Trashing

[supergee]

Does the Internet hate women?

Thanx to Metafilter

Comments

[arlie]

No, "the Internet" doesn't hate women. The culture is misogynistic, and the Internet enables a lot of really nasty behaviour. It's aimed at all the usual targets, and a few extras. (E.g. climate scientists, who aren't normally though of as an oppressed group.)

We do ourselves a disservice by blaming the Internet, because then we don't see e.g. the semi-acceptability of a man shooting his girlfriend or ex-girlfriend. Or the double binds every working woman faces with regard to promotion.

The internet allows people to feel safer doing nasty things they'd really like to do anyway. Combine this with non-autistic people's difficulty imaging a real person behind communications that aren't face-to-face, particularly those that involve only words, and you have a recipe for assholery. Amazingly, it works ;-(

[lydy]

Exactly what Penny says. If you didn't read the piece, you really should. She's just brill.