As a relatively low trafficked blog, I’ve had the luxury of dealing with few rude people. It looks like that may be changing. Earlier this week I received a fake story that simply said “I got raped hahaha jk.” Not funny. Today I received three prank stories in a row. Two of them sounded like legitimate stories until the last sentences. Both posts ended with a “ha ha ha ha jk bitch.”
I love how the internet lets people who may not otherwise have a voice have one and lets us find obscure stories, up-to-the-minute news, and people with similar interests. I don’t like how the internet facilitates bullying and harassment and allows people to anonymously write rude, demeaning, sexist, homophobic, racist, classist, abelist comments to news stories and articles and in messages to people who have their contact info online.
I expect when my book on street harassment comes out in a few months I’ll receive a lot of hate mail and a slew of hateful comments that will make these “story submissions” look tame and sweet. Honestly, I’m dreading it.
I don’t know what these people want to accomplish by sending fake stories and calling me a bitch, but if it is to spur me on to continue speaking out against street harassment and sexual violence and providing people with a place to do so, then good, they are accomplishing their goal.
Street harassment and sexual violence impede women’s equality to men and limit their access to public spaces. Women too often are told to ignore such behavior or that it is complimentary or that it is their fault because of how they look or what they wear. Men who harass and assault are at fault. Men must stop. Our society must stop supporting aggression and violence and rape jokes and must take sexual harassment and violence seriously.
Share your (real) street harassment stories. How does street harassment make you feel? How does it impact your life? Help raise the societal consciousness that this is a widespread and unacceptable problem. Talk about it. And men, don’t harass.
Note: I’m home from work now and can see that the forum “men are better than women” (a site blocked at my office) encouraged people to send me fake stories. thanks guys. i’ve enjoyed reading your 9 stories (and counting).
Golden Silence says
These people (but in this case I feel it could be the same person, since the MO sounds the same) are powerless cowards, and they do this because they have no power in the world. They are useless, and the only way to make themselves feel good is to anonymously bully people.
Know that what you are doing is a good service to the world, and what these craven trolls are doing is worthless. You know you have my support.
male says
Disgusting.
Milky Pink says
I wonder what these sick people do for a living. It makes me sick what may be sitting next to me 🙁
Vi says
I’m sorry you got those emails! What a random, weird way for someone to spend their time, writing fake sexual assault stories. Let’s hope it isn’t someone who has been assaulted themselves that feels the need to make light of a tragic situation.
administrator says
thx for the support. @Vi good point about how survivors of assault may deal with it a range of ways, including through making light of it. i don’t get that impression from these stories, but you never know. also, i wasn’t clear, but two of the three fake stories from today did not discuss sexual assault.
BrokenJohnny says
This might explain the stories-
http://www.menarebetterthanwomen.com/forums/about11648.html
Assholes.
administrator says
@brokenjohnny thx for the link. i’m blocked from the website @ work but i’ll look at it when i go home.
Emily R. says
what awful human beings. i’m so glad that you do the work you do and give voice to others whose stories might not otherwise be heard. but i’m sorry you have to deal with these jerks.
and i think what frustrates me most is that i personally have no idea how to respond to misogyny like that, just the pure hatred of women. there’s no point in engaging them, and there’s no hope in reaching common ground… and in the end, i end up wanting to forget i’m a pacifist and beat ’em to a pulp. which also doesn’t sound so productive 🙂
northporter says
Ignore the silly kids and their stories…. What I don’t like is the website. Young men are reading that garbage and they think that the writer is some kind of guru. It makes me sad. Hopefully some of the men that pass through that site will see what it really is.. crap.
northporter says
BTW… It’s not as if Stop Street Harassment is a blog about women beating men at everything… it’s about helping women AND men find support and tips on how to stay safe from criminals and crazy people in the street. Why would he attack here?
Gabby says
Wow…that forum is full of misogynistic freaks. I wonder what happened to them to make women hate them so much. Did they get rejected by a woman with a higher social status than them? Did they lose a wrestling match against a 90lb woman? I fear for the lives of the women stuck in the lives of these wannabe/future rapists.
(Part of me wonders if they hate women so much, they must like men instead! Nothing wrong with that, just admit it, boys.)
Mark says
Yeah, I suspect these guys are just like the Neo Nazi who decided to start shooting at the holocaust museum. That guy was a pathetic excuse for a human being and what did he do? Blame his problems on “the jews” (and undoubtedly every other minority he could find in an encyclopedia). Some trolls are really just entertained by causing a ruckus. These guys aren’t “trolling” it doesn’t even look like they’re that familiar with how a computer works based on how pitiful their site looks. What they’re really doing is trying to psyche themselves up to do something stupid in the real world. Hopefully the Feds will start paying as much attention to the forums of these domestic terrorists as they do Al-Qaida.
Golden Silence says
I do wish there were a way to monitor certain people more carefully. George Sodoni was a misogynist who blogged garbage about how he was a “nice guy” and why women didn’t like him, and ended up on a shooting rampage killing a few women then himself. These people really need to be watched.
Kat says
Let them have their jokes. It makes them feel like, ‘big, strong men’ to write poorly written emails with grammatical mistakes. They would never argue intelligently in real life which makes them feel frustrated, which is understandable. So what better way to release those bad feelings but to anonymously send emails to a relatively decent sized blog while safely tucked in their basements, behind a computer screen.
They are too busy putting down their own members when one says something of intelligence, giving an individual article (ONE article obviously proves it all right?) and ranting. I’m sure the Milky Pink must feel so adventurous for commenting on this blog too. Maybe his friends will give him cyber high-fives? It’s a shame they had to start fighting between each other at the end of that forum post (that BrokenJohnny posted up) because there is a person on that forum with the same name, one accusing the other of childish games (yet sending emails anonymously isn’t?)
I hope they never reproduce. And they should watch out, a certain trusted, new member of their group might just be on our side.