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my tumblr, they found a twitter acct that I don’t even use, they even found an old [dating site] profile of mine with outdated info …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.
Any article by an MRA is a paper abortion.
Edude, you’re seriously quoting what one woman said FOUR decades ago? Seriously? Despite the huge changes in society and social justice thinking since then?
D’you know what I thought about paper abortions 4 decades ago? Nothing! I wasn’t born yet. Hence, all feminists have no opinion on the matter, case closed.
@clintiskeen – you’re a clown. WE DON’T CONDONE HARASSMENT OR THREATS. ever. it doesn’t matter if she laughs about male suicide. i don’t think that’s cool; and i highly doubt that, as a feminist, she doesn’t care about suicide by people of both genders. but it’s beside the point.
That’s the silliest thing I have ever heard. This entire incident proves the opposite; no matter what, the women are wrong. And that’s been an issue for time immemorial.
And if you defend Warren Ferrell (also, NOW is not currently something most feminists are all about. sorry to burst your bubble), I’m automatically —
Oh wait. I looked at your blog. And I laughed and laughed and laughed. Check out this bucket of hatred:
http://cansore.wordpress.com/
It’s totally beyond….just…anything.
Paper abortions are just a suggested form of male abortion made by MRAs AND feminists. It’s in regards to allowing a man to give up his parental rights.
You dont have to go to MRA sites to find info.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reproductive_rights#Men.27s_rights
TomBCat: The argument goes like this:
If women want the right to abort, then men should have an equal right–namely, the right to have a ‘paper abortion’ whereby they sign away all rights to the child, and in exchange have to pay no child support.
It’s that simple. That awful. That simply awful.
Marie:
I could actually meet this charge, unfortunately. Now, if you re-phrase slightly, to: “Name a right that’s being denied to you on account of being a man, where that situation would not be improved in a society which adopted greater feminist ideals,” and it pretty much becomes rock-solid again, because most of those still trail back to patriarchal causes.
You do know that women have to pay child support if the dad has custody and she makes more money, right?
Tom: In brief, if a person with a uterus gets pregnant but doesn’t want a baby, zie can get abortions and after they get abortions they don’t have to take care of the kid. But once a person with a penis gets a person with a uterus pregnant, then zie has no way to stop the uterus-person from having a baby, and That’s Not Fair.
Therefore if a penis person ever doesn’t want to care for/pay for a baby zie conceived, zie should be able to get a Paper Abortion, which is just them giving up all responsibility to the kid.
Edude: you still haven’t answered my questions about reproductive rights, just your BS about paper abortions, so I’m going to assume that’s what you mean. If so, gross.
I believe Alas, a blog did a post on paper abortions. You could poke through their archives to find out.
People who advocate paper abortions…do they not realize that this is the old “he walked out” routine? And how long would a man have to walk out on the partner and kid? And how would it be proven later on that he wanted the paper abortion? A lot of the guys saying paper abortion are saying this after the divorce and the kids are several years old.
I suppose these feminists are the analogue of the non-radical MRAs that have to hide because they don’t want to be mistaken for radical asshole MRAs?
Anyway, if you believe in “paper abortions,” you’re either phenomenally stupid, or you’re one of the asshole MRAs, because you believe a man’s right to be shiftless and irresponsible trumps a child’s right to, you know, actually get cared for. Or both.
WOW. Awful.
RE: esmnmb
Paper abortions are just a suggested form of male abortion made by MRAs AND feminists. It’s in regards to allowing a man to give up his parental rights.
Then… how is the child supposed to be supported? I mean, that’s the whole POINT of child support. So a child can afford to be alive and cared for.
I mean, I feel sorry for men who get stuck supporting an unintended child… but I’d feel way worse for the child who needs financial support!
Please. Stop speaking for me. You’re doing me NO favors.
Good job deleting your blog, BTW. Now how about taking it off your handle? Just log out and then log back in with email and handle but leave the website blank. That field is optional!
Thanks for the answers.
I get what paper abortions are supposed to be, I’d just feel better if I could read some comprehensible statement about it that doesn’t scream “Women!What Do they Know!” in my face. It’d make me feel better, is all.
@mark
The only ‘rights’ they’re standing up for is their rights to harass women. Jerk.
God, not this argument again, it’s so fucking boring -_-
@esmnmb
Are you from America? If so, go fuck yourself, since the asshats here are trying there hardest to make sure women, (and people with vaginas +uteruses who aren’t women!) don’t have any fucking rights over that. I already said it, but again, go fuck yourself
If you’re not from america, where do you live? I should go there -_- (not that I would/ could but w/e)
To prove I am not sexist I will accuse a bunch of women (and people of other genders, idk what he assumed though) of overreacting and being illogical! This has definitely never been done before. /alternate universe.
