Men’s Rights Activists Greet Adria Richards’ Firing with Cheers, Gendered Slurs
And so the Internet has found a new woman to hate. Most of you are probably already familiar with the Adria Richards debacle that’s developed over the past several days. If not, Jill at Feministe has a good summary of events:
Adria Richards, formerly of the company SendGrid, was at a tech conference this week when some dudes behind her made a series of inappropriate and sexual jokes. Annoyed by the pervasiveness of misogyny in the tech world, she snapped a photo of them and put in on Twitter with a complaint. One of the conference organizers spoke to the men and they apologized. Totally reasonable! Good response, PyCon. Later, one of the dudes got fired. Instead of getting mad at the company that made the choice to fire him, the internet hordes descended on Adria. She was on the receiving end of rape and death threats. Her address and phone number were published. Her blog and her company’s website came under DDoS attack. Oh and then her company, SendGrid, fired her.
Like Jill, I think firing someone for a “dongle” joke is an overreaction, to say the least. But Richards wasn’t responsible for that; indeed, she told the fired man she hoped his employer would reconsider and take him back.
SendGrid’s firing of Richards is far more problematic. It’s one thing to get in trouble for acting like a sexist boor; it’s quite another to get in trouble for simply pointing out someone else’s problematic behavior. Richards faced a virtual lynch mob for simply documenting an example of the everyday sexism that permeates the tech world; by firing her, SendGrid essentially sided with the mob.
Is “lynch mob” an unfair term to describe those who’ve gone after Richards? No. In this context, the term is sadly apropos, as the target of all this online “activism” is not only female but black – two strikes against her in the minds of many of her, er, “critics,” who attacked her as a “fucking nigger” as well as a “cunt.” (The more genteel racists referred to her derisively as a “diversity hire.”)
Numerous commenters have already documented some of the appallingly racist and misogynist attacks on Richards. (The links in the above paragraph contain plenty of examples.)
Here, I’d like to focus specifically on the attacks on Richards coming from Men’s Rights activists – that is, from people who like to think of themselves as upstanding human rights activists for the 21st century, virtual equivalents of Martin Luther King. In fact, many of the reactions of MRAs show them to have far more in common with the bigots who fought against the civil rights movement than they do with King.
In the Men’s Rights subreddit, the MRA masses gave more than one hundred upvotes to a graphic describing Richards as a “racist, sexist and hypocritical cunt.” Evidently pointing out that white men as a class have certain advantages in the world is a kind of “racism.”
Elsewhere in the subreddit, aasorted commenters indulged themselves in gendered slurs. Greyfeld got dozens up upvotes for comments denouncing Richards as a “feminist cunt” and a “screeching harpy cunt.” DerpaNerb described Richards as “a racist/sexist cunt [who’s] clearly … not capable of doing her job properly.” Buster2209 scored 160 upvotes with a comment describing Richards as a “stupid bitch [who] brought it on herself.” Cyridius simply declared “I hate her because she’s a dumb ignorant bitch.”
Others happily gave the Men’s Rights movement credit for Richards’ firing. The execrable EvilPundit got 180 upvotes for a post essentially endorsing the virtual lynch mob and declaring Richards’ firing to be proof that the Men’s Rights movement had entered a “new phase.”
Sorry to burst your bubble, Mr. Pundit, but there’s nothing new about men harassing and threatening a black woman.
AnnArchist – a former contributor to Reddit’s now-banned Beating Women subreddit — reacted with indignation to someone who pointed out Richards had been harassed:
Over on A Voice for Men, where the locals describe themselves with no sense of irony as Men’s Human Rights Activists, there was much rejoicing over the firing of Richards, who was variously described as an “entitled bitch,” a “sociopathic bitch,” a “femshit” and a “bush pig.” Naturally, the c-word, applied to all feminists, made an appearance as well.
Daflory hoped that Richards’ firing would be the start of an industry-wide purge:
Adria Richards seems like an entitled narcissist, who had become used to deference as a moral authority through her impeccable credentials as a diversity goddess: black, Jewish, and female. …
No one ever told Adria Richards that she was at best only an tolerated guest in the world of tech, and she could either play by male rules and contribute, or get lost. Hopefully other feminists in tech will get a similar message.
And August Løvenskiolds’ mind went straight to the gutter:
[A]fter being outed as a betrayer of her customers, none of them will want to work with her, and any tech company that hires her will instantly lose credibility.
