Paul Elam is a 55-year-old man who once told a feminist foe that “the idea of fucking your shit up gives me an erection.” Today he’s launched a campaign of defamation against a college student that’s clearly intended to intimidate her and other feminists into silence. The alleged crimes of this woman, whom Elam identifies by name? Possibly attending a demonstration against MRA author Warren Farrell at the University of Toronto, possibly tearing down posters for the event, and making a couple of jokes on Twitter. Oh, and she also once suggested that Farrell was a misogynist.
Elam has not yet revealed what effect this new campaign has had upon his penis.
While her (apparent) attendance at the anti-Farrell demonstration is what brought the young woman to Elam’s attention, he seems particularly puzzled and enraged by two jokey comments she made on Twitter. In one of them, she joked that her “political position” was “kill all men hail satan.” In the other, she said she was thinking about getting knuckle tattoos that spell out “misandry.”
These jokey comments have evidently convinced Elam that
She doesn’t just hate men; doesn’t just want them dead or silenced or marginalized or ignored. She at least entertains the idea of permanently marking her skin with that hatred, like a convict signaling gang affiliation.
Pretty harsh words from someone whose YouTube handle used to be TheHappyMisogynist. (Check the URL here.)
So what exactly is the point of publicizing her name, which will give the assholes now posting rape threats and other violent shit about the demonstrators at that Warren Farrell protest the real name of a real, live person to harass?
Elam, while carefully avoiding any direct incitement of harassment and/or violence, makes clear that his aim is to “stop her.”
[She] is not going to stop. And no one at the University of Toronto is going to stop her. We can figure that one out by the fact that they chartered clubs to enable that kind of conduct.
For that reason, we bring her to public attention here at AVfM.
Additionally, over the next two days, she will be listed on register-her.com as a known bigot, and her image and name will find a place on our display of featured offenders.
Elam promises to do the same, by name, to others who attended the protest as well.
The best way to strike back at Elam’s campaign to shut up critics of his hateful Men’s Rights ideology? Make more noise.
If anyone is interested in reaching out to the student and any others who may be targeted by Elam, please contact me or leave a comment below. And if anyone knows how to contact her, please send me an email.
(Also, at one point Elam describes Farrell as “an individual who has dedicated a lifetime to helping children in trouble.” Oh, is that what he was doing when he was working on a book that he said would highlight the alleged “positive” aspects of incest?)
EDITED TO ADD: Just to make clear, this woman is not the same woman that Elam and JohnTheOther were talking about in their previous posts; it’s a different woman, who appears only briefly in that video. It’s not clear if they have the other woman’s info, but if not they are certainly still looking for it.
There is also a huge difference between making an exaggerated or sarcastic statement like “Kill all men, hail satan” and making a targeted statement of violence against a specific person. And then another difference between that and organizing many people to also target violent speech against a specific person.
I can offer moral support, but not much else as I am about to move across the world back to the US.
Cyber stalking and bullying is NOT OKAY EVER I don’t care who the person is. I hope it fizzles out as most MRA things do, but if it is one thing they are energized for it is frothing hate online.
Sort of like shaking a can of soft drink – though the only other thing this lot have in common with that is that they’re enough to rot your teeth.
I think at this point I’m going to just declare that this thread is for supportive comments only.
Gateman, I’m putting you on moderation. You can post elsewhere on this blog, on different topics, at some other time, but not on this and not here and not now. But please try to do a better job reading before posting.
http://www.cyberstalking.ca/en/canadian
They appear to take it a bit more seriously in Canada than they do in Texas.
If they post her address I vote for sending her cheerful christmas cards.
gateman, we’ve said this many times before and I’m sure we’ll have to repeat it again.
Saying “We don’t want any trouble” while slapping a wrench into your palm is not a nonviolent statement. The MRM is not a nonviolent movement. Doxxing is not a nonviolent action.
