Rape Threats on Twitter

You're so right Absy but luckily I think that really works against them. It is terrifying that they see fit to attack and threaten a woman for such a mundanely normal and everyday feminist campaign - but at the same time it shows them up for the jelly-brained weaklings they are. In a weird way twitter is doing women in general a favour (though individual women are being targeted which is horrible...) - by showing us what a lot of men really think and how appalling it is and how something has to be done to change it. Twitter is like a view inside the minds of idiots who don't realise just how revealing they are being.

Oh yes, I think it's all about shutting women up and denying them a place in the public sphere. That's why Mary Beard gets such abuse - because she's an older woman with grey hair who dares to appear on TV.

I suppose what is so disturbing about it (apart from people thinking it's "okay" to threaten someone with sexual violence) is that it seems to be a coordinated attack on women having a presence in a public sphere, as if women shouldn't have a voice.

I mean, come on she was campaigning to have someone's face on the £10 note. It's not like she was campaigning to have all men castrated, or at least all complete wankers castrated (a motion I would be all for). The reaction is so insane and so out of proportion.

I'm sure youth and looks are one factor in this getting such widespread coverage now but it's also silly season - Parliament has broken up, so there's more room for other news.

Whatever, I'm glad it is hitting the headlines and forcing the police, twitter and MPs to take it seriously - unlike the attitude to date, which has been 'shut up women and stop moaning'.

Double standards - the threats against Tom Daley were (rightly) taken seriously, but not against women. And her fellow MPs have done sod-all to help Stella Creasey (bet there are other women MPs who are targets as well e.g. Harriet Harman is likely to be a target as she infuriates men's 'rights' activists).

These tweets could be consider assault (which is the "apprehension of immediate violence"), which is a criminal offence, and an offence which has been used extensively in the prosecution of stalker cases e.g. R v Costanza where someone is not in physical proximity to the victim.

If it's a criminal offense, why shouldn't it be taken seriously?

Bullying of any pupil including Tom Daley can be vicious and needs dealing with firmly. It can ruin the victims life by causing them to drop out of school and never get on the education ladder again.

I know, you'd think they'd refer to the bit that he'd actually got arrested for wouldn't you?

It is weird, GoodTouch. I don't quite understand why it is.
At the moment one problem is they keep using the word 'trolls' so people think campaigners want everything that falls under the umbrella of trolling (which can include quite good-humoured wind-ups) to be banned. They really don't.

It absolutely is justified Goths. Weird that the illegal part wasn't the headline..

It often happens that people reporting these stories use euphemisms to describe what was said so everyone assumes the victim is making a fuss about nothing. Much of the really awful stuff can't be repeated in radio and tv interviews because it's too obscene to broadcast. That's what happened when Mary Beard got abused before. When people find out what was actually said, they get it.

The fuss that is. Not the tweet.

goodtouch Yeah, I only saw that originally and didn't get the fuss. I thought it was an overreaction, but then I saw that. I think it's justified.

Oh right, missed that. I only saw "you let your dad down"

Didn't realise this was in Feminism!

Do you know what the 'nasty' tweets to Tom Daly said, or whether the sender did this repeatedly? Harassment is an offense.

I'm pretty certain there were threats against Tom Daly, hang on.. oh yes, "i'm going to find you and i'm going to drown you in the pool"

Well, I found something about a teenager being arrested for sending "nasty" tweets to Tom Daley, only yesterday.

No rape or violence involved there. Just nasty.

WAY OTT if you ask me. Save it for the dangerous people

"If someone can get arrested for tweeting about blowing up an airport, then surely this deserves real action?"

Excellent point.

Greatarticle by Stella Creasy in yesterday's Guardian:

'Twitter tell me we should simply block those who "offend us", as though a rape threat is matter of bad manners, not criminal behaviour.'

'This behaviour is nothing to do with technology and everything to do with inequality'

'It is not for us to learn to cope with this abuse, but for those involved to change their behaviour'

If this was race or religion-based abuse, instead of misogynistic abuse, absolutely no-one would be suggesting that the targeted people just 'ignore it' or 'don't let it get to you' or 'suck it up' or any other charming suggestions for allowing bullies to get away with using scary and threatening language. It is truly terrifying how quickly some people make the leap from 'don't agree with you' to 'I'm going to xxxx you'. It used to be that women would get called old or ugly or a slag or whatever for speaking out, now it's actual direct threats of violence. Sickening.

I'm talking about the man arrested the other day. What happened in Texas has nothing to do with this.

Ill try and find it.. I cant remember the details now, but I know it happened a while back

GoodTouchBadTouch - I don't know what the man who was arrested said but I can guarantee it will have been something a lot worse than 'fuck off you bitch' and the kind of stuff we would normally consider merely offensive.

Have you seen everything that Caroline Criado-Perez and Stella Creasy have retweeted? This isn't about people being offended.

GoodTouch I'm not aware of anyone being arrested for just being offensive. As far as I'm aware the arrests have been for those who've made threats.

Obviously but I don't think its illegal to be offensive - yet.

It's illegal to threaten people with death and violence.

Threats YES of course they should be taken very seriously.

Im very worried about the fact people are being arrested in their homes for "offensive" language..

WTF happened to freedom of speech?? So now its illegal to offend people?