The rape threats and racism are vile. But women won’t be trolled into silence
Afua Hirsch
The – correct at least – definition of what you’re not allowed to do is limit the rights of others to do as they wish by your doing as you wish. Women will not be prevented from speaking out by trolling. Therefore we’ve no nee to police nor ban trolling, do we?
Take the feminist writer Laurie Penny, who writes in her latest book, Bitch Doctrine, that “over the years, I’ve been attacked with such relentless spleen that I have become more timid with my heart when I sit down to pour it on the page”
So every cloud has a silver lining then.
I for one do not believe any woman has ever received a single rape threat on the internet. Not ever. Or if they did, I bet it was another woman who sent it. This is just more proof of the hysteria of the modern left.
Off topic but the next article recommended to me on the Guardian is about Einstein:
You know, I am warming to the man already. The irony is that the Guardian is pretty much committed to this idea, just not as honestly.
Is just that she claims to speak for *all* women or is it that she claims the right to dictate the behaviour of all women?
‘That the MP Jess Phillips received hundreds of rape threats in one night is a sickening reminder of the overwhelming consequences of having a voice’
A. I don’t believe it. SMFS is right.
B. Having a voice brings consequences. Duh. She demands to say whatever she wants without consequence ?!?!
C. She doesn’t know what ‘troll’ means. Idiot.
“I for one do not believe any woman has ever received a single rape threat on the internet.”
Depends on what you mean by “rape threat”, SMfS. There’s quite a few women, one might say about them “They could do with a damned good fuck” But that’s meant not so much as a threat as an appeal to charity.
Anybody who sends threats of rape or violence over social media is a complete tool, as well as being criminally nasty. But having listened to the vile stuff that Jewish MPs get bombarded with, I can believe other women getting rape threats too.
Yes, it’s 99% probably just trolling, but the psychological effect of that 1% off-chance somebody means they will attack you or your family will be disproportionate to its probability.
A threat should still be criminal in a way that a mere insult should not be.
I’ve been attacked with such relentless spleen that I have become more timid with my heart when I sit down to pour it on the page
Hardly. What happens is Laurie writes something like “All men are trash! There, I said it!” and gets 2,000 responses ranging from very polite to completely unhinged. She takes the worst 2 or 3 and parades them around as being “typical” of the abuse she gets “for daring to be a woman on the internet”. It’s a tactic that works well, presumably because there are a lot of dumb, gullible feminists around.
@ Tim Newman & SMFS
What heart?
‘That the MP Jess Phillips received hundreds of rape threats in one night is a sickening reminder of the overwhelming consequences of having a voice’
Perhaps Ms Hirsch will show us a copy of the police report so we will know she isn’t an opportunistic liar.
MyBurningEars – “Anybody who sends threats of rape or violence over social media is a complete tool, as well as being criminally nasty. But having listened to the vile stuff that Jewish MPs get bombarded with, I can believe other women getting rape threats too.”
Well I don’t believe Jewish MPs ever get threats either. Well that is not quite true. In both cases the problem with Twitter is that you are freely available to everyone in the community. Anyone can talk to you. That means a lot of Care in the Community cases too. Does that mean this sort of thing is normal or representative? Of course not.
The Jewish community, like the feminist community, needs to believe they are surrounded by hate. It is necessary for their world-view. Feminists would have to admit they were deeply unhappy people if they did not think they were surrounded by rapists. And Jews would assimilate if they did not think everyone else was a Cossack waiting to get them. So the dominant tone is paranoid hysterical melodrama,
In reality most people – and by most I mean all but a trivial number – are perfectly nice people who do not intend to rape anyone much less launch a pogrom.
And you can see this by the simple fact – how many feminists have been raped because of something they said on Twitter? When was the last time a Jewish MP was killed by a crazed loon? You could argue that Jo Cox falls into this category, sort of, but the fact we have so many MPs and their lives are so safe proves that threats on the internet are irrelevant.
But it works. It has worked for the Jewish community for a long time. It works for the feminists.