She’s going to be hard-pressed to find a job as a sex-worker unless the light is quite dim.
Taking a step back from the particulars of the incident, Mark Trueblood wondered if a man strike might help to put things right once again:
I’m pretty sure Amnesty International doesn’t exactly endorse this sort of “human rights” activism.
Posted on March 22, 2013, in a voice for men, a woman is always to blame, advocacy of violence, antifeminism, douchebaggery, dozens of upvotes, harassment, hate, hundreds of upvotes, misogyny, MRA, no girls allowed, oppressed white men, racism, reactionary bullshit, reddit, taking pleasure in women's pain, the c-word and tagged adria richards, antifeminism, feminism, harassment, men's rights, misogyny, MRA, racism. Bookmark the permalink. 498 Comments.
Why am I not surprised that your douchey progenitor is a lousy son as well as parent … :(
Niters, sleep well!
Wow, you jackasses are even worse than SRS. Thomas R was the only one who posted a semi-reasonable reply here and you all gang up on him with cheap insults while addressing none of his points. You give feminism a bad name. I guess this is where being part of an autistic self-congratulatory 24/7 circlejerk gets you.
Thomas: But now that I’ve written a few polite (!) sentences, I finally realized it:
You are bullies. I just didn’t see it before because you were bullying those who had it coming.
Uh-hunh. You flip-flop on the sexual inuenndo, claim to have been a long time reader; and so aware of local practice, and agree that lots of people “have it coming” but you said all you said and thought what… that you were special?
That somehow your first comment being of a sort that routinely gets smacked down would be difference because?
Oh right, you are special.
Maybe it’s just that you joined the ranks of those who need to be smacked down.
I just can’t imagine how you can read those things into what I have written. I am not interested in being subject to such childish tantrums.
Really? And you pretend to be a long time reader of comments? Because you shouldn’t need to imagine it. This very discussion has been had a half dozen times in the past few days.
Seriously, I’m done with this. I was interested in a conversation between adults.
No, you weren’t. If you were, you wouldn’t have gotten all sniffy at someone being short with you for making a problematic statement. I think you wanted to take offense, and paint the “feminists” as nasty harpies.
Yet they still pretend not to be misogynist. Also, nice to see this was named “donglegate”, what with Watson still receiving harassment, almost 2 years after her reasonable video.
Yeah…I really don’t think tweeting someone’s photo was an appropriate reaction to overhearing them make some dumb sex jokes, and I’m normally on the other side in these kind of debates. Obviously the MRA comments are hideous as always, but I do think her original behaviour was pretty awful. She did get him fired, the same way emailing a video of him being drunk and rowdy to his boss might have got him fired, even though it would be unrelated to his actual job.
yeahright do you know what the word autistic means?, Because while the rest of your comment was just stupid that was completely out of place.
Shorter yeahright – Wah!
When, from her blog posts, this was more than just “heehee, dongle”. The whole Rebecca Watson thing – I’ve been following it since the beginning and it’s just disgusting.
JohnH – I think the troll was trying to call us autistic? Because we notice and care about the feelings of others? Usually they go for “overemotional”.
Abi, she did not get him fired. His employer chose to fire him. You might take note of the fact that the other guy, who was employed by the same company, still has his job.
That’s strange. That either implies that the forking joke was over the line but the dongle one wasn’t (or was it the other way around?), or that something else is going on here.
Obviously, I have no proof, but it’s likely that the guy who got fired had other strikes against him, because who fires someone for being a dipshit at a con ? (My techie husband assures me they are full of drunk idiots) (and/or the guy who didn’t get fired had some pull with upper management).
I can’t find the link now, but in the huge Pharyngula thread about this issue, someone linked to the company stating that they fired their employee for “multiple reasons,” which to me indicates as lumi suggests above — that particular guy already had strikes against him.
My two cents! Yay! This was a professional conference, correct? So two men, at said conference, decided to act like no-manners, low class, crass white trash jerks…and it’s the woman’s fault, one woman. These individuals, I’m guessing, were all chosen to represent their companies at this conference. The men were, in hindsight, chosen poorly. None of them deserved to be fired. Warned, yes, but fired? Now the companies look like douchebags, yes? Would I have reacted differently from the female? Probably. I was also raised to just ignore such crap, roll my eyes and move on. And later, during drinks, maybe join in with the white trash talk. It doesn’t matter what anyone wants to call this (sexist vs sexism I think is what Thomas tried to say) to me. It’s unprofessional. Period. Even during drinks.
