"Unlike for physical attacks, there is no punishment for online misogyny, no matter how brutal,"

[Turborama]

Sexual violence and the paradox of anonymity in the digital age

As women and their defenders use internet to fight their assailants, others use anonymity to attack their efforts.

=snip=

This is the paradox of anonymity in the digital age. As women and their defenders use the internet to out and fight their assailants, others use anonymity to attack their efforts to do so. Women who draw attention to sexism are castigated by strangers in the most sexist terms possible, abused for daring to draw attention to their abusers.

Rebecca Watson, an atheist blogger who complained of being sexualised at atheist conferences, still receives "constant rape and death threats a year after she said 'Guys, don't do that'," writes Jen McWreight, a blogger who says she experienced similar harassment and threats for documenting Watson's case.

Unlike for physical attacks, there is no punishment for online misogyny, no matter how brutal. The de facto abuse levelled at women is meant to convey a message: that the online space women have claimed for themselves is not actually theirs; that no space is safe for women, not on the internet, not on the ground. It will take a shift in the perception of shame - and a willingness to stand up for others - to prove them wrong.

Sarah Kendzior is an anthropologist who recently received her PhD from Washington University in St Louis.

Full article: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/02/20132411111433879.html

[niyad]

1. thank you for posting this

[Turborama]

2. You're welcome, niyad

Being the father of a young daughter, I'm watching how the future is unfolding for her with a mixture of worry, dismay and hope.

[niyad]

3. here's to doing everything we can to make the world better for all our children.

[Starry Messenger]

4. k&r

[seabeyond]

5. bookmarking to read later. nt

[Luminous Animal]

6. K&R.

[Puzzledtraveller]

7. I sometimes wonder if people, men, who may have otherwise open minded views

are either blind to their own misogyny or there is something deeper that makes them believe that it's okay because they support "X" or "Y". I'm looking at Ms Watson's experience to illustrate what I think may be occurring. I may posit that we can expect a more direct misogyny from men on the political and ideological right and yet witness a more passive and aloof misogyny from men on the left who's attitudes towards women are lagging behind their stated ideology. I don't know, just hazarding a guess here.

[smirkymonkey]

8. K&R

I must say, the amount of misogyny on the internet is truly shocking and depressing. Why is there so much hatred? It's really sick.

[ismnotwasm]

9. A true thing this

You see a blog post, an article on women rights or issues then read the comments. A LOT of hate out there