Internet run by men against women

[Annasgirl]

Now, I am quite sure there are many of you who have way more knowledge than I do on this topic, but I keep coming up against this thought.

While reading a link about the tavistock clinic case just now, a woman posted that Twitter stops women talking. And I realised that I see more and more evidence that the internet, as it is currently run, is being run by mainly a group of, how would I say, poorly socialised men, who hate women. This has resulted in the rise of

Incel groups
The dark web
Porn everywhere and anywhere
The erasure of Women (I don't want to be banned from here but others have been for clarifying what this means)

There are more items on the list but I am suffering from lack of sleep due to new puppy(!) and I am certain you guys will all fill out the list.

So, now that we know it is happening, the question is, what can we do about it?

[boatyardblues]

So, now that we know it is happening, the question is, what can we do about it?

Get off the internet and organise in real life. There’s a reason why there was such a concerted effort to disrupt the public meetings: co-ordinated grassroots opposition is effective.

[CivilCervix]

@boatyardblues

So, now that we know it is happening, the question is, what can we do about it?

Get off the internet and organise in real life. There’s a reason why there was such a concerted effort to disrupt the public meetings: co-ordinated grassroots opposition is effective.

More and more I think that this has to be the way forward. Building momentum for more visible and unified protest.

[GreenUp]

We can support female-led tech institutions for example mumsnet.

Just think, if a bloke had set up mumsnet instead of Justine, there's no way that we would be allowed to talk about women's rights being destroyed by trans activism. Look at what happened to reddit.

Giggle app has a female CEO and is supposed to be pro -women - haven't used it myself but might try and download.

More women have to get involved in online platform creation. I suppose the problem is that the major players such as Twitter, FB, tumbler and Insta are so well established that it is hard for new entrants.

[GreenUp]

Should add that TRAs like Islan and Prior spend all their days obsessively monitoring Mumsnet because it is one of the few places on the internet where women can speak relatively freely about the reality of their lives.

[highame]

the major players such as Twitter, FB, tumbler and Insta are so well established that it is hard for new entrants.

Anti trust going on at the moment in the US. These major players are having an impact on businesses in the US and like us, their small medium sized companies are their lifeblood.

[VictoriaLucas102]

@boatyardblues

So, now that we know it is happening, the question is, what can we do about it?

Get off the internet and organise in real life. There’s a reason why there was such a concerted effort to disrupt the public meetings: co-ordinated grassroots opposition is effective.

^^This. Also very good for your sanity to meet up in real life with other women who believe the same things you do in all this madness.

[Annasgirl]

Oh yes, I mean, that is where I will go in my own life. But I look at the impact this is having on my DC, their friends, - and more importantly, on society - can we really turn back the tide on this?

I think this reversal of women's rights has coincided with the growth of the internet and more specifically, tech like Twitter and Facebook and all those other apps (I'm not on any of them any more).

But it is so insidious, is it really just a coincidence or was there a plan? I am not a conspiracy theorist but it looks like the growth of the internet has led to a decline in the rights of women both online and offline.

And the most recent example - the constant in your face promotion of that site (which I won't name because it does not deserve any more free publicity) where young women post naked photos etc for money - apparently according to one of the new progammes on one of my national radio programmes (which already has form for misogyny) it is empowering for young women.

[NotTerfNorCis]

TRAs like Islan and Prior

Prior claims to know more about feminism then actual feminists.

Also from Prior:

I don't even know what a sex threat is...

'I hate you so much I'm going to pleasure you????!!?'

twitter.com/joss_prior/status/1301085450623496193?s=19

[Imnobody4]

Can't help feeling Twitter etc are just tip of the iceberg. It's the rapid development of even more abusive technology unhindered by legislation. It in the end is a political issue.
www.wired.co.uk/article/deepfake-porn-websites-videos-law?s=09
Deepfakes are already breaking democracy. Just ask any woman
The amount of deepfakes online is growing exponentially. A report from Sensity released last year found 14,678 deepfake videos online in July 2019 – 96 per cent of these were porn and almost all are focussed on women. By June this year the amount of deepfakes had climbed to 49,081.

The majority of deepfake porn is found on, and created by, specific communities. The top four deepfake porn websites had received more than 134 million views last year, Sensity’s 2019 analysis shows. One deepfake porn website is full of videos featuring celebrities and contains videos of Indian actresses that have been watched millions of times. Some videos state they were requested, while their creators say they can be paid in Bitcoin.