Thomas, I’m a troll of sorts here. The rules have been explained multiple times by David and the commenters: they mock misogyny (sp?)/jackass behavior & thoughts/what they don’t agree with. It’s David’s site and he can do what he wants. I don’t agree with everything said here or every opinion etc. Knowing this I can decide to read, maybe see situations from others’ POV, maybe learn something about myself and learn to respect the opinions of others. Or I can take my ball and go. Simple, really. It’s been a test of patience some rare days but mostly not. (It sure beats the MRA bullshit) There are problems out there that I either don’t have names for or have different words for or worse, I was raised to see this as “normal” and don’t see a problem with it (?!wtf). Doesn’t change the fact that there are problems. The commenters here have insight that I don’t. I don’t always want my back patted with “oh, you’re so right!”. I’d rather speak my thoughts as they are and get feedback. I don’t have to believe or change my opinions. I just have to be willing to listen.
Thanks for the cute vids. I’m going to take the risk and request notify of comments. Hoping I don’t see 800 or more. That was a hellofashock and a bitch to delete.
Off-topic: Does anyone else melt down when they can’t remember where they put their glasses? My vision isn’t even that bad, but I am not going to be comfortable until I find them.
lumi – yeah, I do. And I’ve several pairs, so it’s not like I’m going to be stuck if I can’t find a particular one!
Tina – I’ve never seen you as a troll.
Let’s go ahead and stipulate for the sake of the argument that the jokes these two were making were horribly, horribly offensive, even though they weren’t. It’s times like these when we need to recall the wisdom of Fran: “Being offended is the natural consequence of leaving one’s home. I do not like after shave lotion, adults who roller skate, children who speak French, or anyone who is unduly tan. I do not, however, go around enacting legislation and putting up signs.” It’s pretty simple really: can’t handle being offended? Stay home. The world does not owe you a life free of friction. At the same time, sure, the same principle applies if you want to screech and post up on twitter how terribly offensive these two guys are who are joking between themselves: certainly, you’re free to do so. But don’t expect reasonable people to think that somehow there is an equivalence between two guys making somewhat off color jokes and someone then engaging in an effort in widespread social humiliation to quiet them down. The former are, at worst, mildly disruptive. The latter is, at least, a quasi authoritarian/fascist. This woman has an authoritarian/fascist personality, auite clearly.
“Good people of ManBoobz” makes us sound like our own country or something. And I am totally okay with this :D
You gotta love the reasoning behind this whole thing.
Two guys make public comments that are unprofessional, disgusting, and make people feel extremely uncomfortable: “FREE SPEECH! Why is anyone even paying attention to what these guys were saying? They’re allowed to talk, and if anyone’s hurt by their comments, too bad.”
One woman publicly comments on what aforementioned guys said: “HOW DARE YOU?! Don’t you know your words can have consequences?!”
Also, who else thinks Adria would be getting the exact same treatment if absolutely nothing had happened to the guys?
Thanks, Kitteh.
lumi: yeah, keys glasses checkbook important paperwork insurance cards. If I don’t have a designated, constantly used basket/folder/drawer for important stuff and I leave my keys in my purse or coat pocket/my glasses in the basement/by the computer/my wedding rings on the dresser…I am not a happy camper.
Did you not notice that she filed the complaint as sexual harassment?
What did you think his employer was going to do?
faith in humanity still falling…
sigh, more ableism. I hope somebody linked this guy to the last thread we were talking about it, I don’t feel the need to repeat myself.
@hellkell
enjoy your time off, and internet hugs from me if you want them.
I’d like to know this one too. All the shit she’s had thrown at her…I’d like to do something. Gah. idk what though
ten dollars says he actually hasn’t been reading it for a while. Nice* to see one of those ‘prove me wrong’ trolls. Sorry bub, but you don’t get to tell us how to react to your ableism, especially when some of the comenters here may be ‘crazies’.
*I lied. It’s not nice.
ow. ow. ow. I facepalmed so hard it hurt.
@Podkayne
ew. Sorry you have to meet those disgusting assholes. Also, cue my reaction: so if men can’t/won’t control themselves, are you suggesting we lock them all up?
