Canadian feminist activist receives death threats and other abuse after being targeted by Men’s Rights Activists
And so the MRAs have found yet another woman to hate.
Earlier this month, as many of you no doubt know, a Men’s Rights group sponsored a lecture at the University of Toronto. The event drew protesters, and the protesters drew MRAs with video cameras. One of the MRAs filmed a confrontation between a red-haired feminist activist and a number of MRAs who continually interrupted her as she tried to read a brief statement.
Her crime? She wasn’t exactly polite in responding to the interrupters. And so, after video of the confrontation was uploaded to YouTube, and linked to on the Men’s Rights subreddit and elsewhere, she became a virtual punching bag for the angry misogynists of the internet.
A Voice for Men, naturally, led the charge, running an article by Canadian MRA Dan Perrins labeling her “Little red frothing fornication mouth” and commenting on her breasts. The Amazing Atheist weighed in with a video I couldn’t bring myself to even watch.
Since being targeted by angry YouTube misogynists and MRAs, the red-haired activist has received death threats, rape threats and literally hundreds of other hateful and harassing messages. She’s also been “doxxed” — that is, she’s had her personal information plastered all over the internet, including on A Voice for Men’s forum. Ten days after being uploaded to YouTube, the video of her faceoff against the MRAs has garnered more than 300,000 views, and YouTubers are still leaving threats and insults and crude sexual comments.
This, apparently, is what “Men’s Human Rights Activism” consists of: the doxxing and harassment of individual women.
Several days ago, she contacted me to tell me about the harassment she’s endured. Here’s some of what she wrote:
I’m the red-head. I’m sure by now, you’re one of the 260,000 people who have seen the video of me … .
Because I had the audacity to tell a dude to stfu, an MRA no less, I have since been the target of not only just online misogyny (as if that’s a surprise) but cyber stalking, rape and death threats. They somehow found my facebook, they found my tumblr, they found a twitter acct that I don’t even use, they even found an old [dating site] profile of mine with outdated info …
I also got an anonymous message on tumblr that specifically said “[name deleted] would be disappointed”. [Name deleted] is my dog that died 1.5 years ago, I don’t talk about him on tumblr, nor fb, so they would have had to reaaaaalllly dig to find this info. …
In about 12-24hours, I got about400-500 new messages on my blog, most of them hate, which included rape and death threats, also people wishing death upon me or the typical troll “kill yourself” message. They made a meme of me.
I dunno how many haters I have, and I don’t know where they are. I can’t be sure at any given second, if I’m ever outside my house … if anyone is going to recognize me and try to hurt me.
With her permission, I am reposting screenshots she sent me documenting some of the harassment she’s endured. Even though her personal information has already been widely disseminated online, I don’t want to contribute to that, so I’ve whited out any information that might reveal her identity.
TRIGGER WARNING for what follows, for threatening language and crude sexual remarks.
Here’s a death threat she received from someone claiming to represent the “Islamic Brotherhood.”
Here are some sample comments from her Tumblr inbox. I’ve whited out comments and parts of comments that consist of her contact info, which being sent to her in an attempt to intimidate and frighten her by letting her know they “know where she lives.”
Here’s another threatening comment sent to her via Tumblr:
Here are some comments sent to her via her YouTube account. You’ll notice that the second comment comes from AVFM’s Dan Perrins, who is clearly relishing the attacks on her.
And another glimpse into her YouTube inbox:
Here’s a screenshot from a Men’s Rights forum revealing her personal information.
Meanwhile, over on YouTube, the hateful comments continue to pile up. Here are some of the nastiest ones I’ve collected. I am deliberately posting a lot of them in an attempt to convey something of the relentless nature of the attacks on teh red-haired activist — though I should note I’ve only gone through a small portion of the total comments there and this doesn’t even reflect all of the awful ones I found. These are not in any particular order. I threw in a few non-threatening ones that struck me as a tad ironic or otherwise revealing.
Again, this is only a small fraction of the abuse she’s gotten on YouTube.
