This afternoon, the staff of Jezebel dot com received a curious tip indicating that an impish Redditor tricked readers of this very website into believing that he was three different women, all of whom needed money. He further asserted that the trusting community here sent him that money, which he then used to take his (real human) girlfriend on a luxurious vacation to Belize. Take that, feminists!
The entire plan is spelled out on Reddit’s Confessions board. The confession, tagged “No Regrets,” described the adventures of a person who claimed to be a man posing as three separate women on Groupthink, this blog’s off-mainpage forum for commenters. During his stint as three different “whinging feminists,” he complained about fake money problems was able to dupe the terrible feminists into giving him money.
I’m A Man Posing As Three Women On Jezebel. I Accepted Donations And Used Them To Go On Holiday.
It started a few years ago out of curiousity- to see if a bunch of angry feminists could suss out a dude posing as a woman. I learned pretty quickly that they can’t. I added a second persona and started posting in their Sadness/Insecurity/Rage corner- Groupthink. Both personas were de-greyed in the Great Kinja Transformation and both posted regularily in Groupthink.
I tore my acl and started posting a lot while I was riding the pine; mostly longwinded complaints about men, my family and my job. You know- situations I have no control over and need support for, just like the rest of the group. I made a third persona who has ALL of the problems and she’s the most popular. It was suggested I apply for money from the Groupthink Emergency Fund so I did. They mailed me a cheque within a couple weeks.
After that I slowly started peppering my other two personas posts with tales of woe and hardship; over the last year have received more money from that same fund for my troubles.
I don’t even need the money, I put it towards a trip to Belize with my girlfriend. She knows about the whole thing and gave me a lot of ideas about what I should be posting. In the beginning she was sure there was no way I could pull it off, but I did and then it became a habit. At least they started handing out money to whoever could write the saddest stories, so its not a complete waste of time for me.
I felt bad for a bit. But anyone I’ve told either thinks internet feminists are The Worst or they think everyone on the internet is lying and anyone handing out money to strangers is stupid. “If you don’t take the money, some other liar will.”
TL;DR- I’m 3 angry, poor, single, whinging feminists who accepted handouts. Except when I’m actually a man.
A brilliant plan — sort of. A believable story? Meh.