"A woman's opinion is the miniskirt of the internet"

[HedleyLamarr]

I posted this in Feminism [brave emoticon], and someone has suggested putting it in AIBU.

So, I was sent a link to this article in the Independent. Your thoughts/ideas are much appreciated .

The insults are from you PartyPopperz: Oh come now chibi don't be churlish, you are not being silenced you just need to make your points pleasantly like a good girl and you might just be listened to.

I'm posting on this thread alongside other posters and that kind of crap really irritates me. So snide and so predictable. What has it achieved? I really can't be bothered. End of story.

squeaky It doesn't get much more superior than thinking you haven't been raped because you have kept yourself safe.

LeninGrad... Your posts generally resonate with me. I don't 'get' every point you make but they make me think and question the way things are.

LeninGrad Sun 06-Nov-11 22:22:38

I don't understand what is so contentious here, threatening women with sexual violence for expressing an opinion is wrong, it really is as simple as that. It doesn't need comparing, it doesn't need qualifying or disputing.

^This^

And

LeninGrad Sun 06-Nov-11 22:28:48

Threatening sexual violence against women expressing opinions on the internet is appalling, it doesn't need grading or qualifying, it just needs condemning.

^This^

Leningrad, no, you havent, that I recall, and I am not calling you personally a man-hater either. But sadly, that is the general feeling that I get from the majority of the threads which involve the more prolific feminist posters. It has certainly changed a lot of my views on feminism and turned me against it if anything. That is not a slight at you personally, but at the feminist viewpoint as a whole on here.

I however HAVE been called many names, and insulted and sworn at, simply because I refuse to change my own viewpoint and have one that does not conform to the feminist stance on many subjects.

I have just never found the feminist approach towards others to be one which I feel comfortable with. I support equality, not superiority, and sadly the more I see of feminists these days, the more they seem to subscribe to the man-hating image than ever before

The MN feminists brand of feminism is pretty extremist, I think they do feminism overall a disservice.

i am just still blown away by the idea that there could exist people who require polite and gentle persuasion that any form of sexual violence against women, whether threatened or actual is wrong

there are actually people who require gentle persuasion that this is wrong, and if they are unbothered by said violence, it's because they weren't asked nicely enough.

Wow.

I really find that unfathomable.

Esta3GG did the 1970s feminists get abortion legalised and marital rape outlawed due to "pleasant persuasion" and no "hectoring".

Your 22:01 post insinuated that I had used "crass insults" on this thread. Possibly a contributory factor in me getting snippy at your advice.

Lying Ok. Well you did say you couldn't be bothered before. I think I believe you this time.

PartyPooperz Sun 06-Nov-11 22:39:09
squeaky It doesn't get much more superior than thinking you haven't been raped because you have kept yourself safe

I have managed to get to the age of 42, and spent the last 24 of them doing what I can to protect my personal safety. I have not in that time been the victim of any attack from a stranger. Is that down to luck, statistics or because I have not put myself at obvious risk?

Can you actually answer that?

I do not consider myself superior, I am grateful and thankful that I have not been a victim. I know people who have been, and would not wish it on anyone, therefore I do what is within my own capabilities to reduce my risk of attack from a stranger. I really do not see why it is so difficult to understand.

StewieGriffinsMom

Unfortnately posting part of the whole will get you "crass and idiotic" responses.

squeaky Luck.

That is your opinion though Party, not fact.

However, whilst I disagree with Laurie Penny on a number of substantive feminist positionings, I do agree that the vitriol with which women journalists and bloggers are targeted is far more violent and threatening than that received by men. This doesn't mean that some male journalists aren't targeted for online stalking but that the quality and quantity of the violence targeting women is substantially more

I don't think that case was made, I suspect the vitriol is just different, i suspect the % of vitriol per nutter is about the same.

I'd hazard a guess that men are more threatened with violence, women with sex, minorities with racial hate, religious with faith-hate etc.

Well I would easily say that none of the male members of the cabinet look particularly sexy...

Where are the articles about white straight male journalists/bloggers stating that they fear abuse? Of course they receive some but they are not on such a grand scale receiving rape threats and threats that people will come and search them out etc.

You don't think that white straight males receive masses of hate mail and death threats based on the fact that they don't write articles that you've seen about it?

PZ Myers writes about his hate mail here: 'I have received 39 pieces of personal hate mail of varying degrees of literacy, all because I was rude to a cracker. Four of them have included death threats, a personal one day record.'

I've also posted Dawkins reading some of his hate mail, a comedian reading his in funny voices, and a link to some facebook comments about an American Atheist representative including one woman hoping that atheists get raped.

I agree that women receive more hate mail of a sexually threatening nature, but I'm not sure you can argue that is worse than death threats and other abuse - surely that depends on sensitivities of the particular individual it is aimed at.