The Internet is a Scary Place, Especially if You Have a Vagina

        I came across this article this afternoon in the Pacific Standard and had the desire to share it out of surprise, fear, and disgust. Headlined, "Why Women Aren't Welcome on the Internet," journalist Amanda Hess writes about the abuses she and other female writers face on the internet each time they publish an article. Hess uses (horrifying) personal anecdotes of violent, sexual abuse and other people's examples as well. Her article is an illustration of the scary realities of online forums, Twitter feeds, and comment sections.

Here is an excerpt:

I dragged myself out of bed and opened my laptop. A few hours earlier, someone going by the username “headlessfemalepig” had sent me seven tweets. “I see you are physically not very attractive. Figured,” the first said. Then: “You suck a lot of drunk and drug fucked guys cocks.” As a female journalist who writes about sex (among other things), none of this feedback was particularly out of the ordinary. But this guy took it to another level: “I am 36 years old, I did 12 years for ‘manslaughter’, I killed a woman, like you, who decided to make fun of guys cocks.” And then: “Happy to say we live in the same state. Im looking you up, and when I find you, im going to rape you and remove your head.” There was more, but the final tweet summed it up: “You are going to die and I am the one who is going to kill you. I promise you this.”

        Later in the article, she cites data that support her claim that women face harsher and more frequent online abuse. The data are staggering: 

And it starts young: Teenage girls are significantly more likely to be cyberbullied than boys. Just appearing as a woman online, it seems, can be enough to inspire abuse. In 2006, researchers from the University of Maryland set up a bunch of fake online accounts and then dispatched them into chat rooms. Accounts with feminine usernames incurred an average of 100 sexually explicit or threatening messages a day. Masculine names received 3.7. 

        If you're interested, Ross Douthat wrote a follow up article for The Times in today's book review headlined "The War on Women."