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my tumblr, they found a twitter acct that I don’t even use, they even found an old [dating site] profile of mine with outdated info …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.
What a novel suggestion, Dave! Sit down, speak softly, and coddle the feelings of men that hate us, and maybe we won’t bring abuse and violence upon ourselves. I don’t think we’ve ever heard that particularly useless, sexist bit of advice before, except for the million times we have.
This comment thread will never, ever die, because misogynists will never cease to be angry that one time when they went outside a woman was kind of rude to them and so a campaign of harassment and death threats against her is totally justified and they are going to tell us why.
What is it with necro trolls and the lack of paragraph breaks?
Dave, not reading your shit because I’m 100% certain you are saying anything new.
^aren’t
Judging by the Titanic, this thread will keep going for over 100 years.
Never. It is unladylike.
Holy shit. I just noticed this thread has over 2000 comments. It really is the most necro’d thread of all time.
Misogynists harassing and threatening women whom they think behaved improperly?
“The whole MRA thing even as a basic concept is inherently flawed, but nothing comes from nothing,”
Translation: The MRA thing may be flawed, but good god damn, women, you’re all getting out of control. Jesus, you can vote and everything, now shut up.
“…and neither did the notion of ‘men’s rights’ advocacy.”
You guys don’t get systemic discrimination, do you? Pointing out priviledge isn’t a human rights violation.
“Positive discrimination in some areas of women’s rights has meant that as a consequence of trying to find equality, there is now unfortunately a perception of feminists as wanting special treatment, which is wholly misrepresentative.”
I think your referring to equality when you wrote “positive discrimination.” That’s an odd tell. Some people would just call equality, err, equality. It makes one think you’re pretending to be sympathetic to a movement you don’t actually understand, despite your “wholly misrepresentation” (batman!) remark. The unfortunate perception of feminists wanting “special treatment” that you mentioned? That could only come from someone who wants to hold onto their priviledge.
You made my day
🙂
I have no absolutely zero interests in pulling out a chair for misogynists, pouring them some coffee, and gently rubbing their shoulders as I calmly say “okay, guys, I can see where you’re coming from on this ‘women are slutty bitches who won’t fuck me even though I deserve it’ issue. Do you think we could find a middle ground, where you only hate me a little bit, and I only have a little bit of control over my own body and life?”
Misogynists have nothing to teach us. There is nothing about them that we need to understand.
Honestly, my favourite thing about this blog are all the commenters. You guys make this site even better than the posts alone (even though they are also awesome, David!).
Whenever someone’s post rubs me the wrong way and I can’t articulate it clearly all I have to do is read the responses from everyone else and it’s like ohhhh that’s why that particular comment set off my misogyny radar.
I’d like to ask the commenters here whether they see feminism as concerned with both women’s rights and men’s rights as both have been essentially stomped on by the current society… or whether feminism only cares about women’s rights.
It seems self-proclaimed Mens Rights Activists (actually not real Mens Rights Activists, but misogynists that have misappropriated the term) think feminism cares nothing for men.
You see, I believe that feminism cares about the rights of women and of men, that no-one deserves to be abused or raped, whether they or their abuser are male or female.
It also seems as if in this society “feminism” is portrayed as caring only for women and nothing for men- which is untrue, in my view.
Likewise, men (and women) who care about men getting a raw deal in this world (not from this mythical “feminist mafia” but because the world is kinda fucked for us all) are often portrayed as caring nothing for women.
Misogynists have stolen the “MRA” name, and get all the press.
Just as any person with anti-male views had been portrayed as the very epithet of a “feminist”.
Do you agree that feminism cares for both men and women?
I say it does.
Lincoln, you’re in a pretty old thread here. But for me personally, the feminism I practice certainly cares for men, and it would never occur to me that people working to help men are doing so because they care nothing for women. It’s just that MRAs seem hell-bent on associating that name with opposition to feminism and fighting any attempts to make things better for women.
I do think feminism focuses more on women, which I think is fine.
Feminism is about women, not men. And there is absolutely nothing wrong about that.
And Lincoln M James demonstrates male entitlement so beautifully. He wanders onto a social justice site and expects feminists to drop what they are doing in order to answer his questions.
And doesn’t even bother doing it in a current thread. What, you mean the women here are focused on something else right now? Too bad, because I want to discuss X, therefore X is what we will be discussing if you don’t want me to throw a screaming tantrum.
RE: Lincoln
I’d like to ask the commenters here whether they see feminism as concerned with both women’s rights and men’s rights as both have been essentially stomped on by the current society… or whether feminism only cares about women’s rights.
I’m a man, and feminism saved my life. It got me to overcome a year of rape and sexual abuse. It did not do that by catering to me directly, but it still saved my life, and for that service, I will forever be a feminist.
a) feminism is a movement (or more than one i guess), not a person. it can’t “care” about anything. only people *in* the movement can
b) men can benefit from femenism. That doesnt’ mean it should be all about them, or even half about them
c) Men are not denied pay/rights based on being men
d) ergo saying feminism should help men as much as women is like saying you should give medicine to healthy people who don’t need it, as well as sick people who do, just to be fair.
