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A little over three years ago, a Canadian feminist with bright red hair confronted some Men’s Rights Activists outside of an event at the University of Toronto.
The woman, known as Chanty Binx, was trying to argue a point; they kept interrupting her; she raised her voice, told them to shut up, dropped the f-bomb. She was, as she admits, a bit rude to them — more than a bit, really. But being rude is not illegal, nor even uncommon, when people who disagree fundamentally encounter one another in person at a demonstration. Much worse things have happened at demonstrations.
The one thing different about this confrontation? It was caught on video, and uploaded to YouTube, at which point a vast army of the world’s worst people decided to do their best to make her life a living hell. Footage of her at the event was posted and reposted and spliced into countless antifeminist videos on YouTube; it’s been watched literally millions of views.
Binx was besieged with insults, misogynistic slurs, and grotesquely violent threats; her image was appropriated for who knows how many creepy memes. She was doxxed. “Artists” drew pictures of her engaging in sex acts. Think of any way a woman can be harassed and bullied online, and chances are it was done to her.
Binx has laid low for three years, hoping that this onslaught would pass. And, she says, the direct harassment had died down somewhat in recent months.
Now one of her haters has put her back in the spotlight again, and in a supremely creepy manner. Not long ago, you see, Binx stopped by a government-run liquor store in the Toronto area to pick up a bottle of wine. A seemingly friendly employee offered her help.
In fact, he claimed later, he had recognized her from the internet, and was hoping to hear her speak to make sure she really was who he thought she was.
After she left, he somehow accessed the store’s surveillance footage, took a screenshot of her visit to the store, and put it up on Facebook (without the blurs you see below):
No, liquor store creep, it hasn’t been two years. It’s been three. THREE YEARS of hateful, disgusting, privacy-invading harassment. Because THREE YEARS AGO a woman yelled at a couple of MRAs, and they filmed her doing it.
This time Binx has decided not to lay low. She spoke with CityNews about the latest twist in the internet war on her. The report is chilling, and well worth watching.
Feminist says LCBO privacy breach fuelled flood of online hate https://t.co/rrh0hvgfPx pic.twitter.com/W5I7nibXre
— CityNews Toronto (@CityNewsTO) June 30, 2016
“[I feel like] I’m being watched constantly,” she told CityNews. “No matter what I do, I’m under a monitor.”
Now that the CityNews segment has run, the hate campaign against her has predictably ramped up again. On YouTube, a video about the CityNews segment from “Rekt Feminist Videos” has racked up 47,000 views, and generated 1900 comments, since it was posted earlier today. Here are a few of those comments:
Several commenters “jokingly” discussed staking out the store she was filmed in.
I spent only a few minutes reading the comments; I’m sure there are many more along these lines in the 1900 posted so far.
The discussion took a similar turn on LiveLeak:
A Voice for Men, meanwhile, complained that CityNews had quoted threatening posts on its website in order to construct “yet another threat narrative” aimed at … MRAs. The comments to the AVFM post did not exactly reinforce the site’s claim that MRAs are the real victims here:
Naturally, Binx’s haters are mocking her for allegedly bringing this latest wave of harassment on herself by, well, speaking up about the vile harassment she was still getting, three years on, before she spoke up for herself.
This, from the CityNews segment, is some of what she was getting BEFORE she spoke up for herself. CONTENT WARNING: Rape, violent threats.
.
Apparently, as the haters see it, she has only two choices:
She can remain silent about the ongoing harassment, and pretty much everything else in the world, for the rest of her life.
Or she can risk getting “deservedly” beaten or raped or killed. For the “crime” of yelling at some MRAs once, three years ago.
But they’ve been threatening to do that anyway, without her saying a word to them for three years. Being silent hasn’t protected her from harassment or threats or someone literally posting surveillance footage of her that lets the world know where she lives.
I’m glad she’s speaking up and reclaiming her voice. She deserves all the support in the world for it.
If anyone here has good ideas on how to show this support, post them below. If anyone wants to explain how Binx really does deserve harassment, go to hell.
