In the long list of "everything is sexist", a few years ago, in 2021, a concept called "botanical sexism" went viral on social media like TikTok and Twitter, and many articles picked this up.
What is botanical sexism?
This supposed "botanical sexism" concept is one where by urban landscapers, in an effort to keep streets clear of seeds & flowers, plant only male trees. The male trees lack the seeds of their female counterparts. However, the male trees cause pollen, causing you have to have your allergies.
Who made this concept?
The whole concept of "botanical sexism" was started by Tom Ogren, an allergy "expert".
This concept has supposedly existed for a few decades and gets brought up every spring. It's been posted on Reddit over the years, too, garnering thousands and thousands of upvotes (posted on r/ todayilearned, r/ WitchesVsPatriarchy, r/ Feminism, and other subreddits over the years) - Luckily, there were some people calling it out, even years ago (some feminists and non-feminists alike). But, like many on the internet, if it sounds good it will go viral.
There's many more articles like the one below, and TikTok videos and Reddit posts, and Twitter posts, talking about muh "botanical sexism" as if it's true.
https://www.verywellhealth.com/tiktok-what-is-botanical-sexism-5195474
However, it really gained traction in 2021 because of a specific TikTok video, linked below: https://www.tiktok.com/@elliebotoman/video/6982229190867291397
If you read the comments from the TikTok video you'll find comments like:
"Also Bc female trees produce fruit and capitalists don’t want us eating for free." - 40.5k likes
"MEN LITERALLY RUIN EVERYTHING" - 30.1k likes
"It's literally never not a man at the root of the problem" - 7.5k likes
"Literally no escaping misogyny across any species" - 4.1k likes
"so men ruin everything", "why are men the root of all problems", and other similar comments.
Here's a few feminist comments, but from reddit:
"What followed this was a deep dive into a much bigger problem that further highlights the fucking inequality we experience underneath the patriarchy.
Male trees don't produce fruits or vegetables, female trees do. They plant more males to limit the free produce on offer therefore making people more reliant on industry and stimulating the local economy."
"Male trees producing pollen make our allergies worse. Coincidentally, that also makes us more reliant on pharmaceuticals."
So it's acceptable so say "men ruin everything and the root of all problems" and it not be considered misandrist, but criticism of a woman/women is misogynistic.
All of the articles talking about botanical sexism reference the viral TikTok video above and none of them talked about the comments shitting on men. Some articles even screenshot some of the comments shitting on men and not considering it as misandrist: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-9773801/TikTok-video-blaming-botanical-sexism-worsening-allergies-goes-viral.html
Additionally, there's feminists that simply believe the sexism without researching it further, they simply accept it:
"I usually go and research stuff I learn on here but this just feels so true, I'm not even going to. I just accept this as is." - A comment with over 5k likes from that TikTok video.
Does "botanical sexism" exist?
The concept of "botanical sexism" was and has been debunked, and the most "viral" debunking came from a Crop scientist in her Twitter thread, which was a response to the viral TikTok video (linked above): https://twitter.com/SarahTaber_bww/status/1423016010131648513
A few of her Tweets from the thread above:
"The biggest pollen offenders tend to be 2 classes of plants: Pines, oaks, maples, & other shade trees that have both M & F flowers."
"But this whole "male trees bad" schtick is some bullshit because "male trees" barely even exist."
And "The real reason for the increase in pollen is actually... climate change." https://twitter.com/SarahTaber_bww/status/1423024022611283970?s=20
The tree loving, feminist grifter:
The truly funny and ironic thing about this whole thing is, all these people complaining about men and capitalism ruining everything and how "female trees can feed the homeless but capitalism doesn't want that", don't realize Tom Ogren uses people's ignorance of trees/plants and people's problems with allergies to make money from all of this and gained more attention from "botanical sexism" (he's a writer, speaker and consultant for allergy-free gardening/landscaping). Even funnier is that Tom Ogren believes this: "These organizations and industries have built their business around it (selling male trees). Ogren says there’s a lot of money involved in growing and selling male plants, and in allergy medication." Quote can be found in this article: https://www.verywellhealth.com/tiktok-what-is-botanical-sexism-5195474
He believes he's the good guy. Maybe he's innocent in all this and isn't trying to scam anyone, but his "botanical sexism" concept is completely nonsense and has been debunked.
The 2 quoted comments below were taken from the Twitter thread I linked above debunking and exposing this guy:
"Ogren doesn't just take advantage of people's ignorance about plant sex. He's actively encouraging it so he can make money.
He's also taking advantage of people with a real problem, allergies, & selling them fake solutions. Again, to make money." https://twitter.com/SarahTaber_bww/status/1423016031124180994
"So yeah there's a guy with a "consulting firm" who runs around telling people he can make allergies go away by getting trees to fuck more. He threw in juuuuust enough "blame capitalism" to hijack people's lived experience & carry his scam all over the internet." https://twitter.com/SarahTaber_bww/status/1423016025663184899
Funny how many supposed critiques of capitalism turn out to be very capitalist grifts - It's a whole industry.
So, if you want to gain attention and make money, make up some kind of sexism and link it to capitalism for maximum profit. Maybe Refrigerator sexism will be the new thing. Your fridge breaks down constantly because it's male, and the capitalism wants you to keep buying fridges.
Here's a few more links talking about the debunking of sexist trees:
https://science.thewire.in/environment/the-complicated-truth-behind-botanical-sexism/
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/06/04/metro/dont-blame-patriarchy-despite-sexy-headlines-male-trees-are-not-blame-your-allergies/
Men ain't too smart about planning for the future, man:
I also saw feminist comments saying men don't think about future long-term consequences. Ironic because they're solution is to plant more trees that produce fruit and seeds, only that trees that drop fruit and seeds cause mice, fly, bug and rotting fruit problems.
Because of this whole "botanical sexism" fiasco, I'm more and more of reminded of a quote from my favorite feminist, Anita Sarkeesian: " When you start learning about systems everything is sexist, everything is racist, everything is homophobic and you have to point it all out to everyone, all the time."
Side note: I guarantee if the "genders" were reversed with the whole botanical sexism thing, these same articles talking about and promoting "botanical sexism" towards female trees would, instead, create articles talking about how blaming female trees for allergies is misogynistic and it's just another example where society blames females for something, and those articles would be attempting to debunk female trees causing problems, as well as highlighting how misogynistic the comments in the TikTok video are.
Another side note: I thought it was very funny that feminists were blaming men, capitalism and the patriarchy for sexist trees, but the person who made this concept was a man taking advantage of people to make money, and a woman went slightly viral on Twitter debunking this whole concept.
