I'm glad people are talking about this. I think we have a long way to go, though. There are a whole lot of people who are shitheads online, and most of them are shitheads in real life too. We'll...
I'm glad people are talking about this. I think we have a long way to go, though. There are a whole lot of people who are shitheads online, and most of them are shitheads in real life too. We'll need a massive culture shift to fix this.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again every time this topic comes up: a controversial post I made a long time ago got frontpaged on reddit, and though I had no gender markers at all in my...
I've said it before, and I'll say it again every time this topic comes up: a controversial post I made a long time ago got frontpaged on reddit, and though I had no gender markers at all in my comment, people assumed based on the situation and content that I was a woman. The sheer volume of degrading, disgusting, and outright frightening comments and messages I received in response left me horrified and shaken. People sent me threats. People sent me dick pics. Nothing about my post was sexual yet random internet strangers took time to send me photographs of genitalia, whether their own or someone else's (which, like... why?).
My sister, who has weathered the misogynistic internet storm her entire life rather than the one isolated squall I had to endure, told me in commiseration that I'd "committed the crime of being a woman on the internet". Her phrasing has stuck with me for years. Women are punished online simply for being women. It's widespread, and it's endemic.
I'm glad to see such a prominent name speak up for this issue, and I hope people take heed. It is shameful, and it has been going on far too long.
I'm glad people are talking about this. I think we have a long way to go, though. There are a whole lot of people who are shitheads online, and most of them are shitheads in real life too. We'll need a massive culture shift to fix this.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again every time this topic comes up: a controversial post I made a long time ago got frontpaged on reddit, and though I had no gender markers at all in my comment, people assumed based on the situation and content that I was a woman. The sheer volume of degrading, disgusting, and outright frightening comments and messages I received in response left me horrified and shaken. People sent me threats. People sent me dick pics. Nothing about my post was sexual yet random internet strangers took time to send me photographs of genitalia, whether their own or someone else's (which, like... why?).
My sister, who has weathered the misogynistic internet storm her entire life rather than the one isolated squall I had to endure, told me in commiseration that I'd "committed the crime of being a woman on the internet". Her phrasing has stuck with me for years. Women are punished online simply for being women. It's widespread, and it's endemic.
I'm glad to see such a prominent name speak up for this issue, and I hope people take heed. It is shameful, and it has been going on far too long.