By: Molly Redding, San Francisco, CA, USA, SSH Correspondent
By now you have probably heard of what happened to Caroline Criado-Perez a few weeks ago. If you haven’t, I’ll break it down for you:
- She noticed that there will not be any (non Royal) women featured on the back of British banknotes.
- She campaigned to make sure a woman is included.
- She succeeded: Jane Austen will be featured on the back of a 10-pound banknote.
- She is then subjected to an endless barrage of insults, rape, and death threats on Twitter. (Read my Storify for some of the highlights.)
- She is told to “just ignore it.”
A lot has been said written about it, for example here, here and here. I caught wind of this on my Twitter account shortly after it started, but I couldn’t find the time to write about it until now (although maybe a cooling down period was in order so I didn’t write this entire post in ALL CAPS).
What happened was disgusting, despicable, and yes, criminal (one man has been arrested for his threats). At moments I would follow the action riveted by the speed under which the tweets were coming in, only to find myself traumatized by the language and vitriol that was being used. I would distract myself and go do something different. But Caroline didn’t have that choice. And the tweets were directed at her.
You’re probably wondering by now why a blog for a street harassment site is discussing harassment on Twitter. It’s all about power over space. In trying to assert their power over public spaces, men harass women on the street. In trying to assert their power online, they harass women on places like Twitter and Facebook, and in the comments of other websites. The message is the same – you do not belong here. Your presence is not welcome here.
Women also get the same message online that they do on the street – just ignore it, you’re just encouraging them, etc. Caroline was even accused of fighting back just to get attention. To get attention? Are women not allowed to just say, “No!” anymore?
Caroline is not the first woman (or person) to be harassed online, and she certainly won’t be the last. Even when I was considering applying to blog for this website, I feared what would happen if I came out as a Feminist to the Internet. What would they say to me? Could I handle it?
But that’s what this site is about. Reclaiming space. We are fighting for space that allows us to get dressed and not think about changing our outfit to reduce the possibility of comments. We are fighting for space that allows us to express our opinion and be treated with respect and dignity, rather than drowned out by threats of sexual violence. In a public setting you might not be able to shout back or defend yourself, but just by being on the street, on the bus, and posting your thoughts on Twitter, you are sending the message that you cannot be silenced, penned in, broken down.
Caroline is still Tweeting. I applied to blog for SSH, and you are still walking down the street. We are all reclaiming our space.
Molly received a graduate degree in International Development and Gender from the London School of Economics in 2011, where her dissertation focused on websites allowing victims of harassment to post about their experiences. She has worked in the non-profit sector for over 10 years. You can follow her on Twitter, @perfeminist.
Shelby Wolfe says
These statistics, stories and reports suggest that the street even in western nations are becoming an easy-target informal place for men to assert power over women without being threatened by the law or without any serious actions taken towards street harassment against women. There have been many websites and campaigns set against such abuse in public spaces but it is not hard for the victim to escape from publicly harassing a woman.