PERHAPS ONE of the biggest trends in the 21st century is the rise of hashtag activism. Hashtags like #BlackLivesMatter, #LoveWins, #YesAllWomen are all positive statements explicitly championing for improvement. However, one recent trend called #MenAreTrash poses a different kind of assertion—one that is not well received by many.

With women being abused every day around the globe, it is not difficult to see why #MenAreTrash would garner the attention it has today. In fact, a woman is murdered by her partner every four hours in South Africa, where the trend first went viral. However, the movement is futile at its core.

Let me be clear about one thing: I am not here to excuse men for their behavior, but I do have my reservations about the way the campaign is being executed. #MenAreTrash is a loaded statement—the phrase comes with several layers that require awareness of social realities. Those who do not know better will not hear about a movement geared towards fighting against decades’ worth of male-inflicted violence. Because the statement shifts its focus away from the fight of women and towards the active scorning of men, all the latter will hear about is a movement that ridicules their gender.

We see this in the “not all men” response, which often criticizes the hasty generalization that the entire gender is made culpable for the mistreatment of women when there are “good men” out there. However, the generalization serves a purpose at times—#MenAreTrash is meant to be taken as a call for action. In the same way we claim dogs have rabies, this does not entail that every dog has them, but for us to be wary of that risk. Likewise, the hashtag wishes to encapsulate the exploitation of women in three simple words, but this oversimplification is precisely where the problem lies.

The same situation happened to fourth-wave feminism. While the intent of feminism is commendable, many reject the movement altogether—including women themselves. This is because of the way it was presented with aggression, leading them to take the term at surface level and interpret it as female superiority, not gender equality. If we are not careful, the same will go for #MenAreTrash.

I believe there are better ways of raising awareness on pressing issues that are not reliant on dragging others down along the way. We can call out problematic behaviors of men while condemning a movement that excludes them from the conversation. It does not have to be mutually exclusive.

If we have come to a point where we believe that saying men are trash is the most effective way to spark change, then we are far from making the progress we strive for. The debate should not lie in the question “do all men?” but instead in “why do men still?” Accountability has never been more important in this era, but creating a space for open discussion—one where the perpetrator can acknowledge and learn from his mistakes—might just be the right step towards lasting change.