@nopestories
Seriously, trolls. We just had the ableism talk. At least chose a new shit spouting point. You guys are boring, and totally unoriginal.
Dang, I’ve been calling you Argenit Aertheri this whole time ;) So…hehe…hopefully I’m not bugging you. Though I’ll switch if you so desire. :)
@yeahright
yeah, I was really impressed with his ableism /sarcasm. Oh, and yours. I somehow missed that first time reading your comment.
@abi
but…he was acting that way on his job. It actually was what he was doing on it. Like, seriously? Idk if firing him was ‘over reacting’ but she basically tweeted about what he was doing at work
@lumi
If I need to go somewhere. If I’m sitting at my computer/drawing I don’t really need them. But I need them for going outside. My visions pretty bad though ;) I don’t remember what order the numbers go, but with my left eye what someone with good eyes can see at 50 feet I see at 20, and w/ my right what good eyes see at 200 feet I see at 20. :P So not very good.
Huh. My comment is on moderation and I have not the faintest idea why. Ohwell, trust me, I actually responded to what people said, but it’s stuck :P
Nvm, quoted someone w/ slurs. Now I realize. Sorry for spamming here…
Completely ot : I’m at the hospital with a very suicidal friend. My heart hurts.
Oh WeeBoy, I’m so sorry to hear that.
Internet hugs and metaphorical baked goods for you and your friend.
@weeboy
Gah. I’m sorry. Internet hugs for you and your friend if you want them.
How’s it going, David?
I’m really interested to know your reaction to this blog from a woman working in tech. –
http://darkedragonfly.com/knee-jerk-reaction/
She’s expressing concern about the same thing I’m speculating about. That is, men feeling it’s not safe or proper to socialize with women anymore. I was clearly not advocating this eventuality as activism, I was offering it as a thought experiment.
I’m sure you’ll find some novel ways to spin my words and incite selective outrage for lulz, but I have wonderful male and female friends and collaborators. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Abi: She did get him fired, the same way emailing a video of him being drunk and rowdy to his boss might have got him fired, even though it would be unrelated to his actual job.
No. She didn’t. She didn’t send it to his boss. She talked about it with someone else. And someone else took it to his boss. His boss chose to fire him. You are, in effect, saying she has no right to talk about things which bother her; because someone else must suffer. So she must suffer in silence, even if that means others too must suffer, so that the person making her suffer is free of repercussion.
Now, Anonymous did get her fired. They specifically attacked her company to make that happen. I don’t see you declaiming they were wrong.
Some sense of justice there.
Tina: I don’t think any of us is in accord with everyone here all the time. I know that I’m not. As you say what makes the difference between “troll” and not, is attitude. Trolls don’t accept that anyone else might be right.
WeeBoy, hugs.
“Good people of ManBoobz” makes us sound like our own country or something
Don’t we have our own island? :)
Off-topic: Does anyone else melt down when they can’t remember where they put their glasses?
I probably would, if I could put my glasses down for things other than sleeping, showering and going to the bathroom in the middle of the night. It’s easy to remember where they are when they are on my face most of the time. :)
@WeeBoy Internet hugs from me and internet kisses from the real beagle, only if you want them of course. Have some Cheesecake:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/daniheckman/this-is-cheesecake-the-capybara-who-adopts-orphan-7w57
All of the HUGS to WeeBoy and his friend. We love you both.
re:glasses
Amusing story, once I spent the better part of the morning freaking out and trying to find my glasses because I put them in the top drawer of my dresser for some reason :P Yeah, I felt kind of silly after that.
@Tina
So, these are two expressions that I really hate. “Low class” as an insult is derived from the idea that those with money have better social graces/ are better in general*. Ditto for white trash. Much like with using “crazy”, it’s a way to distance a behaviour (usually racism and sexism) from one’s own group and foist it off as an already marginalised group’s problem.
Also, while I’ve disagreed with some of the things you’ve written, you’ve never come off as a troll AFAIC.
@Weeboy
I’m so sorry man
Also, I am continually shocked when people comment on this site and then get FEELS when they are smacked down for ableism/racism/sexism/whathaveyou. This is a site that is in the regular habit of calling regulars to task when they are being fools (and of course, the whole point of why we are here is to make mincemeat out of trolls). NOBODY is exempt here, which I love.
