About

Lewis' Law is an internet axiom asserting "The comments on any article about feminism justify feminism." Similar to Godwin's Law and The Greater Internet Dickwad Theory, it serves as a reminder that the longer an online discussion lasts, the more likely it will eventually contain ad hominem attacks and shitposting.

Origin

The phrase was coined by English journalist Helen Lewis on her Twitter account^[1] on August 9th, 2012 (shown below). As of July 2015, the tweet has gained around 800 retweets and 700 favorites.

As a law, it has been rephrased as follows:

"The comments on any article about feminism justify feminism."

Spread

The Tweet itself remained rather unknown for several months before it was printed on March 23rd, 2013 in a Wired article^[2] reporting on the Donglegate incident and discussing the online rise of MRA and more general sexism in the tech industry. On April 2nd, 2013, Lewis, acknowledging the Wired article, commented on the newborn fame of her eponymous law on her Tumblr. ^[3] On April 3rd, the law was picked up by the "Feminist Philosopher" blog^[4], beginning its general embrace by feminists online, and used in opinion pieces and articles written on The King's Tribune^[5] in September 2014, on Pipe Dream^[6] in October 2014 or Belle Brita^[7] in June 2015.

Following its popularity online, the law was added to Urban Dictionary in September 2013,^[8] to the Geek Feminism Wiki in April 2013^[9] and to the Rational Wiki in May 2013,^[10] which offered to rephrase the law so that it aligned more with Godwin's Law, as follows:

As the comment section of any article about feminism grows, the probability of someone saying something utterly vile, stupid and/or ignorant about women – something that justifies the existence of feminism – approaches one."

External References