The Trolls are Coming! Becoming an Anti-Feminist Punching Bag 👹😂🤯

Most of you probably aren’t on TikTok, I’m not even on TikTok really, but in the last 48 hours or so I have gone VERY viral on that platform. You’re probably wondering… don’t you go viral a lot? What’s the big deal? And I do, on occasion, but it’s typically for a random highlight. But this… this is very, very different. Like… way different😂😂😂

For those who don’t know- I played a singles match against Thomas Shields (CEO & Founder of The Dink) on Saturday, 12/13 in Miami, Florida. There was some back and forth on Twitter before we eventually hit the court. I also told Thomas that if he was a 5.0, so was my mother. And I’m sure I said a few other things. I don’t really know, or remember. I say so much on social media and didn’t really think anything of it😂😂.

And let’s be honest… in what world am I losing to Thomas Shields? He’s a great player, but like… come on. I’m gonna talk my trash🤷🏽‍♀️💅🏽. We played the match, which will be posted later to my and The Dink’s YouTube channel (MAKE SURE YOU SUBSCRIBE!!!). It was a fun event, and nothing I really thought that much of. I played pretty well, there was absolutely no shortage of theatrics, and after I had dinner with my mom after and went home. Pretty typical day for me!

I hope you read the title of this piece in a “Paul Revere”-esque voice! But a few days ago, I started getting comments on my Instagram and Twitter, and I was genuinely so confused. Not only were these people coming at me with what felt like some relatively genuine hostility, but they were saying, with their chests, that I HAD LOST ?! Which I do not think had been shared anywhere.

Later in the day, I got sent a TikTok that had gone… VIRAL. like VIRAL VIRAL. Like OVER TWO MILLION VIEWS VIRAL.

Overnight, I became an anti-feminist icon… or perhaps enemy? target? A misandrist? I can’t lie, I do like being iconic, but I think I reached a corner of TikTok that is a relatively dark place. I saw Nico’s video on Instagram a few days before this and legitimately thought nothing of it, I don’t even think the tone of it is particularly incendiary. But alas, to these men, Thomas Shields has become a martyr, a saint, a hero in their fight against the big, bad, scary women of the world.

My first takeaway from all of this craziness is that it’s really freaking funny. I was laughing hard while reading a lot of the comments and memes last night once I knew what they were actually about. I mean, it’s something you kind of have to laugh at, and some of them were clever. Getting told to make a sandwich though… I have to believe these guys can do better. It’s all a lot of them think about, isn’t it?

My second takeaway was honestly that this was/is pretty scary. I tend to like to clap back when I feel people are being ridiculous, (and this morning, on very little sleep after a 6:15AM flight, I did respond to a few trolls on Twitter- which probably was not worth my time or energy), but I have generally been completely unresponsive to all the comments and messages. I just can’t really relate to the worldview of people who would get so up in arms over something so silly. Being called “woman” as if it’s an insult is just… bizarre? Like, do these men not have a biological drive to procreate and… interact with… women?

I realize they are largely just keyboard warriors, but a part of me is definitely glad to not be in Daytona just from a safety/peace of mind perspective. I’m probably being dramatic, and it’s literally a 99.9% chance I wouldn’t have had any negative encounter at all, but this bizarre situation has made me feel like the general level of accessibility may actually be becoming unsafe in some situations. Some of the animosity I’ve received for having done absolutely nothing is crazy.

My third takeaway, though, in all of this is just how amazing the pickleball community is. It’s funny that I can say what I said and make a clearly comedic reference to “humbling men” and not one person in this community finds it sexist, or strange, or odd, or incendiary. Or at least if they did, they didn’t care enough to say anything about it. But, in other parts/corners of the world, such rhetoric gets twisted and used to pit people against each other when it was clearly done in jest. And all of this is besides the point of them saying I LOST (this is probably the rudest thing of all). But truly, I’m so thankful for this community and am currently thinking about whether or not I want to lean into all this publicity or not on social media, but regardless of my decision, I know you guys have my back❤️❤️.

Appreciate you all and see you next week. And don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube to see the video of the match!

XOXO, your internet bestie and resident misandrist, Anna❤️