@Amused: It depends on the university. Where I did my undergrad, a young woman was targeted online with rape and death threats (for comments about campus golf…WTF), but in some very specific Facebook messages demonstrating that the person harassing her knew where she lived. They moved her. The university I work for probably won’t do that, but if they know about this, would consider it an extenuating circumstance for penalty-free drops or extensions. I have no idea if this is all making her stressed or she’s afraid, but I think it’s worth having on file somewhere in case the situation escalates and she has to miss classes because of stress or fear. Exemptions and so on move at the speed of bureaucracy; early reporting is the best reporting.
I don’t mean to talk over you. I see a lot of students wait until the 11th hour to get help, or students who suffer because they didn’t ask about resources for them.
I’d be willing to help if I can. I’m a lawyer (no particular familiarity with these subjects, but willing to dig into it). Has anyone listed on register-her.com considered legal action? SPLC probably has helpful information.
Just because they say that in one place, it doesn’t negate the many, many, many times they say they do want violence in other places.
And OT but I just watched that video ITT and those police officers at 1:29… they look fake. Not saying they *are* fake, just that they look like cops from a cop buddy movie. The weirdo Canadian uniforms don’t help either.
Kim – that’s because some of them are police, and some are campus security.
Just saw this on tumblr and dropped by to see if it made it to the blog. And here it is. What a bunch of scumbags.
I thought this sounded awesome, but then I thought that if I were being harassed, I wouldn’t want more mail, because hate mail can look just like friendly mail from the outside and it would just be more things that I was afraid to open. Unless we, like, had a secret code we could write on the outside that meant they were OK.
But people who have dealt with this sort of thing for real probably have more perspective on it than me.
@katz, Maybe friendly cards could be sent to a trusted friend or organization which could open them and only pass on the real ones. (I worry that any code we come up with would be vulnerable to hacking.) I’m hoping against hope that some tiny shred of decency will prevent them from posting her address — what am I thinking, right? If they find it, they will post it. I hope she is able to move.
Good idea. Of course we could send cards to a friend or organization even if they don’t post her address. (I know the secret-code idea isn’t really workable IRL.)
I looked it up what a Toronto uniform looks like and I am pretty sure the 2 I’m talking about were real police. (The dark blue uniform).
I meant they looked a bit like a classic ‘odd couple’. I just thought it was kind of funny seeing life imitate art like that.
Do these MRA jerks really think that having your life turned upside down is a just punishment for going to a protest? Do protesters against other noxious people get this kind of lashback?
That gentleman who was talking about his two friends committing suicide-it seems an odd place to go to learn more about why they did-one would think he would seek assistance with a therapist instead.
I’m suspect that the guy who said that is affiliated with whoever was filming it, and that they were trying to set up a confrontation to film.
Also: I have passed along the supportive emails I’ve been sent. I’m sure the recipient will appreciate them!
They’re on their Holy Crusade against the evils of Vile Misandry. What’s a few protestors against that?
My favorite irony of the AVFM shitfest is how, all while they’re complaining that feminism is about not holding women accountable for what they do, they are constantly complaining that women and feminists (and, you know, reddit (which is secretly feminist (just ignore their toleration of creepshot and jailbait sections))) are taking MRAs to task for their abhorrent views and actions. The Hamster spins strong with these MRAs.
The mensrights subreddit mods and reddit are potentially liable if they link to a doxxing site like avfm, especially if the usual libel is also going on.
http://www.dba-oracle.com/internet_linking_libel_lawsuit.htm
I would not be surprised if he was David. And judging the book by its cover, he does strike me as the type to be part of the MRM.
David…of course Warren Farrell would be aware of these attacks on these kids. Any word on a response from him? If not, I would assume he’s aligned with these attacks.
Although I realize David has debated this practice as a whole with AVfM, I would break it down into specifics. For example, what is the justification providing location information? What benefits are to be gained from providing location information that outweigh the potential for confrontation and/or violence? From what I’ve seen of other “Bigot” profiles, they don’t always include location information.