If the web is an online journalist’s workplace, is tweeting “Die bitch” or “I’m going to rape your ass” to a woman sexual harassment?
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A Good Men Project reader directed our attention to an article by Amanda Hess published in Pacific Standard titled “Why Women Aren’t Welcome on the Internet.” Hess is a self-described “freelance writer reporting on sex, Hollywood, teenagers, and technology for places like Slate, WIRED, ESPN The Magazine, NYMag.com, NYTimes.com, Elle.com, the Los Angeles Times, NYLON, DETAILS, and the Village Voice,” so most of her work appears online. Her professional website is called “Sex with Amanda Hess,” and she has over 18,000 followers on Twitter. She’s also been harassed and received death threats on Twitter, and her opening paragraphs are enough to make anyone shudder.
I was 12 hours into a summer vacation in Palm Springs when my phone hummed to life, buzzing twice next to me in the dark of my hotel room. I squinted at the screen. It was 5:30 a.m., and a friend was texting me from the opposite coast. “Amanda, this twitter account. Freaking out over here,” she wrote. “There is a twitter account that seems to have been set up for the purpose of making death threats to you.”
I dragged myself out of bed and opened my laptop. A few hours earlier, someone going by the username “headlessfemalepig” had sent me seven tweets. “I see you are physically not very attractive. Figured,” the first said. Then: “You suck a lot of drunk and drug fucked guys cocks.” As a female journalist who writes about sex (among other things), none of this feedback was particularly out of the ordinary. But this guy took it to another level: “I am 36 years old, I did 12 years for ‘manslaughter’, I killed a woman, like you, who decided to make fun of guys cocks.” And then: “Happy to say we live in the same state. Im looking you up, and when I find you, im going to rape you and remove your head.” There was more, but the final tweet summed it up: “You are going to die and I am the one who is going to kill you. I promise you this.”
If a male CEO, celebrity, or online journalist received a similar communication, you can bet the police would take it seriously and investigate. If these words were conveyed to a woman working in an office through email or IM, the lawsuit would already be filed. But here’s a disconcerting truth: it seems there is something about talking dirty to women and threatening them online that draws nonchalant dismissiveness from law enforcement, the tech companies that maintain the platforms, and the media.
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Hess’s description of the cop who came in response to her 911 call is sadly brilliant. After she gave him the relevant background on her writing career, he “anchored his hands on his belt, looked me in the eye, and said, ‘What is Twitter?'”
Her colleague at Slate, Jim Pagels, wrote, “anyone who’s spent 10 minutes online knows that these assertions are entirely toothless.”
And Twitter “doesn’t require people to register accounts under their real names. Users are free to enjoy the frivolity—and the protection—that anonymous speech provides. If a user runs afoul of Twitter’s terms of service, he’s free to create a new account under a fresh handle.”
Even traditionally liberal NPR aired a show in which “journalist David Margolick called such threats ‘juvenile, immature, and obnoxious, but that is all they are … frivolous frat-boy rants.'”
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Hess cites examples of the same thing happening to other women, including Lindy West at Jezebel, Catherine Mayer at Time, and Alyssa Royse, who writes for The Good Men Project, and cites some disturbing statistics:
Of the 3,787 people who reported harassing incidents from 2000 to 2012 to the volunteer organizationWorking to Halt Online Abuse, 72.5 percent were female.
Feminine usernames incurred an average of 100 sexually explicit or threatening messages a day. Masculine names received 3.7.
Twitter is an essential tool of an online journalist’s livelihood. Imagine a telemarketer being asked to take a break from the telephone, or a researcher being told, “just turn off your computer for a while.”
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Hess theorizes that the predominance of men in both law enforcement and the executive offices of tech companies is a strong factor in the tendency to dismiss online harassment of women as annoying but harmless. She quotes Nathan Jurgenson, a social media sociologist at the University of Maryland, as asking “But why are engineers in California getting to decide what constitutes harassment for people all around the world?” Women are often advised to ignore it, but this ignores the real problem and the real cost of dealing with it. Hess explains that “Threats of rape, death, and stalking can overpower our emotional bandwidth, take up our time, and cost us money through legal fees, online protection services, and missed wages.” This hardly sounds any different from the effect of sexual harassment or a hostile climate in the workplace. Catherine Mayer of Time, who received a bomb threat tweet, said that “The officers were unanimous in advising me to take a break from Twitter, assuming, as many people do, that Twitter is at best a time-wasting narcotic.” But Twitter is an essential tool of an online journalist’s livelihood. Imagine a telemarketer being asked to take a break from the telephone, or a researcher being told, “just turn off your computer for a while.”
The line that stood out for me in the article was by Danielle Citron, a law professor at the University of Maryland who published a paper in the Michigan Law Review on the prevailing response to Internet death and rape threats. Citron concluded that “Internet harassment is routinely dismissed as ‘harmless locker-room talk,’ perpetrators as ‘juvenile pranksters,’ and victims as ‘overly sensitive complainers.'” Jurgenson elucidates the reason for Internet harassment being framed this way: “It’s a lot easier for the person who made the threat—and the person who is investigating the threat—to believe that what’s happening on the Internet isn’t real.”
