Trolls on the Internet are infinite. Many remain faceless and anonymous while others display their identity although, with a misplaced pride. But no matter what their faces be like, these trolls tend to get on the nerves quite easily.
What these trolls often forget is the fact that the person they write mean comments to, is an actual person with feelings and emotions. Not a bot that can wring it away and say I don’t give a flying fuck. And as long as the commenters are cursing and calling names on a larger, general scale, you perhaps can nudge it away. But when they go full swing personal, that’s when shit hits the roof.
Just Not Sports, an online publication website, in an initiative to tackle this problem started a campaign – #MoreThanMean.
As an exercise, they decided to have real men read out mean comments that two of their women journalists received online.
What started as a ha-ha, fun thing, suddenly became serious with men giving long pauses before reading the comments. Some even teared up by the end of it.
Watch the video here:
“I hope you get raped again.”
“I hope your boyfriend beats you.”
These were some of the comments that these journalists received just because they were doing their jobs. For the men who wrote the comments, women were no more than a bitch or a cunt. For these men, they were just a mouth that gives them fellatio and hands that cooks their food.
Cat calling on the streets, rape threats on social media, being asked to suck a dick, or show some boobs. All of these and more is an every day reality for most women journalists. And no matter how much hue and cry we raise, it all gets shot down by labelling a woman who protests as a feminazi. This is the sorry state of affairs for women, and a lot of men out there too. But you can end this by calling out these trolls, and protest about it. You will get shot down infinite time, but don’t fall. Stand tall, and stand firm.
