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Combating online misogyny #MisogynyAlert

That's Not My Name: Beating Down Online Misogyny
That’s Not My Name: Beating Down Online Misogyny (Photo credit: allaboutgeorge)

Sexism and misogyny online are the reality of the internet and can have an impact beyond irritation and anger to emotional abuse and anxiety disorders. I find misogyny and sexism online o be very similar to what we see in real life, with one notable difference. The women are not physically vulnerable on social media platforms.

This, in my mind opens several interesting possibilities in terms of engaging with the male mindset, being self freely or combating views that are harmful to women in ways that risk of physical abuse can render inadvisable in real life.

It is like walking on a street. The warning signs are there. You hear a catcall, you look elsewhere and pretend not to here till you are past the area. You hear another catcall, you look down, hunch your shoulders, hurry through. The next day it repeats, and you experience that bullying as an anxiety attack, tense in anticipatory anxiety, scampering through and heaving a sigh of relief.

This is not all that different from bullying and psychological abuse. There is an abundance of bullies who feel secure enough in the anonymity and distance provided by the internet to engage in behavior they would not be able to get away with in real life or institutional settings. Covert verbal abuse and bullying of women is common. Extreme cases have led to suicides. Less extreme cases have led to outright insult, panic disorders, police cases and considerable misery. A typical victim may have diminished themselves to a lesser role, blocking some, ignoring others and such.

I have found that it is verbal self defense to deal functionally with online sexual (or other verbal abuse across physical distance) harassment. Sharing some of my learnings. These use a context of Twitter, but will likely work anywhere in a social networking context:

I will write a separate post with examples of strategies for different situations soon. May add to this one if something occurs to me. If you find these ideas useful, check back once in a while.

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