For many years, feminist blogger and Pasadena City College professor Hugo Schwyzer was welcomed by the lefty feminist community. His writing was published by The Atlantic, the Good Men Project, Jezebel, HuffPo, Alternet, The Frisky and the Guardian.
Sure, he alienated some femme-a-gogues over the years, inspiring the Fuck No, Hugo Schwyzer Tumblr. Here’s part of the most recent post:
- He tried to murder a woman after she’d been sexually assaulted because he thought that being raped and having substance abuse problems made her better off dead
- He used his position of authority as a teacher to coerce students into sleeping with him
- He’s capitalized on sexually assaulting one of his partners by writing articles about her blaming her for not saying no to him enough
- He has used racism in white-dominated feminist spaces to hide behind famous white Feminists and shut down, silence, and alienate women of colour
But Schwyzer promoted SlutWalks and ran around with his speculum-handled abortion pom-poms reciting “pro-choice” cheers, so he continued his cushy gig teaching courses on porn and gender studies while receiving a platform in the feminist media.
Last month he kinda, sorta quit the Internet. The next day, screen caps of a sexting affair between the married “male feminist” and a porn star surfaced. He told New York magazine he was done with the Internet because of his “fragile” mental health and also that feminists are meanies.
This week, the Pasadena Star-News reported that following the sexting scandal and extramarital affairs, Schwyzer would be taking some sick time. At least one trustee doesn’t want him to return to teaching “Navigating Pornography.”
Schwyzer returned to Twitter yesterday, admitting in dozens of tweets to years of deception as he weaseled his way into feminist academia. He also said he was in the middle of a manic episode. Here’s a selection of those tweets from the self-described “notorious bad boy male feminist”:
So the real story you all missed is that I talked my way into teaching women's studies on the basis of 2 undergrad courses only
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
The college knew that at the time, and since I had a history degree and wanted to teach it, they let me.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
My expertise is British medieval church history. I had no business teaching feminism, however well I may have taught it.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
I then built a career as a well-known online male feminist on fraudulent pretenses. My mania let me talk a good game
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
But there was no there there.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
So with the clarity that comes from a shitload of anti-psychotics, I'm sorry I've been such a breathtakingly cocky fraud
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
I read one book of Kimmel's and made myself an expert on men and masculinity.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
I read a little bit about porn, and figured out how to make it a fun circus for all.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
I wanted my students to learn. I cared about them. I even loved them.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
I loved the attention more and I was fucking awesome at getting it.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
Yes, no shit I'm having a manic break right now.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
I'll be fine, and I'll dump in some tranquilizers in a sec. But let the truth come out. The critics were right.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
I know I did a little bit of good. I know I helped a few people. But I did so much more harm by being fraudulent, by lying.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
My former friends and employers, I'm sorry. I meant well but I didn't have the credentials I pretended I did.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
By the way do you know you only need a MA in history to teach any history course you like? That's the law.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
At least in my college.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
So I got diagnosed bipolar with psychotic features but damn the Seroquel knocks me flat and I wanted to FEEL alive again
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
So I will be okay. I'll go offline again. Just a manic episode that I'll regret. But I've been such a liar. A terrible liar.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
I hurt so many people with lies.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
I was never qualified to teach any gender studies courses. I talked my way into all these gigs.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
And yes, I networked like a motherfucker to get promoted.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
Which is how I got the gigs I got. I learned clickbait. Sometimes I fucked my way into a gig.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
I will come back when I am well and teach what I should be teaching. I will eventually be well.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
But I am deliberately letting this manic episode run so you can KNOW THE TRUTH.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
I made my writing all about me. I centered my pain and my cock. and I sold it to you
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
And WOC, yes you @amaditalks and @Blackamazon, you were right. I was awful to you because you were in the way
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
I am so so sorry that I let myself be like this. But I wanted atttention so f-ing bad. This was all about attention.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
I built a brand (remember "off-brand") on being something completely false to get approbation.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
I have to go away to learn how to hear other people. Through these voices in my head.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
My friends who defended me I'm so sorry. You did all that work for nothing. The critics were right, they could see it.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
If you read @graceishuman or @redlightvoices you'll see they GOT ME EXACTLY right.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
I appropriated the language of redemption, I knew which buttons to push, I used sex and charm and whiteness and it usually worked
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
I cheated on my wife and pretended to be reformed. I wrote an article in the Atlantic condemning age-disparate relationships the same week
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
…that I was sleeping with a 23 year-old. And sexting a 27 year-old. Not my students at least.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
I'm a monstrous hypocrite.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
I loved being the most notorious bad boy male feminist out there
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
I cultivated that shit so hard
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
So yes, I sexted with a hooker. Yes, I wanted to have my students watch me screw James Deen.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
The point is simple and clear and sane. I have been a self-aggrandizing fraud from day one. @studentactivism will tell you
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
Being microinfamous sucks.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
I will never teach women's studies or gender studies again. If I can get well and beat this, I will teach my Western Civ courses
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
I did promote others but I secretly wanted to be THE male feminist
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
And I used it sexually too. It was part of my game
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
People are tweeting me saying I'm hurting myself more by doing this. How? You think I had a chance at a comeback?
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
Please. After the sexting and the fraudulence and the sheer ugly debasedness of it all I'm finished.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
It is time to return to my original pledge to leave social media, and — without deleting today's manic rants — that's what I'm doing now.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
Let me be clear: I have a serious mental illness. But that is an explanation, not an excuse, for the harm I've inflicted.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
I suffer from bipolar disease with psychotic features. But I do not think that truth erases the harm I have done. It puts in a context.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
I'm going to be giving my laptop to my family tonight so I can more effectively stay offline.
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
Some Twitter users suspected Schwyzer had been hacked.
Wow, @hugoschwyzer has either gotten hacked or his losing his mind on Twitter.
— Hunter Walker (@hunterw) August 9, 2013
Schwyzer appeared to confirm the tweets were not the work of a hacker.
Not a hack. Anyone who knows my real email (not the one from my website) shoot me one and I'll confirm it's manic me
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
@ConnerHabib your last email was entitled "long distance hug"
— Hugo Schwyzer (@hugoschwyzer) August 9, 2013
Unless someone has hacked his twitter AND his email, it is indeed @hugoschwyzer . I can confirm. Now, Hugo. Chill out. This isn't the venue.
— Conner Habib (@ConnerHabib) August 9, 2013
Mentally ill or not, Schwyzer isn’t finding much sympathy among the people he duped.
Feeling sorry for Hugo Schwyzer just perpetuates practice of using mental illness as means of eliciting
sympathy for white male perpetrators— jonathan frandzone (@NotAllBhas) August 10, 2013
https://twitter.com/bugbrennan/status/366166670881992704
@hugoschwyzer take some pills bc you dont belong in this world with your entitlement to women. you are more toxic than a handful of pills.
— Impeding Lies (@ImpedingLies) August 10, 2013
https://twitter.com/SinCityGrrrl/status/366112636376584192
If I hear one more thing about people feeling sorry for Hugo Schwyzer, I am going to scream. He is a predator. He does not deserve pity.
— kc (@alienqueenn) August 10, 2013