NOTE: I’ve been in contact with Binx and she is ok with me identifying her by that name; it’s all over the internet already.
Haha it makes sense that one of those useless chucklefucks would work at a liquor store, worthless from top to bottom!
Poor sun and children ?
Poor animals ?
Comparing anyone or anything to them are insults.
Virgin Mary
That is awful I wish I know what to do besides giving you hugs.
@anon:
Right? Much equalist, so activist, wow. If these guys believe in equality, then where ARE the hordes of women threatening to rape-murder these men in order to silence them? There aren’t any. Literally the only thing Chanty did “wrong” (and I don’t think she was wrong) is to tell one of them to STFU when he kept interrupting her while a camera was rolling. And for that, a three-year hatefest ensues! If these guys really cared about men in the slightest, wouldn’t they have gotten together to set up a homeless shelter for street boys, or something? No, because that’s not what the Men’s Human Rights Movement™ is really about. It’s all about harassing women on the internet, and in real life if possible.
These guys think they have a God-given right to just talk over everyone and drown them out, especially if that “everyone” is a feeeeemale. They really are spoiled brats who have learned to get their way through tantrums. They’ve never grown beyond their Terrible Twos. But they are physically big enough to do real harm, and many of them are also weapons junkies, martial-arts trainees, etc. In other words: Two-year-olds with an adult’s access to things that can kill.
And that’s why women feel so frightened when they start threatening her on the Internet. She may not know any of them personally, but there is a very real chance that she’ll meet one on the street, and a very real chance that she’ll suffer the worse for it.
And worst of all, the authorities constantly underestimate their numbers, not to mention their capacity to harm, and their ability to infiltrate. How else does a jackwagon with neo-Nazi tattoos get to working at the LCBO? And how many more of his ilk are hiding in the cop shop? And how many have literally gotten away with murder, especially of indigenous prostituted women here in Canada?
But oh, poor widdle oppwessed white cishet menz. Greatest human rights movement in the history of Ever. Bleah.
I heard about this on Twitter from the guy she bought the bottle of wine for (a moderately well known local guy, not a personal acquaintance). He said he’d been going through a tough time lately with some mental health and family stuff and she was coming over to chat and help keep his spirits up.
So here we have a neat little package of: a feminist helping a man with an issue that is often overlooked or mocked by our society, and an MRA harassing a woman.
Aaahhh
July 2, 2016 at 7:41 am
It wasn’t right even 3 seconds after it was done. It will never be right. And it’s not punishment. It’s harassment.
Jesus Christ, MRAs are garbage human beings.
@macomeau:
Whaaat? Feminists care more about men than meninists do? HERESY! MISAAAAANDRY!
Srsly, though: That makes this an even bigger bummer. And it’s just more proof that these guys don’t give a damn about genuinely troubled men. They never met a mentally ill dude that they couldn’t shove under a bus when he stops being convenient to their interests (i.e., harassing women). Feminists, on the other hand, have been dealing with mental health issues for about as long as there’s been feminism, and taking issue with the way society treats the mentally ill.
Gawd, I hope Mr. Ugly Tattoos is not only sacked, but jailed.
That’s a good point, actually – but forget the “Else,” how’d he get the job at all? How’d a neo-Nazi with a giant friggin’ Iron Eagle plastered over his shoulder like so much frat-boy hangover vomit get a government job in a country where displaying neo-Nazi symbols is illegal?
This could be the breaking of a serious scandal.
My guess is he was wearing long sleeves when he was interviewed. But now the LCBO has no more excuses to keep him on, and I doubt the union will have his (hideously tattooed) back, either. If this guy was a harasser at work, this should be the final nail in his coffin. At least where a career in the public sector is concerned.