This is what happens when MRAs and other misogynists target a woman online. The only thing that’s surprising here is the sheer amount of the hateful comments.
I’ve seen no serious attempts from any MRAs to rein in this sort of hatred. A Voice for Men has tried to distance itself in a superficial way from some of the harassment it has played a central role in unleashing, with an official announcement asking readers to refrain from posting the personal information of the red-haired activist in the comments. Meanwhile, in the AVFM forum, comments linking to her defunct dating profiles remain up.
This is what MRA “activism” looks like.
Coming tomorrow: A more detailed look at AVFM’s role in the harassment.
Posted on April 15, 2013, in a voice for men, antifeminism, atheism minus, gloating, harassment, hate, men who should not ever be with women ever, misogyny, MRA, not-quite-plausible deniability, penises, racism, rape culture, rape jokes, reddit, sexual harassment, taking pleasure in women's pain, the c-word, threats and tagged a voice for men, antifeminism, harassment, men's rights, misogyny, rape jokes, reddit, university of toronto. Bookmark the permalink. 2,101 Comments.
RE: Amatyultare
That just made the kids go @_@ and make goo-goo noises at it. Mega-adorable.
Holy crap! All the best to those who are worried about loved ones.
“(And sadly disappointed that the trolls can’t even shut up for a bombing.)”
I predict that it won’t take long before the MRAs are cheering that women have been hurt or killed in the Boston bombing.
Watching this unfold is frightening because DannyBMRA is putting money on the table he said in a tweet down for CAFE, so I feel like the MRA’s are going to end up running this campus group. It’s disturbing CAFE are not making a statement about this but I guess it suits their needs?
@ Kittehserf – That’s assuming that women have been hurt. If not, it’s clearly misandry.
True, Sir Bodsworth, true.
quote from cbsnews.com:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57579671/deadly-bombs-rock-boston-marathon/
“Boston Children’s Hospital told CBS News that they are treating 10 patients, including a 2-year-old-boy with a head injury and a 9-year-old girl with leg trauma.”
Female persons were definitely hurt.
In the snark mode, are 9-year-olds woman enough for MRAs to cheer for their injuries?
I feel like I keep reading Buntzum’s stream of consciousness and I need a translator, or maybe whatever drugs zie is on.
Thanks everyone! Afaik everyone I know here is ok, and I’m glad I had my phone on me at work because everyone was checking in when the news broke – I hate to think of my parents worrying all night.
We haven’t seen any 4-legged victims tonight, so that’s a little bit of good news.
I just keep thinking how the forum thread for Bostonian boozers calls us ‘BoMbz’. We’re gonna have to change that…
Starskita – “In the snark mode, are 9-year-olds woman enough for MRAs to cheer for their injuries?”
Unfortunately yes. :(
Yep. Remember it’s “men and boys” and “females”.
hellkell: “Doug: so women should just expect rape and death threats every time they speak up? FUCK YOU.”
No, they morally should not (note a threat involves an “I/he/she/we *will* or *shall* statement), because there exist several different forms of speaking up. However, if you go and protest at a CAFE event, you almost surely will get videotaped. If you behave in such a way as “BigRed” or other protestors have such as some at the Warren Farrell event, such a video will get put up on YouTube and that might result in you getting doxxed by someone, somewhere. Comment sections on the internet can’t get controlled, so strong invective probably will get directed at such a person by someone, somewhere. That’s the sort of environment these events exist in.
AVfM has NOT doxxed “BigRed” as they have other people that they have on register-her.com
I simply do NOT know why David Futrelle has made her information even more public here. I don’t know why David Futrelle has done something like doxxing of “BigRed” here.
Glad to hear that Boston-area Manboobzers and their relatives are ok (and so are the Boston-area Futrelles). But what an awful thing.
Thanks to those who emailed me with statements of support for the red-haired activist; I’m sending them along to her.
Also, I’m putting sexymaster on moderation for being an ass.