“Some of this technology is improving so fast, because there's so much energy and drive, unfortunately, from the creators’ side,” Patrini says. “I think we're going to be seeing it applied very soon with much larger intent to private individuals.” He believes when the technology is easy for anyone to use there will be a “tipping point” when lawmakers will become aware of the problems.

Clare McGlynn, a professor at the Durham Law School who specialises in pornography regulations and sexual abuse images, agrees. “What this shows is the looming problem that is going to come for non-celebrities,” she says. “This is a serious issue for celebrities and others in the public eye. But my long-standing concern, speaking to individual survivors who are non-celebrities, is the risk of this is what is coming down the line.”

[Wanderingstars4238]

Women can use the internet to raise awareness and support other women, too. Relationship boards seem to overwhelmingly be women asking for help with a man who's clearly abusive.

I joined an emotional abuse support group long ago, which was a huge help and learning source for me when I was in an abusive marriage, and pretty isolated from the outside world.

[Annasgirl]

Yes I agree that the internet can be a force for good and there are many ways we can use it to advance the cause of feminism.

However, I believe certain platforms are deliberately targeting women and the rights of women and I believe these are perhaps the unintended consequences of the internet (I am being generous when I say unintended). And the proliferation of sites which abuse women terrifies me as does the political influence of tech giants.

[WellIWasInTheNeighbourhoo]

This is the one and only reason I pay the mumsnet subscription. Vote with your cash ladies, its the only real vote you have.

But I do think men are shooting themselves in the foot. Ive lost count of the number of beautiful single financially successful het women in their 40s who do not date and have no interest in relationships with men. They are literally 'why would I' ?

[MondayYogurt]

Learn to code. Seriously. Women and girls need to take control from the foundations up, and this means learning and developing programming languages.
Of course there is massive gate-keeping of these spaces, of course there will be sexual harassment and bullying - there always is, in any male dominated environment. But we can teach girls to combat it, as long as they get a toe in the door.

[stumbledin]

The internet is no different from the rest of society.

Hard to believe but in the early days of computing most jobs were done by women as men thought it was too much like hard work. But gradually as use of computer became more common men came into the industry and guess what? Assumed they should be in charge!

When Tim Berners-Lee gave away for free the program that allows the building of web sites he never imagined it would be used in the way it now is.

It isn't even a conscious conspiracy it is just an expression of male entitlement. When you add into it the fact that most of those who work in social media are not only male but young, and are not under any sort of social constraint, they just behave as they have grown up. immature, lacking in empathy, lacking respect in women, and as geeks think the sort of bad ass male stance towards women is something they should emmulate. (Did you see the film Social Network)

So it isn't just the conscious bias of algorithm, it is the fact that algorithm are created by people (men) with biased (bigoted) minds.

And this bias is being programmed into people's lives.

Some years ago when computer were only just becoming more common in the work place a well known teaching hospital in London was persuaded a computer would do a better job assessing job applications for doctors and consultants. After about a year it was noticeable that there were fewer women and people from BAME backgrounds being appointed. Why, because the programmer, and immate white male, had just added into the program his bigotry. That women and PoC would not be as good as people like him.

This goes on every day in finance and othere areas of our lives.

The difference is that on social media it is more visible. And as OP said it creates an atmosphere that means younger people take it an "natural".

Not unlike the 2 women who created that song that is meant to be so liberating about women, but they admit, or at least one of them did admit, that it was influenced by growing up in a house where she heard rap and pornography was not hidden. This was her "normal".

[JamieLeeCurtains]

@WellIWasInTheNeighbourhoo

This is the one and only reason I pay the mumsnet subscription. Vote with your cash ladies, its the only real vote you have.

But I do think men are shooting themselves in the foot. Ive lost count of the number of beautiful single financially successful het women in their 40s who do not date and have no interest in relationships with men. They are literally 'why would I' ?

It's one of the reasons I'm also grateful to @MNHQ. For this place.

[Ereshkigalangcleg]

Prior claims to know more about feminism then actual feminists.

Prior claims a lot of things.

[ForrestTrump]

Is the internet really 'mainly run by incel groups and the dark web'?

I'd have thought they'd be a tiny sliver of it. Surely it's mainly run by ISPs, site moderators, web techs, etc.