You’re right, it IS the tip of a scandal. And it’s one that’s been simmering in Canada for decades. The Conservative party (and its various provincial clones, especially in Alberta and Saskatchewan) has been more or less openly courting two-bit neo-Nazis for years. The gavotte between the Reform Party (the predecessor to the present-day SupposiTories) and the Heritage Front is a scandal at least two decades old. Here are some handy links, for those interested in a little light reading:
http://www.stopracism.ca/content/stephen-harper-and-his-northern-foundation-past
http://pushedleft.blogspot.ca/2009/10/stephen-harper-and-heritage-front.html
It really is worth a google sometime, if you want to see a really twisty rabbit warren…
the tat on his LEFT arm is the Ægishjálmr, or “Helm of Awe” it’s a norse runic symbol ALSO frequently admired by neo Nazis…so yeah. his tattoos are pretty sketchy.
While we’re on the subject of icons of hate speech, a certain presumptive presidential nominee has tweeted a picture of his rival against a backdrop of cash featuring a very prominent six-pointed star decrying her “corruption”.
A subgroup of people on the photo sharing website Imgur like to use Binx’s picture in various anti-feminist memes.
Whenever I come across it I usually make some snarky comment “Hah. It’s funny because the harassment ruined her life.”
It’s interesting not because I get downvoted to oblivion – that’s expected, User Submitted hardly seems different from 4chan some days – but because I generally get 1 or 2 replies along the lines of, “I don’t know who she is, just that she’s a stereotypical feminist trope.”
How horrifying is that? The hate has been around so long there are people perpetuating it that have no idea of the origin or the continued stream of harassment.
@fruitloopsie
Thank you. 🙂
It’s over now, and the guy who started it actually apologised to me in the end. Trouble is, the snowball he set rolling got way out of control, I still occasionally get sworn at in the street by a couple of his buddies because he thought that ‘calling off the dogs’ would make him appear weak. I don’t feel afraid to go out anymore, but I choose not to go on facebook just to be on the safe side, you never know how far stuff spreads that can damage your reputation and get you fired or lose you friends, if they are gullible enough to believe it.
There’s a very important ingredient to this whole display: us. This isn’t just about Chanty Binx, it’s about every woman who reads this story or sees those comments. “Watch what you say, bitch, you’re next”. It’s not unlike, in some ways, street harassment. Make a woman feel unsafe, then remind her in subtle and not-so-subtle ways on the street throughout the day, “You just watch yourself… you’re not safe… these streets belong to us.” Every “hey baby nice tits” recalls every scary rape story you heard on the news, and it makes you just that much less likely to go out alone. You can frighten women into reducing their participation in the public sphere. Fear has always been used as a way to control women and create power for men.
Enter the internet. Anyone can have a computer, anybody can post what they think from a sense of safety. In recent years, we’ve seen a flourishing of online feminism: Jezebel, Th Hairpin, The Mary Sue, Bitch Media, and dozens of other publications like Vox or The Independent that may not be solely feminist but regularly post feminist or female perspectives. Any woman can have a blog and any woman can follow it. Women can exist on the internet and feel safe having opinions. It was only a matter of time before these guys found a way to scare us. It’s how they maintain their power. The same way every casual bit of street harassment recalls every frightening story about a woman raped walking home, every time a commenter unleashes casual misogyny against a woman having an opinion on the internet she thinks of Chanty Binx or Zoe Quinn. Maybe she thinks, “is it really worth it?”
Misogyny is always reinforced by violence and the threat of violence. But, as unpleasant as all of this is, it is important to keep in mind: it doesn’t work. We have seen that it doesn’t work. It didn’t work when they were beating suffragettes and keeping them away from their children, and it won’t work now.
@Alpine
Good catch; I was wondering why the runes are in a wheel, since there’s no way somebody of his intellect would be that creative. Even better, Google says it represents a spell/curse meant “To induce fear.” Fucking brilliant.
So. Over/under on how long it’ll be before this sub-sapient cheese-riddled metastatic bellend goes from being the MRM’s hero of the week to being NO TRUE MRA?
Cyberwulf
Be sorry for what? So far, there have been no consequences whatsoever to any harassers.
Has anyone been stopped so far?
