That trolls, sexism, and hate speech are prevalent on the Internet is nothing new. What is new is that women are getting super fed up with this bullshit and are starting to collectively work against social media platforms because of it.
Today is #WomenBoycottTwitter day, a day-long boycott of the Twitter platform by women to protest Twitter's suspension of Rose McGowan's account following her comments about Harvey Weinstein.
What women endure both online and in the real world is something, apparently, upstanding men have to see to believe. I'd like to say it's uncommon that women who work on social media can get everything from unsolicited dick pics to rape and death threats. It's not - it's common AF. I mean, one woman got death threats after complaining about Hobby Lobby, for cripes sake.
The great thing about social media, in some ways, is it's forever. You can see this shit plain as day. There is no he said, she said. It's there for anybody to read.
And still, some don't believe it. Or they dismiss it. Or belittle it.
And the terrible thing about social media is the anonymity factor emboldens the worst kind of people.
Why the hell wouldn't we want a social media platform, who can see all this stuff plain as day, to shut it down?
Twitter has been notorious for letting terrorism and hate speech have free reign. FOR YEARS. And while there's something to be said about protecting questionable speech, allowing people's racism and bigotry to shine its revolting light freely while turning around and silencing sexual assault victims is the worst kind of hypocrisy. What's the point of protecting free speech when you silence the people who are trying to stand up for injustice?
I'm joining the boycott. Hell, I've been slowly fading away on Twitter anyway. It stopped being a great fun place where you could interact with people and have conversations with everyone in 140 character spurts. Now? It's feels like a place where people can spout 280 characters of bullshit unhindered.
You know, unless you're actually trying to say you've been sexual assaulted.
Will you be joining us today?
Printer-friendly version