The Week on TwitterTopical

The Week on Twitter | Sabina Higgins, Azealia Banks, & Eurovision

By Jade Hayden

This week, Sabina Higgins had an opinion (*gasp*), Azealia Banks was awful, and the Eurovision semi finals graced our televisions, which meant it was pretty much the greatest week in the world ever. Twitter also talked domestic violence and abuse, using the #MaybeHeDoesntHitYou tag.

#SabinaHiggins‘ comments on Ireland’s abortion laws criticised by anti-choice groups

This week, Sabina Higgins had an opinion on something very important and lots of people weren’t happy. Higgins recently attended a debate in Trinity College organised by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland. It was at this debate that Higgins voiced her opinion on Ireland’s draconian abortion laws and the eighth amendment, stating that it was an “outrage” that Irish women are forced to carry babies with fatal foetal abnormalities to term.

Lots of people were very supportive of Higgins’ comments, commending the President’s wife for bringing yet more attention to the hypocrisy and cruelty associated with the eighth amendment.

However, some other people found Higgins’ declaration unnecessary, shameful, and even (somehow) offensive. According to the likes of Ronan Mullen, the Life Institute, and other lovely anti-choice people, Higgins should not only have said what she said because her opinion does not align with their oppressive views, but because she is married to Michael D Higgins.

Speaking this week (mainly on Twitter, as usual), Senator Mullen claimed that Higgins should not have an opinion on “political matters” like abortion because Irish citizens voted for her husband in 2011 under the pretense that the presidential household would not interfere in politics.

Fortunately, titles like First Lady do not mean very much in Ireland, and seeing as Sabina Higgins is a private citizen more than capable of making her own decisions about things like an actual person, she can say whatever she likes. And she did. And it was great.

https://twitter.com/Jim_Sheridan/status/729771279394426885

#AzealiaBanks racially attacks #ZaynMalik, gets suspended from Twitter

A few years ago, Azealia Banks had a good song called 212 and everyone knew who she was. Some time after that, Azealia Banks made homophobic comments about an air steward after attacking a passenger on a plane. Then Azealia Banks claimed that the victims of Bill Cosby’s sexual assault allegations were asking for it. Then Azealia Banks was arrested for attacking a security guard. Then Azealia Banks got in a fight with Sarah Palin. Azealia Banks has done a lot of questionable things.

This week, Azealia Banks accused Zayn Malik of stealing ideas from her and attacked him racially via Twitter. She also claimed that the UK hip hop scene was awful and that Disney star Skai Jackson needed to “grow some hips.”

Jackson had merely tweeted that Banks needed to “simmer down a little,” but following the unnecessary response, the 14 year old dragged Banks within an inch of her life, stating that she had a career before Disney, that she will have a career after Disney, and that Banks was bitter and needed to fix her life. It was great. Everyone was happy.

https://twitter.com/LeanneWoodfull/status/730521061289295872

https://twitter.com/electrawaves/status/730518708611891200

https://twitter.com/tonyismyname/status/730398673809584128

Banks has since been suspended from Twitter and her headline appearance at Rinse | Born & Bred festival has been cancelled.

#Eurovision is on. Everybody is happy.

This week marks the 61st Eurovision song contest. Eurovision is good because it has singing and dancing and an infinite amount of fire tweets. Although our tellys have yet to be graced with the Eurovision final, the semis still provided us all with an acceptable amount of entertainment in the form of bad songs, good songs, and some fella from San Marino in a fedora.

Unfortunately, something entirely unprecedented happened on Thursday night’s semi final, and Nicky Byrne didn’t get through to tonight’s final. It was a true tragedy, but thankfully, as a nation we collectively moved past all of the pain and the hurt and still managed to send some good internet tweets. This is them.

https://twitter.com/padraigayn/status/730121859665170432

https://twitter.com/malmuss/status/730852111257358336

Tune in to the Eurovision final tonight to see the UK come last, probably.

#MaybeHeDoesntHitYou hashtag emphasises the range of ways domestic abuse exists

This week, Twitter talked domestic abuse using the hashtag ‘Maybe he Doesn’t Hit You.’ The tag listed the plethora of ways that abuse can occur in relationships including methods of control, guilt, and isolation. The tag trended for most of Tuesday and proved that not all forms of abuse are physical.

https://twitter.com/nangatse/status/729754609531621376

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Jade Hayden 144 posts 0 comments

Jade Hayden has an MA in journalism, a degree in English, and a house rabbit who sleeps in her bed sometimes. You'll often find her wearing glasses, fixing her fringe, and complaining about the amount of time she spends on public transport. Jade is also the editor of HeadStuff's topical section, and she'd love if you sent your submissions over to [email protected].

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