"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 .

Not sure I understand your argument AZ.

I haven't said that being a member of a minority group excludes you from using threats of sexual violence.

Don't know where you got that idea from. I said that men do not on the whole, get comments which target them for what they are - men - at the same rate that women get comments which target them for what they are - women.

Sorry if that wasn't clear.

Really?

You got any examples Squeakytoy?

Why do I get the feeling this thread was started simply to allow some people the chance to hector other women about "gender issues".
Sometimes I am embarrassed to consider myself a feminist.

Pick any male in the public eye, straight, gay, black or white, and I can bet there is some insulting comment about him.

The internet makes it easy for keyboard warriors to hide behind their anonymity and be as vile as they like.

Oh of course there will be something insulting, I agree with you.

But it won't be an insult on the basis that he's male, will it?

I'd love to see the abuse someone like Jamie Oliver for example got. Pretty sure there would be a focus on the 'fat tongued c' thing. Or cockney b. Its always the thing perceived as the 'weakness' in their identity.

Well I am sure there is every chance it could be.

Are you saying all the insults that are basically just different ways of mutilating a blokes mean and two veg, aren't anything to do with them being a bloke Eleanor?

meat and two veg not 'mean and two veg'

So what is bothering you is if the insult in question involves gender.
So if someone says "You are a complete fucking moron" that would be fine.
But "You are a complete fucking moron bitch" that wouldn't be?
Is that right?

I've just been wetting myself laughing at reading out his hate mail. He gets called ugly, gay, people wish violence on him, and all he does is make silly youtube videos.

No but I"m not aware of those insults AZ. They sound pretty extreme.

Do you have any links to reports of them? Do people actually e-mail people like Richard Dawkins etc., saying they want to cut off their penises?

No Esta
What's bothering me is insults which are done purely and simply on the basis of what someone actually is as well as what they say.

You fucking moron isn't good either of course, it's not an argument, just an insult.

I loved some of those Richard Dawkins ones, they were actually hilarious. But I can't believe they were a selection of some of the worst he's got, they were quite mild, there must be worse.

The author is an attention seeking militant who I find more than a little bit irritating

Me too and she definitely tailors things and makes it all about being female.

I was talking about general references to the insults Eleanor, things like taking a pair of blunt scissors to them, smashing them between two half bricks, 'give him a swift kick in the nads', 'I'm going to break his balls' etc etc.

All these are used by women who are casually chatting about blokes they know and in no way are meant to be literally taken.

Although I'm not saying they're used in the same way as the threats of sexual violence towards the author of the article, I'm just using them to illustrate that women target men in the place they know it'll hurt them the most.

Eleanor, it is very easy to go searching for comments made to men. They are all there, and twitter is a perfect example of where to start looking at them.

Any bloke who is in the public eye will get both good and bad comments just as equally as any woman would.

The person who wrote the article is trying to create a feminist issue where there isnt one. Abuse on the internet by trolls is not worse for women, confined to women, or thrown at women by men because they are women... it is just abuse. I am not saying it is right to abuse anyone, it isnt, but it is NOT a problem that women face BECAUSE they are women.

Here's a selection of threats made against atheists on the Fox News Facebook page.

Note the one from a woman hoping that atheists get raped.

Eleanor, it is very easy to go searching for comments made to men. They are all there, and twitter is a perfect example of where to start looking at them

You need look no further than MN at times.

Then again, look at the catty comments and vitriol spewed by women about women (especially glamorous celebrity women) on here.

As has been said, it's not a feminist issue.

Exactly Worra.. I get the feeling the OP was sent here purely to stir up a feminist vs non-feminist debate...

You took the words right off of my keyboard squeaky...just where is the OP I wonder?

YY Squeakytoy and Worra. It's pathetic and manipulative. Also, AgentZigzag, absolutely. I despise the so-called feminists who project their anger to condoning violence towards men. Violence is wrong, no matter the gender of the perpetrator.

Lets just get down to brass tacks, people hate other people, it's just that some people hate other people more than is the norm.

And I have research and stats to back this up and everything...

Right.

So if someone e-mails a female journalist telling her that her suckhole needs to be stopped with a cock to stop her talking, that's no more evidence of misogyny, than e-mailing a black journalist, telling him that he needs to get back to the cotton field, is evidence of racism then?

Righto.

There's no such thing as woman hatred.

Just man hatred.

Just so we've got it.

I'm off to bed, this is pointless.

Eleanor, do you and the other feminists get some sort of sneaky thrill when you type these things.. I ask, because it only seems to be the feminists who seem to repeatedly type out things about "cocks" etc...

It's only pointless if you're trying to change other peoples opinions Eleanor, I thought it was a discussion where different posters wrote what they thought.

There's man and woman hatred, and child hatred, dog hatred and even cheese hatred.

Stropping off the thread though is good for nowt.