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my tumblr, they found a twitter acct that I don’t even use, they even found an old [dating site] profile of mine with outdated info …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.
re:risk
Is somebody missing a citation?
(spoiler space: yes. Yes xie is)
@thom
Go step on a lego, there is no excuse for death threats.
@Cassandrasays
Yes. QFT.
@spikedyum
God, all the trolls in this thread.
We are not saying you should listen to her speech or whatever. We are saying THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR SENDING SOMEONE DEATH THREATS. Ffs, try to get that through your head.
At least this is my day off, and I’m already feeling frustrated (dang internet providers cut it off it my mom’s, and then said to call….when they cut our phone service off too. not fun). So I could use a chew toy or two.
Yes. Exactly. Not to mention, not interacting with them would help me calm down, cuz I’d be thinking about them less.
*coughs to clear throat*
*puts on ignorant troll hat*
Marie, how dare you! How can I listen to what you’re saying when you say it with such vulgar language. Everyone knows that “ffs” is short for “for fuck’s sake”. Your abbreviation of a foul word is complete justification to ignore everything you said. Truly!
*takes off ignorant troll hat*
That hurt my brain.
@fade
But I always thought ffs was short for fluffy fluffy socks, I want to leave 😉 (okay, to everybody who has no clue what I’m talking about, it was something my brother showed me another forum like ages ago…but the abbreviation has stuck in my head because it’s cute, though to clarify, I did know what the abbreviation stands for to everyone not me/ my brother.) /rambling.
A feminist acts badly and gets harassment from anonymous people online. Feminists claim that the reactions of these anonymous people online says something about a specific group they dislike. Yawn. Get some critical thinking skills.
The reason this woman got so much negative reception is because she’s a bully. Pure and simple. She didn’t like that men were getting together to discuss men’s issues, and silenced them. Plus, it wasn’t just that she was yelling at people to STFU, it was that she was saying, “We want the same things men do, so men should just STFU and GTFO, ’cause only women should be allowed to talk.” If she really wanted the same thing men do, she would have been sitting in on the conference, not screaming over men who had teh audacity to actually talk about these issues.
And two more geniuses come to a dead thread to yawn about and/or justify death threats against a woman for speaking in public.
Somehow, I’m not surprised! Why don’t you come over to the current thread and defend the MRM doxing the wrong person?
Jesus, these dudes are some willfully ignorant mofos. If you think a woman being rude or whatever justifies rape and death threats, you need to rethink your life.
Breaking news! Assholes show up to necro thread and say the same shit prior assholes did, never engaging with rebuttals!
Coming up next: Pope Bear shits in Catholic woods!
haha that is totally how I would characterize rape threats, death threats, and threats to reveal personal information. “negative reception” great phrasing bro, totally an objective way to discuss the situation
(whereas a counter-protest is something much worse than negative reception, I guess, since we all know how those poor MRAs in Toronto suffered when some people disagreed with them)
I’m it’s not dead yet! It’s feeling much better!*spamming thread* because we aren’t going to have two 1,000+ threads die just shy of 1,500 are we? And this one full of drive-by trolls no less!
I should be shopping for a couch, or maybe padded chairs, because apparently I should just buy a couple padded chairs for when we go to visit my grandfather, he’s got a recliner! That he’s had my entire life and never sat in, and logic! He might like to sprawl out on a couch!
I’m going to pull a Tom Martin can claim comfy chairs were more expensive than a love seat since one item versus multiple items. Martin-esque because no one wants an uncomfy, hard, misandrist chair!
@Risk – almost nothing you have said has a basis in objective reality. Your core claim seems to be that masculinity is pathologised. As you haven’t been specific about what you mean by “masculinity”. I’m going to assume you mean those anti-social behaviours men have been conditioned for generations to believe must come naturally to them – objectifying and excluding women, bullying, standing over the weak, violence etc. Guess what, that behaviour isn’t natural masculinity. It’s culturally specific and conditioned. It’s dysfunctional, destructive and bad for everyone. Challenging it is good for everyone. If you are referring to some other aspect of “masculinity” being pathologised, be more specific, because everywhere I look, I see positive human traits like courage, intelligence, integrity, sense of humour etc, given a masculine character. When men argue their point and shout people down, they’re being assertive and tough; when a woman does it – well, check out the reaction this time. Your mra echo-chamber is reaffirming and reaffirming for you something that is absolutely wrong.
