A. H. ReaumeI don't use the term because I don't want to make someone feel shame about their body but I have always read uses of 'small dick energy' as insulting, not organ size, but the culture of toxic masculinity that believes the ridiculous idea that genital size is indicative of value.
Ru 😈And then overcompensates with other toxic masculine traits in order to PROVE stereotypical masculinity through other means. Depending on who is wielding it, it seemed a critique of toxic masculinity and traits and not actually buying into the idea that genital size = masculinity.
When it's used by feminists, I don't see it's focus on genitals as validating the toxic masculine belief that small genitals are indicative of less masculinity but a mockery of that belief system and its toxicity. I read it as mocking a kind of masculinity not a kind of body.
Because it can be read as body shaming or connecting genital size with bad behavior, I don't use it myself. I also don't use big dick energy. I don't use gendered or body-related insults. But I think the use of the term is far more nuanced than some are making it out.
I'll add that, in this particular case, Greta has dealt with some of the absolute worst dregs of toxic masculinity from a very young age. She's gotten graphic rape threats and violent fantasies shared with her from the time she was a very young teenager.
Often from people connected to the oil and gas industry and very explicitly connecting their ability to drive gas guzzling cars and trucks with their virility, masculinity and violent fantasies. This merging of toxic masculinity and car culture isn't new for her.
Pointing to the toxically masculine connections between size of car(s), size of penis/virility, relative masculinity, and climate change is actually a relevant discussion. These are all bound up together in the minds of those who have been attacking her for years.
This is the value system that she has been explicitly fighting. A value system that believes that it would be emasculating to drive an electric car because real men burn oil. A value system that would threaten to rape a 13 year old if she threatens that way of life.
Rather than saying Greta was inappropriate and body shaming, it makes more sense in my mind to examine what those words point to -- which is the fragile and toxically masculine car culture where cars are stand ins for masculinity that will destroy our planet & cause mass death
PJ "Vote Green" Coffey@ahreaume I agree with what you're saying but context matters.
The majority of people aren't meaningfully feminists. Thus bodyshaming is alive and well. I agree with the logic of your arguments but even here on Mastodon it isn't being used that way.
Further context, human traffickers 2-3 times her age attacking a young girl is wildly unacceptable. Adults attacking children or barely-not-children is not OK.
And he's gained 100k followers in a place where that matters. Context.
Juliette@ahreaume I remember someone I met on a flight long ago using the acronym "TPS" (Tiny Penis Syndrome) for this, which I always thought pretty apt as it puts the focus on the self-perception of the person exhibiting the toxic behaviour and not so much on body shaming.
Drew Tipson@ahreaume I mean, it's ok to also say that it's inappropriate? Like, I get it, I don't think ill of her, I get what you're saying, but it's like calling Trump fat or people making pronoun jokes about transphobes. Yeah, if you think someone is bad, hitting them in any way at all feels good.
But if the whole premise of the hit is a logic that I don't actually agree with, or a bias I'm trying to rid myself of, I can still wish I'd put more work into finding some other comeback.
@ahreaume but it's also just not a big deal, compared to everything else going on there, and given how toxic and pervasive other shaming things are
@adrew okay I usually am the first to come out against ableist or fatphobic jokes. And like I said I don’t use this insult myself. But there is a nuance here because it’s referring to toxically masculine energy and behavior related to a toxically masculine belief system. It’s closer to saying skinny girl energy or karen energy than making fun of a fat person.
HandgunYoga (he/him/his)@ahreaume
These toxic men loudly proclaim their “Big Dick Energy,” and Greta’s clap back simply inverted their own words. That’s not the entire context but it is the immediate context. The original claim of BDE is of course intended to body shame; Greta rejects the shamers in the manner most likely to trigger them.
When my 3 girls were quite young I’d point out booming stereos, loud exhausts and truck nuts and ask, “What do we know about these men?”
And they’d reply “Tiny dicks!”
Dan Berky "דן" ℞ MS 🇺🇲 🇩🇪 🇮🇱
Eirliani A Rahman@ahreaume I completely agree with you. You are absolutely 💯 spot on. We are dealing with a misogynist here. Shame on him too for dealing with a very young woman in this manner.
@eirliani I just remember when she was 17 and this story broke. This toxic value system of masculinity and cars/oil has brought so much grossness her way. Tate yesterday was joking about raping her essentially too yesterday. The toxically masculine idea that cars/oil are key to masculinity fuels all this. Her response was contextual imo. https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/greta-thunberg-alberta-oil_ca_5e58175fc5b60102210e12ff/amp
Idealistic Pragmatist 
Annika Sparkles@ahreaume the dick energy one possesses is irrespective of actual measurable dick size, it’s an essence of being, an ineffable quantity or lack thereof of dick energy and the finger wagging and public shaming of using dick energy as a means of measurement, is, in and of itself, an example of small dick energy.
@ahreaume (I am trying to make a very dry joke here please let me know if I’ve caused offense by injecting tryhard humor)
elizabeth veldon1. ooft.
2. yup.
Eunger@ahreaume I can’t figure how the term SDE could signify body shaming in the context in which it was used by Greta (is calling someone an egghead body shaming? I would hardly think so). Even taken out of context, the terms relation to actual body shaming seems tenuous at best and is more akin to a state of mind (self-insecurities; or the act of trying to appear overly masculine to compensate for a lack of masculinity).
Doug BostromSpot-on.
I'm a slow learner and perhaps wrong but this is also how I'm coming to understand the term "white" as it's frequently employed these days. If one is deeply bothered by either term as employed in their respective contexts, one needs to do some hard thinking and self-appraisal.
@Doug_Bostrom yes. That was an analogy I made to try to explain it too. It’s like talking about whiteness as a harmful concept. Whiteness is harmful. The thing being referred to by SDE is harmful toxic masculinity. We can use better words but that isn’t the same as talking about a body. It’s a metonym.
Susannah The Tired@ahreaume This nuanced take is absolutely needed in this discussion. Without seeing the true context of her words, you are missing so much.
And this is absolutely what I read in her words. It wasn't hard to see at all.
I also don't use the phrase myself, but I won't shame her for doing so in this way and this situation. Especially given all she has been put through!
@KittenInACave 100%. Also can we stop focusing on what she did wrong when he literally was arrested the next day for human trafficking.
@ahreaume I know. It's honestly really fucking upsetting.
Hegelian Princess@ahreaume yeah I mean Rihanna has big dick energy and she doesn't even have a dick, maybe the origins are unfortunate but it refers to something else
MudMan@julieofthespirits @ahreaume Nah, come on, guys, let's not do mental gymnastics to whitewash stuff just because we agree with people.
She wanted to shame the guy, she did so using his style of language, it worked.
Nobody's language is pure and positive all the time. Forcing the issue this way just leads to nonsense.
Is it a body shaming insult? Yeah. Does it make men worry sometimes? Yeah. Did she mean it that way? Yup, obviously. Am I glad she did? It WAS funny and it worked, so yeah.