If you want a site where people are going to hold your hand and guard your feelings at the expense of you not learning more about social justice, then it’s PAINFULLY clear that this is not the place for you.
I forgot, the asterisk was there because I wanted to add that I don’t feel that “no class” has the same marginalising connotation, but I could be wrong.
@Shadow- Yes, this. There is no correlation between how much money you have/ educational opportunities/ class and your ability to not be an asshole. As the recent presidential election/ rapey misogynistic senators has demonstrated in abundance.
@M Dubz
I love that too. I suppose the downside is that you (general) feel kind of bad when people call you out on shit, though Imo I want to know if I’m making an ass out of myself, even if it hurts. It just feels so much better than having to bite my tongue and debate whether I want to get into a fight cuz someone’s being an ass, like more internet sites. Or non-internet. Gah, I had a bad night at my dad’s fiance’s house, which I’m probably mentioning every thread here. Anyway, yes. This site= good.
Also, in regards to the original post, I feel like there could be so many other interesting conversations the internet could have. For example, the line between private and public on the internet, and how that relates to someone’s professional life. But no, we have to have that same old boring “BITCHEZZZZ AINT SHIT.” People are often boring as well as awful.
@ Marie- BOO on having a bad night. I hope today is better!
@m dubz
Thanks :) Me too. I’m going shopping with my mom, my old boots are falling apart and I can afford to get some new ones, cuz job! :D Related-ish, does anyone know if David still needs donations, or should I just email him? I said I’d donate when I had money and that is now.
Our movement is growing. You are not going to snap your fingers and get two men fired and not face repercussions. We will boycott all anti-male companies. We will call you out on your hypocrisy of posting anti-male garbage on the internet.
@M Dubz
Exactly. It’s also been my experience that a lot of otherwise social justice types seem to get some block when it comes to how problematic “white trash” is, just because the targets are White. It’s been an endless source of annoyance for me.
“NOBODY is exempt here”.
Except for cats. Cats do whatever the fuck they want.
@WeeBoy, So sorry to hear this. Glad you can be there for your friend. Jedi hugs if they’re wanted.
This ‘backlash’ towards Richards is definitely unjustified; she shouldn’t have to keep silent about her discomfort. However, I believe the reason why SendGrid fired him in the first place wasn’t just because of his sexist joke – it was because her picture (that she posted publicly without their permission, BTW) created such a PR flurry from which the company wanted to distance ASAP. Using the photo to identify and report these people was fine. Posting it online was an immature and irresponsible reaction.
If she really wanted to speak out, why couldn’t she turn around and reprimand them on the spot, or call security first? Then if they persisted, she could’ve blasted them however she wanted.
And yeah, the classism inherent in the “white trash” epithet has always bothered me too. As well as the dehumanization. I’d appreciate it if people could drop that. 0_0
And again… A black woman is getting rape/death threats posted against her, with her contact information posted online; openly racist/sexist comments are getting a favorable response on “human rights” sites. But for some people, the REAL issue is that she tweeted something. Yeah, let’s focus on that, because she must have done something to deserve it, right?
/intense sarcasm
Laight Tempest: Using the photo to identify and report these people was fine. Posting it online was an immature and irresponsible reaction.
If she really wanted to speak out, why couldn’t she turn around and reprimand them on the spot, or call security first? Then if they persisted, she could’ve blasted them however she wanted.
I don’t think so. If she’d done that she’d have been an “idealogue” who wouldn’t accept the response of whomever she handed it off to. Then it would have been, “she’s such a vindictive bitch”.
Google, “readercon” for some examples of how that plays out.
What drives me spare about this is these two assholes made a choice to violate the code of conduct at the conference and there were consequences. But somehow their choice to do that is the fault of the woman. Grrr.
I mean, look what happened to Rebecca Watson. She didn’t post a picture, or publicly identify the dude. Same fucking response: harassment, threats.
The only way NOT to be attacked by misogynists is not to speak out. Except that doesn’t really work either.
@LaightTempest – Why should she? Why is she obligated to behave in a certain way when the two assholes in question were the ones breaking the rules? Why is it incumbent on her to be patient and tolerant of two people doing something wrong first before getting more serious about it? Why do you believe she should’ve gotten into a confrontation with these two guys and possibly risked her personal safety rather than taking the safest option?