Fib: I am in awe.
Here, have some accompaniment.
I’ve been doxxed after a fight with a neighbor. She was connected to union thugs. I don’t know how to contact the red head directly. But what I want to say is it took years for this to get better for me. Five years of fighting. Five years of losing job after job because no employer wants to deal with an employee harassed like this. I ended up in a mental institution for a month. That was what they wanted. It finally stopped after I had a psychotic break. Fight these bastards. Find comfort in your friends and family and don’t give up. This isn’t a battle. It’s a god damn war. Keep this outlook and remember not to give up after every lost battle. Celebrate when you win the key battles. It will end eventually. Hopefully.
How Is the redhead doing? I was just about to suggest making a fb support page, but then realized that opened us all up to doxxing. And now I get how this particular brand of terrorism works- there needs to be a law made against it.
It’s so great that this is the kind of stuff MRA trolls show up to defend in droves, it really demonstrates what it is they really care about.
Are women’s groups in the university doing anything for her?
@totes
“get some critical thinking skills”
You first.
@andor734
Try harder, there is no excuse for rape and death threats.
Yes. QFT.
@brokeinsantacruzSamantha
All the internet hugs if you want them 🙁 That sounds horrible. I got sent to a mental institution for a week when I was younger, I can’t imagine going a whole month.
@TTF
Yeah. I really wish I (or anyone here) had some idea what to do about it, it’s just all so… gah. Idk, maybe I’ve just hit the point for the moment where I’m like ‘like seriously how can we stop this shit’ but there isn’t an easy solution.
andor: The reason this woman got so much negative reception is because she’s a bully. Pure and simple. She didn’t like that men were getting together to discuss men’s issues, and silenced them.
No, she didn’t. She told them she didn’t agree with them. She as even loud about it, but the lecture continued.
And what you call (in this case) negative reception is rape/death threats. Oddly you have reversed the position of the MRM on the, “Box Cutter Mob”, where being told to go away was a ravening mob armed to the teeth trying to kill John the Other.
He was so scared he posted video of himself (making it easier to recognise him in the future).
This, actual death threats and ongoing terrorism you chalk up to, “youthful hijinks”.
“We want the same things men do, so men should just STFU and GTFO, ’cause only women should be allowed to talk.”
If she really wanted the same thing men do, she would have been sitting in on the conference,
No. If she wanted the same things the MRM wasn’t. MRM /= men. Trust me on that one.
Dear Pecunium,
>>This is why Paul Elam, and the rest of the MRAs in the world use such reasoned and reasonable language, and condemn; in the most vehement terms, those who abuse women.
Oh wait,they dont.
Pots, Kettles.
–I don’t see any reason why Paul Elam or the rest of MRAs should allocate special time to condemn those who abuse women (are women a special group that need extra protection over others who are abused?). They’ve made it abundantly clear that they are opposed to ALL violence, that encompasses women, too. Women have numerous events to that speak up about abused women.
>You know what’s not funny… the way you equate a public protest, with an attempt to terrorise someone, with people saying they know where she lives and killing them will be a sexual thrill.
If you think you are allowed to prevent freedom of speech simply for disagreeing, then who are you to say people can’t do things just as bad to you?
–Many MRAs and A Voice for Men have made it abundantly clear that they have no issues with protest or even shouting, they have a problem with people trying to shut down events.
>>The first (prevent freedom of speech) didn’t happen. The lectures happened. What also happened it the people who didn’t like them chose to freely speak. What you want is the ability to say, “shut up, we’re talking”, and deny those who disagree the their rights to protest.
–It didn’t happen, but attempts to disrupt it were no doubt put into full force. The non-logic in that statement is amusing to say the least. A failed assassination results in the target walking out alive. Since the killing didn’t happen, the attempts on the man’s life didn’t occur either.
There is a world of a difference between disagreeing and even wanting to shut down a talk, then going out an actually committing those acts, which did occur. Feminists barricaded the Warren Farrell talk and pulled the alarm on two separate events.
