I'm going to set my stall out here - I'm a 44 year old guy with kids, who was - I believe - one of the first couple of thousand people in the UK to
be a part of the modern/commercial internet when services were initally launched over here in the UK in 94/95 initially on 9600, then 14400 and 28800
kbps modems as time progressed and have stayed onboard through the early AOL dominance years and on to today's more commercialised big-business
'net.
And in that time the 'net has always been a haven for the unusual, a place where limits were pushed and just about every different angle has been
explored. I would say through various jobs/involvement with online forums I've had the unfortunate "priviledge" of coming across most things you
can see out here in "cyberspace".
But recently the net has been disturbing me more and more.
Now I know that there are far, far worse things on the net than what I'm about to discuss, but frankly those things are - in the overall scheme of
things - relative to a minority
What I'm going to discuss is far, far more commonplace and has an
big impact on society in general.
You see, I'd hate to be a woman on the internet right now.
Now some of you reading this will be female, and I'm interested in your stories and what you may have experienced, but for those of you who, like me,
happen to be male, we have an issue on our hands.
I often see people condemn moderate muslims for not speaking out against terrorism (they do, BTW, it doesn't get reported) and I think its about time
the decent guys out here actually started to try and take the 'net back from the assholes out there.
And yes, I'm a mod, and yes I used the term asshole and yes, get used to it, because the term is appropriate.
Women are treated like second class citizens on a lot of the 'net. Objectified, abused, cajoled and threatened. Not just in seedy places, or the dark
web, but every single day on social media, in forums (but not on ATS, hopefully) and in comments sections across many sites, hell, even in response to
product reviews.
The stuff that is put out there is vile. It is the kind of thing that - were I to hear someone say it to a womans face - I would do something about
directly and personally, including either reporting to the Police or - possibly - respond with physical force.
Direct insults, sexual insults, attempted intimidation, threats of violence, threats of rape. Things that are not, have not and should not ever be
socially acceptable, thrown at women (not necessarily by "anonymous cowards" either) simply because they choose to discuss a subject or express an
opinion.
Its not a new thing, but it most certainly is getting worse. Not only that but the sheer volume of it overwhelms traditional law enforcement and - for
some reason - a lot of sites/companies/content providers are very very slow to respond to it.
Some of it is peer related. Some of it is certainly influenced by other forms of media (lets face it, rap/hip-hop has been usurped by misogyny) but
some of it is also force fed as "entertainment" as well in certain quarters - even here in the UK one of our TV channels has pulled a "comedy"
show after receiving an unprecedented number of complaints about its content - how the hell it made it to air in the first place is beyond me.
Freedom of speech does not cover this stuff. It is - as I said before - vile. If there is anyone truly out there who thinks telling a woman she is
"begging to be raped" is acceptable because she's expressed an opinion, or that threatening to kill her and her family simply because shes spoken
out about an issue online (as per the recent "gamergate" scandal) is somehow justified then I personally have a baseball bat I would like to share
with their head.
So why aren't these assholes rounded on/drowned out/stepped on? Why aren't the nomal guys - the decent ones - the thinkers, the responsible ones,
why aren't we reporting this in droves? Why aren't we acting like a society
should do?
And what's it going to take before that actually starts to happen, because it just seems to be getting worse?
I'm interested in your considerd opinions..
Note - I am board staff. The site
T&C's on such issues are clear.
16) Behavior: You will not behave in an abusive, libelous, defamatory, hateful, intolerant, bigoted and/or racist manner, and will not harass,
threaten, nor attack anyone.
I will not mod this thread, but other staff will do.