Doug, nobody cares. This is protesting disgusting behavior by the MRAs who think they can threaten and intimidate a woman into silence. And if all women acted like “Oh, well someone might threaten me so I’d better not say anything”, the MRAs would have what they want and all of us would be scared to fucking spit because of harrasment.
TL;DR: Fuck you.
@Marie
“I see now everyone has to avoid being videotaped to avoid getting death threats.”
No, I made no such claim. However, if you participate in such a high-profile event where you will get videotaped and act in a hateful way at the event, you probably will get a death threat. That’s the sort of environment these events exist in.
Doug, I’ve removed a couple of links that would allow people to find her info. One of those links was to the AVFM forum, BTW.
Other than that I have whited-out all identifying info, except her image. Everyone who watches the video knows what she looks like.
Doug: where did David dox her?
I see, she had it coming. You’re a piece of shit, you know that?
I made no such claim, I just implied that it’s the kind of thing people should expect because there’s no law to protect people from violent misogyny.
Nobody cares. She did not act in hateful way. From what Amatyultare said, it sounded like all she did was tell someone who was “what about teh menz?”ing to shut up.
Oh no, a woman told someone to shut up! Call the MRAs! Misandry!
Men send death and rape threats to someone: something to expect.
God forbid people try to change things, they should just be quite if they don’t want to have death threats hurled at them.
/translated from asshole.
fucking context asshole. It’s what you were implying.
Why do MRAs think death threats are acceptable, Dougie? Weren’t you assholes raised right?
Big Red isn’t being doxxed here. None of her personal info is being posted. What is being posted is the threats and hatemail she is receiving on ALL her social media and the fact that she is being harrassed. This is being done by David with her full knowledge and..wait for it…consent.
This is a space where she will be supported and is safe for her. Much like her social media accounts before misogynistic asshats that should tread on lego decided to attack her.
Please, spew more irrelevant ideas. We’ll take you more seriously that way, surely.
Let me correct you, Dougie. I have been attending demos for decades. Many of those were videotaped. I have been filmed by supporters of Apartheid in S. Africa, the Contras in Nicaragua, and by rabid anti-union folks at strikes and other labor events. None of them ever sent me death threats. So the real truth is, “If you participate in such a high-profile event filmed by MRAs, they will then do everything in their power to make sure you get threatened online. That’s how MRAs roll.”
There, that’s a little bit more accurate.
So Doug, you’re basically saying that if a feminist shows up at an event where there are MRAs and cameras, she should expect death threats?
I don’t know how much real-world activism you’ve ever engaged in, but getting hundreds of death threats is NOT a normal or regular thing for activists.
“No, they morally should not (note a threat involves an “I/he/she/we *will* or *shall* statement), because there exist several different forms of speaking up. However, if you go and protest at a CAFE event, you almost surely will get videotaped.”
So you’re shrugging it off. You’re talking as if being videotaped is just something that happens. It isn’t. It’s people doing something deliberately. You’re using exactly the same “argument” that’s thrown at women who are raped. “Oh, you shouldn’t go out at night/go to a pub/do anything at all, because you might get raped.” How about putting the blame for either action on the ones doing it? How about pointing the finger at the people who videotaped this and, more particularly, the men threatening to rape or kill her?
But nooo, your argument is really for women to be invisible and inaudible … for our own protection, of course.
please tell redhead if you know her that i support her. since what happened at the warren farrell protest i attended in november i’ve become much more fearful to go out at these things – i’m not even 16 yet. if i scream “shut up loser” at some camera shoved in my face instead of “yeah ok let’s have peaceful dialogue so your thug ass ‘men’s human rights movement’ posse can talk about my tits” i run the risk of having rape threats thrown at me and my address posted online.
and they have the gall to call us rude, out of line, awful, whatever you want. if they can name any time the commentariat here has let anyone hurl rape and death threats at anyone, enemy or otherwise, that’d be a remarkable fucking feat right there.
That’s the saddest excuse for a “high-profile event” I’ve ever seen.