‘Cause Zoe Quinn and Anita have been fighting for years, and so far, no consequences
This is the first time I post on a thread on this site, although I have been lurking for quite some time now.
I can second close to everything that has been said already, and the fact that fucked up stuff like what happened to Chanty Binx still happens today makes me shake with rage.
However, there’s one thing I don’t understand. Did she ever contact the police about the harrassment that occurred to her over the period of three years? I simply can’t believe that this kind of bullying, with threats of grievous bodily harm against her, carries no legal repercussions.
Anyone care to enlighten me?
I have a few questions and I hope that somebody here can answer them. I would google but I don’t want to ruin my weekend with countles MRAshit that I would encounter while researching this story.
What kind of MRA organization has Chanty Binx interrupted when this video of her got filmed?
And is it true that the leader or speaker at that event advocated for the age of consent for girls to be lower than it is? (I heard that rumor somewhere)
I have just been to the HuffPost Women facebook page. The first video is about feminism (hint don’t read the comments). It is filled by mra/mgtow upvoting themselves and complaining about how evil feminism is and how evil feminists (Chanty Binx video) interrupted a conference on male suicide.
You could’t make this story up.
@Axecalibur
I hope this doesn’t come off as unsympathetic to your feelings but when I read the phrase “wrathful vibration mode” I immediately thought, “There needs to be a sex toy that has that as a setting.”
I think most notable is that once again the harasser is an adult who is just as much a shit in real life as he is online.
So often people excuse this harassment as if it’s just 13 year old kids who don’t know any better, but time after time the harassers have publicly made themselves visible and they are invariably older white men with neo-nazi connections and the like.
We need to start taking harassers at their words. These are the neo-nazi and KKK movements that have found their way on line. And they’ve found the way to replicate their “surround one person and terrify and harm them as a symbol to others” tactics in the real world into the online space. And if they are not stopped, they will continue to do more real damage online and off.
It is far past time for the SPLC to start treating online as a real space where neo-nazis are organizing, planning, and recruiting rather than clinging to the illusion that they are only dangerous when they are in person in a room.
Can we get font size tags just long enough to make this larger?
This really makes me want to tell every MRA from now on to shut the fuck up. I’m not arguing with them anymore or finding new and entertaining ways to call them idiots; I’m just telling them to shut the fuck up. They want to silence Chanty Binx? I say we give them a few hundred more Chanty Binxes.
If any MRAs are reading this, shut the fuck up. Just shut the fuck up. Forever. Don’t worry, I’ll be telling you this somewhere that you can reply, too. I know how much you loooove your freeze peach–that is, until someone else is exercising theirs. SHUT. THE FUCK. UP.
http://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/shut-up.gif
Hey now, this is extremely unfair to both cheese and bellends.
(Awesome insult, though. I’m always impressed by the talent this group has for them.)
@pi male
Well, I’m about it…
‘Wrathful Vibration Mode: For when you need to show your jibblies who’s boss!’
‘Wrathful Vibration Mode: Let’s get dangerous!’
‘Wrathful Vibration Mode: I’m not locked in here with you, you’re locked in here with me!’
‘Wrathful Vibration Mode: Playtime has just begun!’
‘Wrathful Vibration Mode: King Kong! Ain’t got shit! On me!’
‘Wrathful Vibration Mode: In the end, there can be only one!’
Among those who believes that Chanty Binx deserves every bit of harassment and threats she has endured, is Richard Dawkins, of the Center For Inquiry. A few months ago, he tweeted that Binx likely faked her harassment, was “perhaps mentally ill,” and that he couldn’t believe that “anyone’s as nasty as her.” Dawkins initially took down the tweet that incited more harassment against Binx, and made a point to refuse to apologize, but then days after researching the topic, bravely retweeted the same video.
If you agree with Dawkins and want to hang out with like-minded individuals, the Center For Inquiry is sponsoring the Women in Secularism 4 conference, held September 23–25 this year in Arlington, VA. I can’t imagine anyone at CFI would care why I won’t ever support the organization in any way.