If Australia was looking for its own beacon of misogyny and homophobia thinly disguised as "locker-room" talk among young men, then the 'Yeah the Boys' Facebook page is a primary exhibit.
Attracting nearly half a million likes, the page promotes a particular aspect of male culture focused on alcoholism, drugs and degrading perspectives within the page's comments on various groups, particularly women - or "two-holes" as they are referred to - and the LGBT community.
![An overwhelming majority of the posts and comments have been made from personal accounts of University and school-aged ...](/web/20161111013850im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/k/k/b/w/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gskj8k.png/1478600306362.jpg)
On the back of the page's "success" various group members have scheduled a supposed event at Coogee Beach for later this month, called the Yeah the Boys Meet-up. Despite not being endorsed by the Yeah the Boys page admins, the event quickly gathered thousands of supporters and spawned a tirade of sexism and homophobia, similar to that found on the original page.
What started on Monday night as a "male-only" meet up with only a few hundred attending, snowballed on Tuesday, attracting more than 9000 people and spawning controversial comments condoning violence and assault against women, the LGBT community and even other males in the group who display any actions that "dog the boys."
Despite the page being reported several times, it was not deemed to have breached Facebook's "community standards" but by late Tuesday afternoon the event page had been deleted.
Before the deletion, many women and men had infiltrated the page to take the fight into their own hands, rallying against comments such as "left, right, goodnight," "meat-tents" and "two-holes" but they too become the targets of personal attacks and violent threats.
"I hope your mothers and sisters never read the disgusting way you talk about women. I have never read so much hate in all my life," one mother of two sons wrote. "Do not even start me on the revolting way you turn domestic violence into humour. If you 'boys' are our future men I dread to think what our society will become."
She was told to, "Go away you two hole".
An overwhelming majority of the posts and comments were made from personal accounts of university and school-aged students, with comments focusing on domestic violence, sexual assault and emotional relationship abuse. Some posts asked members "to share their two-holes around."
Many women who pointed out that some members must have missed sex-ed, inaccurately labelling females "two-holes," were retaliated against immediately.
Such behaviour was at the centre of a NSW court case earlier this year, when a 25-year-old Sydney man was convicted of using "a carriage service to menace, harass or offend" after posting a screenshot of a Tinder bio and offensive comments on a public discussion thread. Police were reluctant to take action, but pursued the case against Zane Alchin after a public petition.
While the males on the "Yeah the Boys Meet Up" page claim the sentiments displayed are a "joke," Aiden Magro, who fought against the page, thinks otherwise. He has become part of the vile backlash with 130 comments towards him including saying "he has aids" and "should kill himself" for posting the comment, "You're all sexist pieces of shits."
Magro, a Sydney-based artist, has since created the page, 'Dog the boys: Counteracting Yeah the Boys' as a safe-space and protest against 'YTB', as they label themselves.
"Yeah the Boys has been around for quite a while but this event has taken it to a whole new level in terms of sexism and homophobic material," Magro said.
"They are hiding behind the fact that their comments are 'jokes' or 'banter,' but it is all part of a wider culture and public sentiment towards 'minority groups' such as women and LGBT."
While some girls have gone along with the page's sentiments, labelling themselves negatively, Magro has pointed out that the "macho culture" is being manipulated by the male members.
"We definitely need to shift the attention away from the females who are posting and look at how the males are conditioning them to agree. Often marginalised groups, and in this case some of these women, feel they must assimilate to belong."
Other posts have labelled the event, "Cronulla Riots 2.0," referencing the infamous 2005 race riots.
"We know what happened when a privileged group of while males took took to the beach in Cronulla," Magro said.
Magro is now promoting a picnic in Sydney's Hyde Park on the same day as the event at Coogee Beach which he hopes will "speak out sexism and homophobia to counter the Yeah the Boys meet up."
He also wrote on the event page: "This is an event where everyone should feel safe in their identities and to stand up against sexist and homophobic pigs. Bring your own food, bring glitter, bring paint, bring yourselves, bring your mum! This will be a peaceful protest."
He added in an interview with Daily Life: "I want there to be a counter protest because people have become too complacent towards sexism and homophobia but it is likely to be away from the beach. It is about creating a safe space and there has already been a positive reaction from people who are thankful they have a space to vent about the issues of Yeah the Boys."
And while the artist has received some vile post or comments on his event page, his says that he wants to create a movement celebrating women rather than defending against negative comments.
"I am not replying and deleting comments that are vile. I want to celebrate the women's and the LGBT's validity and rights rather than standing up against them with defensive comments."
"For me this has been about a safe space where women and whoever wants to be included can come together and celebrate each other and fight against issues. The responses have already become about supporting each other and it is a step towards reducing the negative attitudes."