And they wonder why people wore masks to the demo… If we don’t wear masks, we’re getting what we deserve. If we do wear masks, clearly we’re up to no good and … we get what we deserve?
Cassandra: these are people who generally can’t do meetups, events, debates, or anything other than smashing their keyboards.
Well of course being quiet and invisible is for our protection. Otherwise our whining and unhaaapiness might force our husbands or fathers to beat us! And we don’t really want to make them have to use all that effort do we?
@cheburashka
I’m so sorry to hear that you have to deal with that shit at such a age. I hope you are safe and will continue to be awesome. There should be more 15-year-olds like you.
I think we should make a bunch of Paul Elam/Col. Sanders & JohntheAngryOtter masks and send them to the folks in Toronto to wear at their next protest of the death-threat-condoning MRM’s event.
OK, trying really hard not to be inappropriately parental here, but young feminists who’re right in the age range that the creepiest MRAs sexually fixate on would maybe be better off not attending events where those guys will be present. I don’t in any way want to discourage young people from attending protests in general, but I don’t feel like teenage girls are safe around these guys at all.
At some of the union rallies I’ve attended, STFU would be considered moderate discourse. (Sometimes when you put peoples’ livelihoods on the line, things can get a little heated.)
Just another reminder that, in addition to being violent harassers, MRAs are also fragile little flowers who can’t stand cussing and unladylike behavior.
@cheburashka
Internet hugs if wanted. Idk if you feel the need, just offering just in case. Also, sorry if I’m making you self conscious, but glad to see more young manboobzers :D I’m 18 and I was feeling like everyone’s kid sister, don’t know how many other people here are under 20.
Pass on my support, from a male feminist. It sickens me that not only do these asshats get away with such vile harassment, but that they increasingly make it look like every man on the internet can think of no better way to spend their time than threatening people with rape and death. Likewise with the amazing atheist making other atheists look like shits by association. This piece by PZ Myers made me feel better though:
http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2012/02/08/the-not-so-amazing-atheist-self-immolates/
STFU would be relatively polite by the standards of the House of Commons, really. I mean, technically they don’t usually swear, but the overall tone is a lot more hostile and impolite.
The Boston bomb really shows why threats like this are so chilling.
1) People will randomly do terrible things for almost no reason. We all know this.
2) Therefore, if enough people tell you they want to do terrible things to you, and have the means to, they might decide to do it.
3) Therefore, terrible people who don’t want to die/go to prison/actually kill people threaten to do terrible things to shut people up. And it often works, but it isn’t a sign that you’ve “won”. It is a sign that you are a terrorist.
I’m 18 as well! I’m sure there are plenty of young folks here.
Whenever these guys say they’re not terrorists I feel like it’s not a political rebuttal they need so much as a dictionary.
@Aaliyah
Sweet! :D ::offers internet whipersnapper highfives::
New slogans for the MRM:
“The Men’s Rights Movement: Making Mouthy Women Fear for Their LIves since 2012.” (Maybe earlier?)
“The Men’s Rights Movement: Completely Indistinguishable from Terrorists.”
“The Men’s Rights Movement: Join Us if You Want to Make Women Suffer.”
And (paraphrasing Cliff’s classic): “Nice Gender You Got There. Be a Shame if Something Were to Happen to It.”
Sigh.
Delurking to send best wishes and safe spaces to redhead. While the topics here are awful, you guys are awesome. Here is some cuteness that I have used to ward off the sadness today: http://www.buzzfeed.com/summeranne/the-tiniest-fluffiest-black-kitten-is-not-sure-how-to-feel-a
I think they hate the fact that women can be rude and potty-mouthed, since that means that women don’t have to fear them.
So to MRAs, in solidarity with red-headed feminist:
Shut the fuck up, you fucking douche bags. You won’t know decency if it bit you on your fucking ass, and I will not shut up and I will not stop fighting for my rights. Go right to hell, assholes.
Don’t forget…
The Men’s Rights Movement – Do What We Want or We’ll Shoot Your Judges and Blow Up Your Courthouses
The Men’s Rights Movement: Not Just For Bowels Any More
The MRM: We Make Ourselves Look Bad
To get in my “gendered” slur:
Go right to hell, you creepy assholes.
