A right-wing commentator has sparked outrage among her audience after admitting she finds a particular hobby popular among many men abhorrent.
Liz Wheeler, 35, claimed to speak for women in general when she tweeted about the pastime: “Beyond the red flag. Like dealbreaker zone. It’s weird how so many dudes don’t get this.”
She also shared a meme with a bar chart – although the data was not based on an actual study – showing that the hobby ranked worst in the ‘least attractive hobbies for men’ category according to women, while less attractive options included collecting figurines, magic tricks, online trolling and even gambling.
But even after admitting the graph was a “joke” – and insisting she thought it was just a “meme” – Liz stood by her belief that the interest was putting women off and that anyone who thought otherwise was “completely wrong.”
Liz Wheeler, 35, a far-right commentator, posted a fake bar graph that she later claimed still showed her “objective observation” that women don’t like it when men play video games
She also shared a bar chart meme, although the data presented was not based on an actual study
The hobby in question: playing video games.
“And we’re not talking Pac-Man or Tetris or the occasional arcade game, of course,” Liz added in a subsequent tweet, seeming to instead refer to the many immersive and time-consuming video games that are known for eating up hours of your day.
The backlash came quickly, as an estimated 60 percent of Americans game regularly, according to data collected by Statistics.
“That’s fine. We’d rather play video games than hang out with modern women,” one man shot back.
“But men don’t really care about your list…lol,” wrote a second.
“It’s weird how so many chicks don’t get that men don’t care what you think. Women whine about being single but all they do is complain about how perfect a man has to be,” a third chimed in.
‘The point is, most men shouldn’t define their hobbies based on what women find attractive. There are a lot of things that women are obsessed with that men probably find unattractive (Taylor Swift and astrology come to mind).
“Men often just get over it and accept that other people are allowed to think what they like,” claimed a fourth.
The backlash came quickly, as an estimated 60 percent of Americans game regularly, according to data collected by Statista (stock image)
Numerous men responded to Liz’s original tweet, defending their love of video games as a harmless hobby, with at least one man claiming he would choose gaming over “modern women”
In a livestream responding to the backlash on the original tweet, Liz stuck to her guns, but never provided any hard evidence to back up her “observation” that women despise men who play video games, as she claimed.
“First of all, this meme is funny and it resonates because it’s true,” Liz argued.
“It’s the most epic relationship I’ve ever been in, by the way,” she admitted, referring to the low number of likes her original tweet received compared to the comments that followed.
Still, she argued, the inconsistency of responses did not invalidate her original point: that women find gaming unattractive.
“This was never meant as a personal insult. Video games, even if you like them, should not be your identity,” she added.
“If you feel like I’ve damaged your identity in some way — and I haven’t — that’s your problem. Part of your identity is in video games,” she continued.
“An observation of human nature, a cultural observation, that women just don’t like it when men play video games – we just don’t find it attractive – that’s just an objective observation,” Liz summarized her subjective opinion.
“I’m not even saying this is how women should be. It wasn’t even a comment back then about whether or not men should play video games.
“It was just an observation that most women feel this way, and most men don’t understand why women feel this way.”
In a follow-up livestream responding to the negative reactions to the original tweet, Liz stood her ground — though she never provided any hard data to back up her “observation” that men who play video games were vilified by women, as she claimed.
However, many women also spoke for themselves in the comments on the tweet, claiming they have no problem with their male partners gaming – and sometimes they even join in
However, the many women who responded to the original tweet on their own behalf complicated Liz’s story.
“I like playing games. Waiting for the new Space Marines. Recently started up COD Cold War Zombies for the nostalgia. There’s nothing wrong with games — or any hobby in healthy doses — especially when you can do four player family co-op,” one woman wrote.
“No, video games are cool. Men have a lot of shit on their plate, and if a man can take care of everything else, why wouldn’t he play video games?” a second chimed in.
As a third woman pleaded, “Gamers, please ignore her. I would personally rather he spend his time in the privacy of his own home doing what he needs to unwind from a hard day at work than sitting in a bar getting drunk every night of the week. And if that includes gaming, then so be it.”