#EndFathersDay

Overview

#EndFathersDay is a Twitter hashtag campaign launched as a prank by 4chan supposedly to garner public support for dismantling of Father’s Day, an annual holiday celebrated on the third Sunday of June in honor of fatherhood, under the false banner of radical feminism, in a similar vein to previous 4chan-initiated anti-feminist hoaxes like Free Bleeding and Bikini Bridge.

Background

On June 12th, 2014, a post titled “#EndFathersDay Straw Feminist”^[1] was added to 4chan’s^[2] /pol/ board. The post asked for the spread of the hashtag #EndFathersDay, explaining:

“Fathers all over the country are refusing to pay alimony or child support, which should not celebrated and rewarded, but should be shamed. ‘Father’s Day’ should not be about celebrating the role of a father in the family, but about correcting it. It shouldn’t be celebrated in its present form."

The hashtag was tweeted out over 40,000 within 24 hours.

News Media Coverage

Before the hashtag was revealed to be a hoax, several sites reported on #EndFathersDay as an earnest hashtag campaign started by feminists on the Internet. On June 13th, the National Review^[9] published an article titled “#EndFathersDay Tweets Seek to Stop Misogynistic Celebration,” which highlighted tweets that seemed to support the idea of ending Father’s Day. The hashtag was covered as a serious campaign the same day by The Washington Examiner^[11] and Western Journalism.^[12] Also on June 13th, the LA Times^[8] and TIME^[10] both ran op-ed articles challenging the grounds for celebration of Father’s Day with a mention of the hashtag in their headlines. Within five days of its introduction, the hashtag^[7]has been tweeted out over 62,000 times.

Debunkery

On June 13th, 2014, Death and Taxes^[6] published an article titled “No, feminists are not trying to #EndFathersDay -- it’s a 4chan hoax,” which explained the hashtag was created by 4chan as a prank. The same day several more sites published articles explaining the hoax, including The Daily Dot^[3] and Twitchy.^[5] Also on June 13th, Thought Catalog^[4] published a satirical essay titled “I Started The Hashtag #EndFathersDay, And Here’s Why,” in which the author claims to have started the hashtag, and did so in earnest. On June 16th, 2014, Buzzfeed^[8]published an article titled “Here’s How A Fake Feminist Hashtag Like #EndFathersDay Gets Started And Why It’ll Keep Happening,”^[15] which explained the hoax in the light of 4chan’s previous hoaxes aimed at feminists.

Princeton Mom Reaction

On June 15th, Susan Patton, nicknamed the “Princeton Mom,” after her book Marry Smart: Advice for Finding the One^[14] included some sexist ideas about the need to find a husband during college (as she did at her alma mater, Princeton) was on Fox and Friends to discuss the hashtag. During the show Patton criticized those who tweeted out the hashtag, calling it “nasty feminist rhetoric,” and explaining: