@kpfeffss/Instagram/TwitterIt’s the circle of modern love: a man sends a totally outrageous message to a woman on a dating app, and she exposes him for the creep he is.
Through the veil of a screen, people try to get away with things they’d simply never say in real life. Their keyboards are both shield and weapon – armed to dish out unsolicited insults and defend with snarky, dim-witted messages.
Dating apps are particularly prolific for this: a battleground for one-liners and petulant rejection. In the case of Katie Pfeffer, the man who messaged her probably didn’t expect his father to come into the equation.
@kpfeffss/TwitterThe subject of this social media spanking: one not-so-charming, not-so-sweet-talking man who decided to have a pop at chatting up Katie. Unfortunately, his message didn’t get the desired response – probably because it’s a cocktail of awfulness.
The man wrote in a message to Katie: ‘Are you one of those hot girls that’s just plain r*tarded? Because your bio makes it look that way.’
Firstly, he’s clearly a moron. Secondly, he didn’t account for how Katie would respond to such a message – it turns out his father was quite easy to find online.
Hold men accountable 2020✊💯
— Perikeet Spanakopita (@Avgolemeno_Stan) January 21, 2020
After sending a message to his dad, which read: ‘So sorry for the random message. Just thought you should know this is how your son speaks to women’, Katie wrote on Twitter: ‘Found this guy’s dad’s [Instagram] in five minutes, never underestimate a girl’s investigation skills.’
The tweet struck a chord with her followers, racking up more than 243,000 likes and 15,000 retweets. But that’s not all – some interesting revelations have arisen from the exposure, including where he works and other women messaging Katie to tell of their own online experiences with the same guy.
Cameron FrewKatie wrote in a follow-up tweet: ‘@GeneralMills since posting this I’ve had four girls message me saying this man is abusive, manipulative and racist. I also found out he works as an intern for your company. If you’d like to know more please DM me.’
Amidst the numerous supportive tweets, the replies to the original post aren’t particularly kind. One man wrote: ‘My family knows this woman’s family personally. She suffers from a sever form of foetal alcohol syndrome that causes delusions and emotional problems at times. We apologise for this episode.’
Another user wrote: ‘Yup, you crazy, and I pity anyone who has the misfortune of getting into a relationship with you.’ A further man replied: ‘Just another example of a women being over the top and causing problems she shouldn’t be a part of.’
Drag 👏🏻 him 👏🏻 sis!!!
— rachem (@rachelmdavis_) January 21, 2020
However, emerging through the rampant misogyny, key tweets appear. Succinctly, one user wrote:
Man starts interaction with woman, is disrespectful. Woman stands up for herself.
You: Oh my God, how dare she stand up for herself and demand respect? That’s just too much to ask from women. Don’t date us if you hate us, easy as that.
Fair play, Katie, fair play.
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After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.