He didn’t mean it.
Boys will be boys.
It’s just the culture there.
If you want to work with the big boys, you have to put up with their little boy pranks.
Uh huh.
We may be behind the curve in the online workplace, but things change online in a nanosecond. Justice is coming, and when it does, it will be swift.
Photo—Pete Simon/Flickr
OK, fair enough. I would never say that violence or harrasment of men counts less because they are men. I am a huge proponent of male rape victims and male domestic violence victims getting the help they need and understand that men and boys have many issues that are only now beginning to get recognition.I would never in a million years joke about prison rape or do that whole wink wink lucky guy about boys and sexual assault by women. I frankly know nothing about women sportscasters, other than the fact that they mostly didn’t exist 25 years ago. It… Read more »
The comments on this article about harassment of women on the Internet and the last piece I wrote about a man who hit his girlfriend always skew to “it happens to men, too.” Fine. Stipulated. I have lived through my own hell and will never, ever argue that point. But in the case being considered here, it’s happening to women, and saying that doesn’t automatically deny that it happens to men. Writing about a problem that exists for a particular group is not an a priori exclusionary act. If we write about racial discrimination towards blacks, must we always mention… Read more »
“There’s room for all voices on the web, and I’d love to see people write their own articles about the corollaries. ” The “whataboutthemen/sheep/othergroup” and “it happens to X” comments result from a lack of discussion about the issues facing that group. You see, your article is one of 10’s or 100’s, maybe 1000’s of articles discussing online harassment of women whereas I’ve only seen 1 article that I remember about males being harassed (I believed it was threats against the staff at GQ). To put it into an emotion, It very much starts to sound like yet annotherrr article… Read more »
OK, but how would this not be analogous to the locker room situation where the courts have ruled that female reporters should have the same rights of access? I’ve seen article authors fall back on this is my opinion / experience and I’ve always pointed out that it’s understood, but you’re posting this article on a forum with a comment section. If women choose to be protected from comments, there are ways to go about doing this. You can disable the comment section on your article. It will probably reduce your traffic, but isn’t that one of the excuses offered… Read more »
Thomas, you explicitly said in your article that you bet a man wouldn’t have this kind of problem. I quote the section in question in my first response here. It’s not derailing to come back to that and speak to a man’s experiences of harassment and threats online. You’ve already made it about men with that statement. And fyi, a lot of gender issues writers make this mistake – insist that men have nothing to fear here (downplaying real men’s issues in the process if they happen to have the same sorts of problems) then when people (typically men) weigh… Read more »
In general your attitude seems to be, since men are harassed too and men are not getting their fair share of concern (although many men aren’t talking about it) and some women are also harassers and some women don’t seem to care enough about that particular problem there is no reason any man should care that many women are subjected to vicious online abuse? Is that accurate?
@ J Keg “Is that accurate?” No, I can get behind an article that asks are sexual threats / comments on the internet sexual harassment. I take some issue with are sexual threats / comments directed toward women on the internet sexual harassment with the implication that if these same comments were directed at men, it wouldn’t count as sexual harassment. If it applies to men also, why specifically single out women? “I can plainly see that a woman who was raped after repeated online rape threats is not a sympathetic victim in your book” That’s odd because I never… Read more »
It’s not so much about “fair share of concern”. It’s just that the debate is quite obviously slanted in favour of one gender’s issues. That does not bode well for equality, especially given that women’s issues activists don’t give remotely as much of a damn for men’s issues as they demand be given to them and their issues. The other issue for me is – I accept that these issues are problems, but I don’t think I have to express my concern for it in the way that you think it should be expressed. I have to confess, I don’t… Read more »
Yes, John, whether one or some women don’t believe it or not, if a man feels sexually harassed, it is harassment. Whether you believe online threats of violence is sexual harassment or not it is. It isn’t an all or nothing gender game. I don’t actually think the vast majority of women would say men being sexually harassed isn’t a problem. Certainly not the women who are interested in GMP. Although I’m sure you can find examples, just like I can plainly see that a woman who was raped after repeated online rape threats is not a sympathetic victim in… Read more »
Are male athletes sexually harassed when a female reporter enters their locker room and they aren’t dressed? Wouldn’t that be considered their work area too? Many female writers on the internet (I believe Amanda Hess is one) believe that these men aren’t sexually harassed. When men are subjected to threats and / or subjected to sexually violent / suggestive or demeaning talk is it sexual harassment? When people treat other disrespectfully, it’s wrong whether done by a man or woman. Both genders are either sexually harassed or neither is when subjected to the same treatment. When people like Clinton Portis… Read more »
Thank you, Thomas, for taking online sexual harassment seriously. The more men who are willing to stop this kind of bullying by going against the societal norms and questioning other men about their part in perpetuating sexual harassment, the sooner everyone will reap the benefits.
Sexual harassment isn’t just a “women’s issue,” it’s is everyone’s issue.
