Piers Morgan has long been controversial for his views on hot-button topics, as well as his fiery insults to celebrities. However, he has been the most recent target of controversy with women everywhere showing him that their ability to withstand pain goes far beyond his own.
After falling on his behind and breaking three ribs the week before, Morgan announced via Twitter that he would indeed be returning to his post as host of the television program Good Morning Britain. “UPDATE: I’ll be co-hosting @GMB tomorrow with 3 broken ribs. For the more fragile snowflakes among you, this is called ‘manning up’ 👊👊,” he wrote. To him, it seemed to be an accomplishment to sit on his behind after having been treated, even though sitting down is the general recommended course of recovery after having been injured in such a way.
The general populace of women was not impressed with his supposed feat of bravery, however. Stories rolled in across Twitter from various users describing their own experiences of pain using the hashtag #womanup. Many of them don’t light a candle to hosting on a couple of broken ribs: “I completely snapped my arm and held the bones together whilst getting my dad and calmly asking if I should go to [the] hospital. #womanup,” said Twitter user @MicaLaurenn.
Other women chose to highlight just exactly what they’d done with their own broken ribs, like @Meaghan_EMC on Twitter: “Co-hosting with a broken rib. 😂 I ran a half marathon with a broken rib. AND I BEAT MY TIME. #WomanUp.” Clearly, she was doing anything but sitting down.
“I went to work after having part of my foot amputated, Piers, and didn’t call attention to myself for it, just did my damn job. #womanup,” says Twitter user @StanSanvers. Similar stories are strewn across social media, from enduring operations in unique circumstances to having had to self-operate while in labor because there were more pressing matters at the time. They show that women have always been the heroes of their own stories – it just took a male publicity figure complaining about his own for them to mobilize.
The thing is, they shouldn’t have to. Women should be celebrated for their achievements just the same as men. If a female television host breaks her ribs and continues on, she should have the same amount of attention as Piers Morgan. There is no need for men to act as if every move they make should be one for the history books. It’s simply boisterous and tiring.
Which is probably why the best response to Morgan’s tweet came from someone who’d had to put up with his antics for the longest time: His co-host, Susanna Ried. It’s not angry, scathing, or overly sarcastic. In fact, it’s six simple words: “I have to work with you.” It’s perhaps the best response – not because it details some heroic feat or daily struggle, but because it implies that working with Morgan himself takes a good amount of fortitude.
Hopefully, the display of heroic stories do not end with #womanup. All women deserve to have their stories seen and heard.
Featured Image by Emanuele on Flickr
Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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