Berniebro

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About

"Berniebro" is a pejorative term referring to fanatical male supporters of 2016 Democratic Presidential Primary candidate Bernie Sanders who supposedly oppose his rival candidate Hillary Clinton based on sexist cultural biases. Since its coinage in late 2015, many Clinton supporters have asserted that the term accurately underscores the basis of Sanders' affinity with young male Democrats, while others have dismissed it as a straw man argument or smear tactic aimed at detracting criticisms surrounding Clinton's campaign platform.

Origin

The term "Berniebro," which is a portmanteau of "Bernie" and Bro, was coined by The Atlantic staff writer Robinson Meyer^[1] in an article published on October 17th, 2015. Titled “Here Comes the Berniebro,” the article lists a series of stereotypical attributes and behaviors associated with an annoyingly fanatical male supporter of Bernie Sanders on Facebook.

"The Berniebro is not every Bernie Sanders supporter. Sanders’s support skews young, but not particularly male. The Berniebro is male, though. Very male."

"The Berniebro might get into big performative arguments about how feminism saved his life. Or, the Berniebro might always seem like he’s going to say that we need economic equality for all genders but doesn’t actually say it, because he knows that it wouldn’t go over well."

"The Berniebro is someone you may only have encountered if you’re somewhat similar to him: white; well-educated; middle-class (or, delicately, “upper middle-class”); and aware of NPR podcasts and jangly bearded bands."

Spread

On November 6th, 2015, NY Mag^[8] published an article titled "The Bernie Bros vs. The Hillarybots," which identified many Sanders supporters as misogynists who "diminish, demean, and infantalize women." On December 3rd, The Baffler^[7] published an article by writer Amber A'Lee Frost, who argued that Berniebros were the over-exaggerated invention of high-profile feminist Clinton supporters. On December 22nd, Salon^[9] published an article by staff writer Amanda Marcotte, who argued "The Bernie bro phenomenon of young men whose enthusiasm for socialism is goosed by an unacknowledged sexism appears to be a real, measurable phenomenon." On January 29th, 2016, Mashable^[4] published an article titled "The bros who love Bernie Sanders have become a sexist mob," which cited the /r/SandersforPresident subreddit as a haven for "BernieBros."

"Their messages, which are oftentimes derogatory and misogynistic, are geared at Clinton supporters (or anyone who disagrees with Sanders for that matter)."

The same day, BuzzFeed^[6] published an article titled "The Bernie Bros Are a Problem and the Sanders Campaign is Trying to Stop Them."

On January 31st, The Intercept^[2] published an article by staff writer Glenn Greenwald, which accused the narrative surrounding the pejorative of being invented by pro-Clinton journalists as "a cheap campaign tactic masquerading as journalism and social activism."

"the goal is to inherently delegitimize all critics of Hillary Clinton by accusing them of, or at least associating them with, sexism, thus distracting attention away from Clinton’s policy views, funding, and political history and directing it toward the online behavior of anonymous, random, isolated people on the Internet claiming to be Sanders supporters."

On February 3rd, Slate^[5] published an article titled "Everyone is Wrong About the Bernie Bros" by staff writer Amanda Hess, which described the argument over the term as a "flame war" that is "emblematic of how social media has accomplished the impressive feat of making American political discourse even more annoying." The following day, Gawker^[10] published an article listing various definitions of the pejorative term.