@aaliyah
🙁 Wow. Internet hugs if you want them. I hope you feel better soon. Don’t have any suggestions though 🙁
That sounds like a long time to go with stomach pain 🙁 Hopefully you get a decent way to manage it soon, and internet hugs offered again.
@bagelsan
Yes they are! Today will be a glorious day for
my guinea pigsFEMINISM! LET THE DOWNFALL OF MEN COMMENCE!!!!!!!/probably too hyper.
@esmnmb
The male equivelent of a abortion is an abortion because some men actually do have vaginas and may need to abort, and deserve control over their body just like everyone else. The point of abortion is that people have bodily autonomy. Cis men don’t get pregnant and don’t have that issue because no one is trying to force them to carry a baby for 9 months.
@david
Yay! thank you.
I always try to eat smaller amounts and avoid meat. It’s hard when I’m around my father, though, as he always makes me eat way more than I can handle (I’m 18, but I still don’t have a lot of agency as I’m still dependent on him and find his anger threatening) and I know he would hate it if I told him I don’t want to eat any meat. Just this morning he made me eat a breakfast way larger than it should have been, which resulted in me later feeling harsh cramps even though it was just yogurt. And then I had extremely loose stool. He thinks I’m anorexic, that I don’t eat enough – and while it’s true that I should eat more in general, he doesn’t understand how awful it is to eat more than I can handle when I have a condition like this.
Since I can’t eat less, I have to opt for choosing things that aren’t harsh on my stomach – to the best of my ability, at least.
Here’s the deal. A custodial parent can’t just up and decide “You know what? Raising kids is expensive and I want my money for myself. I’ll just stop providing food, clothes, and shelter for my kids.” If they did, it would be child neglect. Why, then, should the non custodial parent have the option of just abandoning all parental responsibility for a child they helped bring into the world?
If someone can’t afford paying child support, then they can get the order modified in court. One of my friends exes doesn’t get paid much so he is ordered to pay only $5 a month. That’s about the price of a Happy Meal. He could give up one pack of smokes a month to make his payment. So if a guy is ordered to pay $300 a month, which is about average, it’s because he is making enough to pay that. Oh, and $300 a month is not nearly the cost of raising a child, but that’s another issue.
I am also sick and tired of the guys who want “paper abortions” and then turn around and whine about programs like SNAP, WIC, or school lunches. What is it going to be then? Are children supposed to starve so that some entitled jerks can keep all their money to themselves? They’re greedier than a Charles Dickons villian.
@freemage
What rights? I’m not doubting you, just want to know, since I couldn’t think of any off the top of my head and it seems like a good thing to know.
Also, regarding old whatshisface about how “of course, these threats are terrible, but she should’ve known better…”
Okay, guys, imagine someone who is dumb. Come on, everybody knows somebody who just isn’t the brightest bulb in the box.
DOES THAT MEAN THEY DESERVE HUNDREDS OF DEATH OR RAPE THREATS?
Of course not. It shouldn’t MATTER if your person is stupid, or mean-spirited, or woefully computer-illiterate. I mean, back at my old workplace, I had customers who were mystified by a fax machine! The response is TOTALLY DISPROPORTIONATE. That is what we’re mocking here on Manboobz.
What I’m saying is none of the excuses the assholes supply make any difference. I don’t CARE if the woman is a douche or not. THE RESPONSE IS TOTALLY DISPROPORTIONATE.
And when you come in whining, “BUT BUT BUT SHE SAID A MEAN THING” or “BUT BUT BUT SHE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER!”
No. You’re full of shit. Now shut up and fuck off.
@Aaliyah
God, your dad sounds like a jerk 🙁
TomBCat: The key to understanding the idea of “Paper Abortion” is to understand that it has nothing to do with Abortion (a medical procedure that cis-men never need or want for themselves, and which is at most tangentially related to the idea of birth control) and everything to do with Paper (specifically, rectangular green-and-yellow paper with portraits of dead presidents).
Aaliyah, I’m sorry you feel so yucky. Does your dad know? Maybe you could tell him that you’d prefer to split breakfast up into two smaller meals if you promise to eat just as much?
Anyway I hope you feel better soon.
I’m still on the fence about male abortion. It seems too extreme and can be argued(flawed as it may be) that it takes away a child’s rights. But, at one time abortion in general was once seen as too extreme and is still illogically argued that it takes away a childs rights. Until it can survive on it’s own, it isn’t a human and has no rights.
What is the #1 reason for abortion?
@esmnmb
No, lack of abortion takes away the person carrying the babies rights. Nobody has a right to use someone else’s body.