Dougie: No, they morally should not (note a threat involves an “I/he/she/we *will* or *shall* statement
I see. You are parsing that pretty fine; this from someone who seems to think that a charge not filed = false accusation, but someone who chooses to say, “we know where you live, and you should be afraid” isn’t a threat.
Got it.
No, they morally should not (note a threat involves an “I/he/she/we *will* or *shall* statement.
At a guess, so more people than just the victim of this mob know that a mob has been convened.
It’s an attempt at shaming the MRM. Since you seem to have no shame it’s not as effective as it ought to be.
On the flip side, let’s take a look at some of these, “non-threats”.
That, of course came behind
And:
Yeah, you are full of shit; she’s been threatened. You will, of course, say, “you can’t know this is the MRM” but you did say that “reaction” is what women who speak out should expect.
You are a coward. You don’t have the courage to actually own up to your beliefs, and have to make elliptical points, lest your actual pleasure as people making threats. If you weren’t ashamed of it, you’d actually be willing to own your words,and stand behind your ideas.
But you weasel with the nonsense that only direct threats are threatening.
” ::offers internet whipersnapper highfives::”
I <3 this, not least 'cos you know the word whippersnapper! :D
(I hope that didn’t sound condescending! Not many people of any age know that word now.)
I’ve had a lot worse in they way of heckling when speaking about torture/interrogation, than just, “shut the fuck up”.
I never felt the need to dox anyone, or say they needed to be gagged, raped and mutilated.
Some movement they’ve got there.
Spoon, your movement showed its ass, and that ass is ugly.
They posted openly without editing themselves, making it easy for anyone to criticize them. Your revisionist interpretation of their venom won’t keep resonable minded people from seeing their posts and being disgusted. That’s why so many of you trolls are showing up in this thread making excuses — you’re actually, on some level, fucking embarrassed, and should be. If you keep saying what followed the protest is normal, you might start to believe it, then you can feel OK with being a proud member of the mra again. Sorry…if you need to be introspective and think things through, you have to do it alone. Picking fights with us (well, straw feminists) as a way to feel comfortable with those ugly death/rape threats is not going to help you.
Those comments that David displayed here are fucked. Those idiots who posted them would never say those thing out loud in mixed company because they know how fucked they are. Murder. Rape. One guy wrote that she should use her mouth to give oral on a “black cock” (extra points for the disgusting racism there). Another said he’d “…cum while cutting that bitch’s throat.” Go ahead, tell us how typical those comments are. Pretend that the authorities could not get involved if those things were said out loud in meatspace.
In short, stop coming here to apologize for those sick, sad dudebros who posted fucked comments while hiding behind anonymous handles. We don’t want to hear it, ’cause we heard it all before.
@Robotarmygeneral
Hi and welcome. ::feels kinda down, but tries to offer half-hearted smile:: (don’t worry, it’s not you, it’s the misogynists, both on this post and trolls in thread.)
@kittehs
Didn’t sound condescending to me. I didn’t know it was less known, but maybe I just have a weird vocabulary, or it’s regional. ::shrugs::
@David Futrelle The links I’ve seen of her on the AVfM forum NO LONGER exist. They also appeared by members of the forum, not so far as I can tell, members of the AVfM staff. They still do have her name up, though… but *only* in the forum and they don’t want it on their main page or in a comments section on the main page.
@hellkell AND DavidFutrelle The picture of that webpage and her image suffices enough to *further* dox her, as she has already gotten doxxed. The image posted has both her online name and, as I understand it, her real name. That’s right here on the main page.
@Fade “I made no such claim, I just implied that it’s the kind of thing people should expect because there’s no law to protect people from violent misogyny.
Nobody cares. She did not act in hateful way. From what Amatyultare said, it sounded like all she did was tell someone who was “what about teh menz?”ing to shut up.