Could it possibly be that you don’t want to admit these two assholes are assholes, because you’ve done worse shit, so you’re trying to make it her fault rather than yours?
@neuroticbeagle- well yeah, that goes without saying.
@Weeboy
That sucks. Hugs if you want them.
As you can tell, what really flipped my anger switch about Mr Politeness was the dismissal of all the worst the internet had thrown at Ms Richards. For me it reflects the the commentators on Steubenville who say “Well, of course we all agree that rapists are horrendous” before going on about how these athletes have “had their lives ruined”. The oh so polite repositioning of the conversation from the things they don’t want to examine onto safe ground.
Wee-boy – how are you holding up? Sending you jedi hugs if you’d like them.
@Laight- The conference Code of Conduct puts a great degree of emphasis on reporting inappropriate incidents to the conference staff. In that moment, twitter is a fast and easy way to do the reporting. I’m disturbed at the outward spiraling ramifications of that reporting, and I think it speaks to the danger of the internet, in which comments that are meant to be internal can be viewed by the whole world. That being said, the issue is that assholes are harassing this woman and her job is more interested in distancing itself from bad publicity than from protecting its employee.
Shorter nopestories : ThomasR got all the attention, by being ableist. Mummy, Mummy, look at me, LOOK AT ME!
Shorter nopestories : ThomasR got all the attention, by being ableist. Mummy, Mummy, look at me, LOOK AT ME!
*edited to avoid moderation
@pecunium: As someone who doesn’t frequent a lot of these conventions (or any, actually), I didn’t realize a lot of these situations were handled so poorly and understand why she did what she had to do. I still think she needed to pay for the consequences for how she handled it (not by being fired, though). This doesn’t change the fact that by not giving them a chance to correct themselves and humiliating them on the internet – where everyone other than the PyCon/SendGrid staff would react for themselves – she turned this into a huge PR issue that her company wanted to avoid at all costs. What would you do in this day if you were a company? No one wants to deal with a potential major sexual harassment case.
Hey, I just wanted to say in Thomas R’s “defense” (and it is probably not really my place since I never really commented here and am probably stating the obvious) that I think he just didn’t mean anything by it. People try to be reasonable by finding fault with both sides and don’t realize that these arguments are a) used to defend the attackers and b) that when people get threatened it is not the time anymore (especially in a thread like this) to discuss how Richards should have reacted.
I think the people here get arguments like that all the time and are just tired of discussing over and over why arguments like these are counterproductive.
I get it, I used to fall for that all the time and wondered why others would react the way they did(I still fall for it, I just don’t wonder anymore), but many people just aren’t used to this way of thinking, so I just thought it needed to be explained.
I hope I will get some feedback on this, I’m really just trying out right now :)
“She needed to pay for the consequences for how she handled it?”
What does this even mean? She took action within the boundaries of the conference – tweeting at the org using the hashtag. They were removed from the panel. That one of them was fired isn’t her fault. This is a really bizarre mentality. If I ask you to leave my office so I can get some work done, and you’re hit by a bus while going to your car, that’s not my fault. Every downstream event after an action isn’t the fault of the original actor.
Personally, I’ve seen and made complaints about some very inappropriate behavior at conferences (including being told, myself, to take off my clothes or to sit in some guy’s lap). The people in those situations are still employed at the employers with whom they were working when they did the behavior. If I were to make a complaint, I would assume the person against whom I’m making a complaint would get a slap on the wrist, not be fired. I would think this because the what occurred in the past usually has some bearing on what occurs in the future. It’s a pretty bleak situation for those of us in technical fields.
@weeboy – I’m so sorry to hear that. Hugs if you want them, and I wish you and your friend healing and solace.
@reginaldgriswold: Like I said, she forced these guys into public scrutiny and the company to make a rash choice regarding their public image, rather than focusing on just the character of their staff. I’m sorry for the abuse you had to face in the workplace, but just because you assume they wouldn’t get fired doesn’t mean anything. For example, do you think this blogger anticipated his getting fired for his comment – however wrong and petty it was – to Felicia Day? http://geekout.blogs.cnn.com/2012/07/02/its-probably-not-wise-to-be-a-jerk-to-felicia-day/
TomBCat, To focus on the fact that she tweeted something when the post is about the threats of violence and the sexist and racist slurs being hurled gleefully at the tweeter… Well, that is the wrong focus. And then to react with a childish snit when called out? If Thomas R wants to have an adult conversation, he’s not going about it very well.