A journalist from Brazil, I think, was threatened by another journalist when she criticized something he did…. He sent a message to her that he was gonna “break her asshole with his cock”…. Her internet response was to rally her worldwide internet supporters (from women’s groups and anti-harassment sites, like iHollaback.org)…..the advertisement sponsors of his magazine/journal were informed of his horrific comments and they pulled out their support….the hit to his money belt led him to put his tail between his legs….
You can fight the internet with itself….
If a male CEO, celebrity, or online journalist received a similar communication, you can bet the police would take it seriously and investigate. If these words were conveyed to a woman working in an office through email or IM, the lawsuit would already be filed. But here’s a disconcerting truth: it seems there is something about talking dirty to women and threatening them online that draws nonchalant dismissiveness from law enforcement, the tech companies that maintain the platforms, and the media. ♦◊♦ Hess’s description of the cop who came in response to her 911 call is sadly brilliant. After she… Read more »
While men may get threats of violence too, I can’t accept that any of it is ok. In my case, a “you need gang raped, does Friday work for you?” threat (yes, one of a string of threats) was actually posted by a man who stalked and attacked me. I live halfway across the country now with a husband,dogs and a gun, and I still maintain an incredibly low level of internet presence due to this man. And wherever my attacker is (not in prison any more) no doubt he is gleefuly posting threats of greivous bodily harm and picking… Read more »
“Threat of sexual violence against women – “WELL, THIS IS JUST AN OUTRAGE! SOMETHING MUST BE DONE! CHANGE EVERYTHING TO FIX THIS RIGHT NOW OR YOU’RE A MISOGYNIST!”” And it is an outrage. Something really should be done. Threats against everyone, woman, man and child. Even more when it comes to thread of sexual violence, you know… that is actually what makes people (even more women) the most upset – and the most fearful. And that is exactly why many boys/men love doing that generally to women all the time on the internet. J Keg is right, men don’t face… Read more »
I’ve had a feminist no less say she hoped I got raped, had plenty of guys n girls tell me all sorts of horrible stuff, in games especially I’ve had many want to kill me. Men do not blog about it much though, so the trolls realize that it doesn’t openly affect the guys as much yet women are far more likely to kick up a huge debate about it, blog about it, have articles seen by many and thus trolls realize women are VERY EASY TARGETS to stir up online. It doesn’t make it ok but even this article… Read more »
@Archy – exactly.
I saw a somewhat cynical (but accurate IMO) quote on a message board recently that said that feminism was the greatest victory for trolling since the internet began.
I realise it may not be sufficiently idealistic to say “don’t feel the trolls” but really…..
I would point out that a very small percentage of those trolls fully have the werewithal and intent to make good on their threats in the worst possible way. Which is what makes the whole vicious threat troll so damaging. There was no possible way to differentiate the threat of a real rapist from the teenage boy five states away. It helped convict him after the fact 🙁
That’s one way of framing it. The other is that it isn’t remotely as much of a problem as it’s being claimed to be. I would, for example, argue that someone threatening you online is overall much less serious than someone threatening you with a letter. The latter at least definitely knows where you live. I’m not especially concerned about an attack from someone I don’t know as I have a pretty good idea what personal information of mine is out there. It’s something that is altogether far easier to do given that twitter etc allows you to communicate instantly,… Read more »
OirishM Yes, I don’t believe everyone calling me a stupid bitch, cunt, or commenting on my rack was harassing me, some things are truly the cost of being online. However, what isn’t remotely much of a problem to you is indeed an actual problem to many. In local politics, I was in the public sphere, as are many who also have a significant internet presence. I apparently wasn’t that hard to find. I’m not the only one who has been the victim of online troll/real life criminal, and those cases happen enough to cause some on the receiving end of… Read more »
I’m saying it’s not as much of a problem as stated if most threats are actually toothless. Surely that’s arguably a good thing that most of them aren’t going to go anywhere? Report is one thing. I’d never tell anyone to refrain from doing that. Writing acres and acres and aaaaaacres of articles about how the internet is hostile to women – ehhh, probably not so much. It reminds me of some counterarguments to coverage of school shootings that I’ve seen. Many people, experts included, say that if you want this behaviour to stop – stop publicising it. All feminism… Read more »
@ J Keg @ July I’ve had threats directed at me usually from self identified feminist men. The one I remember (sort of) said something about being anally raped and dying a firey death. I tend yo be fairly open about having been a kick boxer and though I always take threats serious, I can’t ay that I’ve ever been scared. Like I told one harasser. When I say I’ve gotten slow in my old age, I mean I’ve gotten slow compared to how I was when younger, not necessarily compared to him. I’ve been threatened by gang members IRL… Read more »
Dangerous assumption alert 😉
(Don’t worry, Caroline Criado-Perez, an activist in the UK, made the same mistake frequently when discussing her twitter threat case 😉 )
Yep. Definitely true. The majority are actually very young men, but there are women who do it too, as I noted in my first post. Double disgusting to me in some ways, since clearly they are trying to lay blame on men while being nasty trolls.
Or I should say, in *my* case, of the ones the police were able to identify were all male and the majority were teen boys.
In Criado-Perez’ case it was discovered that one of her convicted harassers was a women.
A win all round – everyone’s sexism was confronted 🙂
*woman, even