I log into my account, and there it is. Every curse word, abuse, and insult known to humankind was right there, flooding my notifications. Why might you ask? Because I’m a feminist…
Trolls are like little bugs. They contaminate the internet and try to penetrate into our lives too, to make it worse. Trolls are also abominable and disgusting. Because they don’t have lives of their own. Why else would someone spend hours behind a computer screen bashing on someone else’s opinions for no other reason than the sadistic personality they like to be proud of?
Being a feminist is an abuse today. It’s the opposite of what feminism actually stands for. If anything, feminism should be a compliment. Isn’t standing up for basic human rights and equality something to be proud of?
According to MRAs (men’s rights activists), it makes you a b****. They use insults and downright abuse their freedom of speech all whilst trying to bring down people who are doing nothing but standing up for a noble cause. Sometimes, it really makes me wonder, are they really that dense? Or is it just a facade to make up for some hidden insecurities they secretly harbour?
It’s amusing yet terrifying at the same time. Here’s this absolutely random person who knows nothing about me, and is out to get me, for God knows what reason though because there is nothing constructive in this behaviour. This is something that really makes me curious about human nature, and scares me because where are we headed if this is the kind of behaviour we have to deal with today?
Cyberbullying is “bullying that takes place using electronic technology. Electronic technology includes devices and equipment such as cell phones, computers, and tablets as well as communication tools including social media sites, text messages, chat, and websites.”
Cyberbullying is serious and people online are being cyber bullied for being feminists. This is just ridiculous. Online harassment is starting to become an epidemic that’s plaguing the lives of women worldwide, every single day. The worst of it isn’t even this, it’s the reasons why women are getting harassed, stalked, and bullied by these faceless imbeciles. Because they’re feminists.
It’s almost as if the rise of technology has also spiked the fragility of the male ego that seems to be more threatened than ever. It’s almost as if women advancing and doing well for themselves isn’t what they want for us. It’s almost as if the one public safe space that started out innocently also just has to be made unsafe for women. Misogyny is so deeply rooted that this virus has made its way online, affecting us in far worse ways than the Trojan virus ever could. Women are sent unsolicited photographs of men’s private parts, sent abuses and curse words, death threats, and rape threats daily.
There’s no difference between the ‘real’ and ‘online’ anymore as boundaries have melted, people are closer than ever, and all the hate and insensitivity that is there in the real world seems to have percolated into the virtual world as well. People are as unkind online as they are in reality now.
Cybersexism is a reality. One that needs action, immediately.