Same basic comment goes for LaightTempest, by the way. Also, there were two guys making jokes there, only one of whom got fired. Makes me think this was probably more in the nature of “the last straw” for his employer, because if they were just concerned about PR they would have fired them both.
Again, how is this different from what happened to Rebecca Watson, who DID NOT NAME OR IDENTIFY THE PERSON WHOSE BEHAVIOR SHE CRITICIZED? She got the same reaction, minus the racism. Can you see why we’re focusing on that, rather than focusing on the means Adria used to communicate her criticism?
My sister’s getting into town soon, so I’ll leave you guys to it. More hugs to WeeBoy.
Sorry LaightTempest, let’s go back to the part where you glossed over a person getting rape and death threats and being fired for saying something publicly needed to ‘pay the consequences’.
She said something on Twitter about people breaking work rules and making her job harder than it should be.
Why the fuck is everyone siding with the two risible wankers and ignoring THE RAPE AND DEATH THREATS she is getting? I don’t actually fucking care what she did to be honest, she could have painted her fucking arse bright blue and wiggled it in their faces, she still wouldn’t deserve RAPE AND DEATH THREATS.
Ugh! Every fucking place I go that even so much as hints at this story has the “she deserves it how dare she” assholes all over the place.
Dude, thirteen year olds understand sexual innuendo. I’m pretty damn sure that a full grown woman does too. Also, kids as young as five know full well what’s considered acceptable behavior dependant of where they are. Why is this point even being argued over?
Oh, I know. Its because this story is just close enough to the “that bitch said something to human resources, and just her say so totally got this completely innocent man fired” myth. We’ll just overlook the part where the woman involved did nothing of the sort.
Where the fuck is all the moral outrage when asshats film women to brag about their flirting? Or get upskirt pics of unsuspecting women and girls? Or post the sexytime pics of former girfriends who broke up with them? That’s right, nothing to see here.
Not one person frothed at the mouth about the pics distributed of the Stuebanville rape victim. But two guys, fully clothed and aware that a photo was being taken suddenly becomes a moral outrage worthy of death and rape threats.
So let’s turn this around shall we? Why didn’t those two men stand up for themselves and ask that the photo not be taken? Clearly they didn’t mind at the time right? Surely everyone knows that when pics are taken that you never know what the other person might do with them right? I mean, what were these two guys thinking, letting someone take their photo? I mean, there must be more of a story here, something that we aren’t being told that drove the woman to post those pics in a humilliating way right?
Also LaightTempest, no, I don’t think that dude anticipated being fired for putting out a rude tweet about Felicia Day. But what does that have to do with anything? If you’re trying to say that people should be careful on what they post on Twitter if their workplace takes offence to it, yeah, that might be a consideration for people (whether it should be is a whole other discussion), but they didn’t fire her for sending a tweet, they fired her because a load of fucking racist sexist pieces of shit threatened them if they didn’t. See the difference?
@Argenti You know, that’s actually good to hear. I’m a pharmacy technician rather than a pharmacist, but my experience of listening to both pharmacists and other pharm techs on any social issue has been largely negative (triple that when health, especially mental health, is the topic). But as long as teams are so small (I rarely work with more than one pharmacist and SOMETIMES one other pharm tech at a time) I have a huge incentive to walk away from potential fights, because I don’t want every work day to be a battlefield, and I don’t want bosses to know me as that girl who is always hostile to her coworkers. So I walk around stores a lot.
Rebecca Watson’s case is actually really good comparison in another way; soon after Elevatorgate, she replied in a panel to an argument that was made on the internet by Steph McGraw. That became the excuse to deflect all criticism away from the irrational amount of hate of Elevatorgate, by claiming that the argument did in fact have a cause that was all Rebecca’s Fault.
A lot of folks want to hate her. They will seek out any excuse, no matter how minor, to act as a justification for that hate.
Ultimately, if you think a victim of a massive campaign deserves “consequences” you should back up and think exactly what those consequences SHOULD have been, and whether they get applied equally. It helps to clarify the level of irrational hate that is piled on, and with any luck, should help you place the scorn where it should be; i;.e. a culture who thinks a campaign of harassment and DDoS attacks is in any way appropriate to calling out someone publicly for being a dick.