. This is how it ought to be, despite what your gender studies professor says A LOOK INSIDE A TURDUCKEN The turducken is comprised of a turkey, stuffed with duck, that is then stuffed with a chicken. Each inside layer is surrounded by dressing. The turkey shown here has been cut in half to display the insides. Turkey Dressing Duck Dressing Chicken Source: GOOGLE IMAGES ERIC DURBAN/Missourian BEAR CRADLES AND PROTECTS WOMAN HAIR PRODUCT PROTECTS BOTH. THIS IS HOW IT OUGHT TO BE, DESPITE WHAT BEAR/SHAMPOO HATERS THINK. © London Media

Search Interest

External References

[1] Twitter – @MattWalshBlog's Tweet

[2] Twitter – @PraxisKenzie's Tweet

[3] The Daily Dot – Conservative blogger gets mocked for praising traditional gender roles during hurricane rescue

[4] BuzzFeed – This Conservative Blogger's Tweet About 'How It Ought To Be, Despite What Your Gender Studies Professor Says' Backfired Into A Huge Meme

[5] Mic – This meme is about how it ought to be, despite what your gender studies professor says

[6] Twitter – Blogger’s take on stereotypical gender roles sparks new meme

[7] Reddit – This is how it ought to be.

[8] Twitter – @GMPaiella's Tweet

[9] Twitter – @C_Wolbrecht's Tweet

[10] Twitter – Professor upends blogger's controversial take on gender roles

Related Entries 2 total

Recent Videos

There are no videos currently available.

Recent Images 19 total


Top Comments

Nedhitis
Delete
Sensitive
Nedhitis

From the image alone, I thought "How It Ought To Be" referred to something along the lines of "yeah, people helping each other in times of need, not fighting over petty things! This is how it ought to be!" and was, like, "yep, this dude gets it" and about to be glad people are talking about this. Imagine my disappointment immediately after fully knowing the context literally seconds into reading this.

+46
Reply

+ Add a Comment

Comments (53)


Display Comments

Add a Comment


Hi! You must login or signup first!