Oh no, a woman told someone to shut up! Call the MRAs! Misandry!
Men send death and rape threats to someone: something to expect.”
What happened was that someone pulled a fire alarm at the Nathanson and Young talk (CAFE IS NOT AN MHRA GROUP). Then she went outside and decided to read part of Lindy West’s screed on Jezebel to the crowd. Some people tried to engage with her in dialogue, and she told them to “shut the fuck up”, called them “fuck face” and such repeatedly. One of the MHRAs, or at least someone trying to engage in dialogue with her was a woman. See about :34 in here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gB0XweIE5s (and you can find that in other videos too) I’m an MHRA, and it might just come as fair to consider that as MISOGYNY.
“Men send death and rape threats to someone: something to expect.”
I didn’t say such. I said *in that sort of context*, such might or probably will come.
@Marie “God forbid people try to change things, they should just be quite if they don’t want to have death threats hurled at them.”
In order to change the context of these events, you have to change the entire context of the internet.
@hellkell
“Why do MRAs think death threats are acceptable, Dougie? Weren’t you assholes raised right?”
I didn’t say they came as morally acceptable. I have NOT heard or read anything by any other MHRAs which implies them as acceptable. However, they do exist. If you don’t think you might or probably get one by acting as the protestor did at such a high-profile event, you’re just naive.
@pillowinhell “Big Red isn’t being doxxed here. None of her personal info is being posted. ”
No, her online name and, as I understand it, her full name is in that link. Anyone who can google search can find the rest.
“This is a space where she will be supported and is safe for her. Much like her social media accounts before misogynistic asshats that should tread on lego decided to attack her.”
I’m going to repeat something that I said above.
“See about :34 in here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gB0XweIE5s (and you can find that in other videos too) I’m an MHRA, and it might just come as fair to consider that as MISOGYNY.”
I thought that was it’s face with a hungry expression.
Doug, you are a weasel word motherfucker who really needs to go the fuck away. Stop defending this shit. You and it are reprehensible.
That. Is. Saying. Such.
So, once again for those who missed it the first time – it is not a standard thing to receive death threats as a result of protesting a speech given at a university. This is not a thing that normally happens.
Btw., how young does one have to be to count as a whippersnapper(what a word, I love it!)
A late hugs to everyone who had it bad today and support to RedHead, I could only lurk today for a while. Still gonna stick with the less serious topics.
@doug asshat
So I guess it’s normal for people to get sent death threats (and so many of them) over the internet. I wonder what the ratio of men/ women this happens to, and if your sad ass thinks it’s a problem. Also, yes people want to change them. It’d be good if they were changed. What problems does your little mind have wrapping itself around that?
Wow, Doug, yes there is. There are very much laws against violent misogyny. Whoever claimed there weren’t? There is no law expressing it in this exact wording, but the parts that make it violent and misogynist are indeed against the law.
(though I’m not even sure whether you were quoting there or if that was your own thought, you seem to use these ” very randomly.
These dudes like Doug are amazing the way they consistently think words don’t mean what they mean.
Um, just to clarify he was quoting me re: the laws about violent misogyny, and I was being sarcastic because I wish the laws would actually stop these guys.
Let’s make a list of words that actually mean things! Our first word is “terrorist”.
Oh, no! Some woman told a man to “shut the fuck up” and called him a “fuckface.” That totes deserves death and rape threats.
Doug: shut up, you fuckface.
There was no internet back in the day when the suffragettes were assaulted for speaking in public. The problem is not the internet.
Oh, okay, hir style of posting quotes is very confusing.
I would have read stupider statements in my life.
The only time I’ve heard of people getting death threats for engaging in legal, peaceful protest have occurred at the hands of racists, homophobes, and MRAs.
Fine company you’re keeping there, Dougie.
The thing is, even if you were to agree with their political position, if you use the threat of violence and/or actual violence to achieve your political aims, you’re a terrorist. That’s what the word means.
(Much like “misogynist” some MRAs seem to think it means “bad meanypants man who should feel bad about being a man”.)