A Voice for Men and many MRAs have said on numerous occasions that they are fine with protesters and even their wish to shut down the events,-as it is their prerogative- they only have a problem if those wishes translate into action.
>>And saying that slitting someone’s throat will be a sexual thrill, where someone’s address has been listed, isn’t the same as standing outside a public meeting shouting.
Maybe not, but it is a complete non-issue. Blowing things up said over the internet is a dishonest tactic to revert to a state of victimhood. I’ve had so many people threaten me over the internet, that is simply how the internet works. I’ve had gays say they’ll fuck my brains out and rape my children for not agreeing with them on gay marriage. I’ve had death threats and even my Church website hacked and replaced with gay pornography simply because I said I don’t agree with gay marriage. Nothing else – just that I disagree with gay marriage.
However, I’m not one to take these things seriously, and most certainly don’t use this as a gauge to asses Homosexuals in real life. I know they are lovely people who wouldn’t do that sort of thing. It’s the internet, it is expected.
@jonathan
Haha. Citation needed.
Citation still needed. God, can you get a new shtick.
Oh god, go get stuck in a field of cacti. They are the ones threatening her, you shitstain. Also, have you ever had your person information revealed over the internet? Because I’m guessing that helps making one feel a fuck a lot less comfy, also adding that no one should have to deal with death threats and harassment.
No. Someone is a horrible human being on the internet they are probably a horrible human being in real life, they just want to avoid people knowing where it’s not anonymous.
Jonathan: you need to raise your expectations of the internet. Death and rape threats aren’t right, and if you think they are…
Well, that’s just your dudely privilege showing. You can afford to not take them seriously. Fuck off.
Jonathan: –I don’t see any reason why Paul Elam or the rest of MRAs should allocate special time to condemn those who abuse women (are women a special group that need extra protection over others who are abused?). They’ve made it abundantly clear that they are opposed to ALL violence, that encompasses women, too.
No, they haven’t. Thomas Ball’s Manifesto is praised by them. That’s not being opposed to violence. They said that Breivik had good points. They praise Marc Lepine.
If you think you are allowed to prevent freedom of speech simply for disagreeing, then who are you to say people can’t do things just as bad to you?
I’m not. If they wan’t to come and be loud at a feminist conference, bring it on. This isn’t that. It’s a campaign of targeted hate.
–It didn’t happen,
You admit it. It didn’t happen. The purported justification for this campaign of targeted hate is bogus; but you pretend it’s not.
A Voice for Men and many MRAs have said on numerous occasions that they are fine with protesters and even their wish to shut down the events,-as it is their prerogative- they only have a problem if those wishes translate into action.
And when there is protest, they do shit like this (or the furor about the year old blog which David Duke saw through, but your guys still don’t).
Maybe not, but it is a complete non-issue.
This why you are said to be a proto-hate movement. Campaigns of terrorism are just fine with you, just like burning a cross in the lot facing a black church. No one was killed, or even touched, so it’s harmless fun, right?
Swastikas on the synagogue… no problem. It’s not like neo-nazis ever carried through on anything.
And by praised I mean they say it’s an example of activism. A call to armed insurrection is being said to be something to emulate. That;s the opposite of renouncing violence, it’s encouraging it.
The rhetoric which says, “unless women give is what we want there will be more Ball’s Sodoni’s, Dekraai’s and Breiviks” isn’t renouncing violence. It’s excusing it. It’s an attempt to create a plausible deniabilty.
Saying Elam, and AVfM are against violence is a lie.
Just adding on here (which thread was it on) that some guy was like “well, I wouldn’t mind because I have a shotgun and a beware of dog sign?”. And people were pointing out that he probably wouldn’t have to deal with death/rape threats, anyway, he’d have to deal with something about pizza and bear that was maybe a reference but I didn’t get the reference? So this isn’t something that is likely to happen to trolly, unless xie’s one of the rare and clueless femras. It’s easy for these guys to not care about this because it’s something that will never happen to them, and they know it won’t ever, and they lack the empathy to care if it doesn’t involve them.
/Run on sentences ftw!