--- title: Man Whose Mom Made Him the Face of #HimToo Meme Wants No Part of It description: Pieter Hansom who became the posterboy of the this is my son Him Too meme movement has rebutted his mother. canonical: https://time.com/5419296/pieter-hanson-that-was-my-mom/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-10-09T14:34:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:55:20.930Z og:title: 'That Doesn't Represent Me.' The Man Whose Mom Made Him the Face of a Viral #HimToo Meme Wants No Part of It og:description: "I'm a proud Navy Vet, Cat Dad and Ally" og:url: https://time.com/5419296/pieter-hanson-that-was-my-mom/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54463c9d758ac023/69893c29ab6d7704b06b3e0f/pieterhansonhimtoo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3264 og:image:height: 1836 og:image:alt: Hashtag Sign Against Blue Background og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'That Doesn't Represent Me.' The Man Whose Mom Made Him the Face of a Viral #HimToo Meme Wants No Part of It twitter:description: "I'm a proud Navy Vet, Cat Dad and Ally" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54463c9d758ac023/69893c29ab6d7704b06b3e0f/pieterhansonhimtoo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'That Doesn't Represent Me.' The Man Whose Mom Made Him the Face of a Viral #HimToo Meme Wants No Part of It > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME The Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition The Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The day's top headlines, curated by TIME editors. The Brief brings TIME's perspective to the day's most important stories, helping readers understand not just what is happening, but why it matters. It combines original reporting and analysis with the best of TIME, spanning politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Oct 9, 2018 2:34 PM UTC  Peter Willert / EyeEm—Getty Images/EyeEm by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Oct 9, 2018 2:34 PM UTC This week, a mother made her son the face of a viral “HimToo” political meme that he wants no part of. Pieter Hanson was shocked to find photos of himself in his Navy uniform all over the internet with a message that sparked a Twitter trend on Monday. It appeared to suggest that at the time of [Brett Kavanaugh](http://time.com/5408503/brett-kavanaugh-christine-blasey-ford-hearings-women-reaction/) Supreme Court confirmation hearings, men have fallen victim to false sexual assault accusations. “This is MY son,” began his mother’s now-deleted post, which was originally tweeted under the handle marlareynoldsc3 and included a snapshot of Hanson. “He graduated #1 in boot camp. He was awarded the USO award. He was #1 in A school. He is a gentleman who respects women. He won’t go on solo dates due to the current climate of false sexual accusations by radical feminists with an axe to grind. I VOTE. #HimToo.” Despite the fact that the mother soon deleted the tweet about his supposed struggle to be comfortable on dates amid the #MeToo movement, that didn’t stop it from spreading on the wings of critics who escalated things rapidly. But that didn’t stop the internet from having lots to say about the original post. > [](https://twitter.com/MikeDrucker/status/1049465591881457664) > [](https://twitter.com/iSmashFizzle/status/1049436139382296577) > [](https://twitter.com/DavidKlion/status/1049488813859454977) > [](https://twitter.com/WGladstone/status/1049427900922044418) And Hanson himself took to Twitter shortly after midnight on Tuesday to clarify things and try to change the conversation under the handle “@Thatwasmymom.” > [](https://twitter.com/Thatwasmymom/status/1049518834972020737) He’s now encouraging people to donate to charities including The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and Make a Wish. People enjoyed the speedy development in the plot. > [](https://twitter.com/SJGrunewald/status/1049528216925270017) “It doesn’t represent me at all,” Hanson told the Washington [_Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/10/09/this-is-my-son-navy-vet-horrified-as-moms-tweet-miscasts-him-as-himtoo-poster-boy-and-goes-viral/?utm%5Fterm=.dd60ccabc37a). “I love my mom to death, but boy…I’m still trying to wrap my head around all this,” Hanson, who chose to protect his mother’s privacy, said. His mother’s comments may not have been out of step with the President’s feelings who recently said he believed it was a “[very scary](http://time.com/5415943/lynzy-lab-scary-time/) time for young men in America.” > [](https://twitter.com/dynamofire/status/1049635307317092352) The #HimToo hashtag is not brand new. It emerged as a counterpoint to mock #BelieveWomen and #IBelieveFord, but people also popularized an earlier iteration to help circulate men’s voices as they shared their experiences of sexual harassment and assault alongside women. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5419296/pieter-hanson-that-was-my-mom/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5419296/pieter-hanson-that-was-my-mom/"},"headline":"'That Doesn't Represent Me.' 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