Cloudiah, thank you for your response. There’s so much bombardment in the media of the idea that feminism cares nothing for men (certainly is portrayed so) that I’m glad we can see the truth in it.
I’m certainly not saying that there’s anything wrong with feminism focusing MORE on women… but I’m glad I’m not the only one that sees that the statement of “feminism cares NOTHING for men!” is pure fiction.
Ally S, I wasn’t asking for moral judgement on feminism… just asking whether you think that feminism cares of men’s issues at all. It seems you think it doesn’t at all? In which case, where would you suggest that men who have been stomped down by the current situation should turn, if not feminism?
Titianblue, your comment makes very little sense.
I thought feminism was about asking questions? I mean, yes, I went onto an old thread. (It was so old that it hadn’t been replied to, before me, since… oh. May 21st 2014. Hmmm. Not so old). Why? because I’m pretty sick of the media portraying feminism as having no concern at all for men who get stomped by the system (not stomped by feminism… as I did note).
There is, of course, a bizarre irony in ll this- the Canadian feminist Activist in question was only asking the assembled MRAs to LISTEN. And the MRA group was, quite rightly, denounced here for trying to shut her up, even as she called for them to listen to what feminism was really about.
But here I am, and yes I happen to be a male, actually ASKING, straight out. But rather than take the opportunity to give feedback, you’re denouncing me… to have the temerity to ask?
How will I know your standpoint if I don’t ask?
I don’t expect feminists to drop what they are doing… but isn’t the point of a blog to ask, and answer, questions? How else will we know what each other thinks?
Cassandrakitty, I’m not having a screaming tantrum; this is a blog, not a phone conversation, you’re free to add commentary when and if you wish.
Your response boils down to “How DARE you expect me to answer you!” which, unfortunately, IS an answer.
LBT, I’m not surprised feminism saved your life; real feminism, as you have seen, may not cater directly to you, but it certainly helps both genders. I am glad to hear it has helped you, as it has helped me also. Certainly it doesn’t seem to be entirely uninterested in either gender… a lie the media loves to trot out.
Fade (A Mass Effect Reference? If so, Garrus FTW!)-
“a) feminism is a movement (or more than one i guess), not a person. it can’t “care” about anything. only people *in* the movement can”
Fair point, but you know what I mean.
“b) men can benefit from femenism. That doesnt’ mean it should be all about them, or even half about them”
As I said, I do believe both genders benefit. I certainly never suggested it should be wholly or even half concerned with men- only that I don’t believe the media lie that feminism cares NOTHING for men.
“c) Men are not denied pay/rights based on being men”
Didn’t say they were.
“d) ergo saying feminism should help men as much as women is like saying you should give medicine to healthy people who don’t need it, as well as sick people who do, just to be fair.”
Not really a solid logic chain there…
Since I never said feminism should help men as much as women, only that feminism (or the real feminists in the world, of which I count myself as one) care about the rights of both sexes/genders being trampled on.
Moreover, equating men to “perfectly healthy” would suggest that men have never had their rights trampled, none suffer anywhere and never will.
This is rather worrying thinking- because to suggest that men have no cause for complaint ever at any time is patently untrue. I’m pretty sure this isn’t what you meant?
Sure, most of the time it unequivocably is true that the current world stomps on women more than it does men…but men get stomped on too.
Which is why I passionately believe that real feminism, much as it is primarily concerned with women’s rights to life, liberty and equality, is not blind to the idea that men also have these same rights.
That is what I believe, and I am heartened that (most of) you commenters feel the same way.
@Lincoln M James
“I don’t expect feminists to drop what they are doing and answer my questions but shoulsn’t you all stop what you’re doing and answer my questions? What else are you here for?”
Sweetie, read the strap line. We’re here to mock not instruct you. This is not Feminism 101. There are plenty of other places that are. I suggest you go there.
We’re certainly not blind to that idea because men have HAD these rights for way longer than women, and still benefit from privileges that women do not have.
And I’m sure that you don’t mean to hijack women’s issues and bother us with your incessant whining about how men have it so hard, too. Oh wait, that’s exactly what you mean to do.
They can become allies of feminists and, in doing so, not only support feminism but also find themselves with analyses of gender that allow them to articulate men’s experiences of gender policing – the root of all the gender-related problems that men face.
I mean, yeah, feminism benefits men indirectly; I’ll raise my hand as a dude whose life is much improved by it. It’s given me tools to take apart all the toxic masculinity in my life.
But it was never for me. It was because I was a danger to all women with those things in my life, a very real danger. I was the jackbooted enforcer of the patriarchy, and whatever harmful effects there were to me I was amplifying a thousand-fold to all women around me.
A necessary first step for them is realizing how much worse the patriarchy is for women. To break down their continued inability to empathize with women.