On Being a Woman on the Internet
Aug. 19th, 2011 06:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
clovehitchedIn 2008, I happened to be walking near Cambridge railway station and encountered a van driver blocking the road, causing massive tailbacks. For those who know Cambridge, you'll realise when I say that she made the traffic back up to Hills Road that she was effectively managing to paralyse a large chunk of the city.
Anyway, at the time I videoed what was happening on my cheap and cheerful Nokia smartphone (this was before I made the jump to using iPhones) and posted it to YouTube. The video can be found here. The description text that goes with it reads:
If you go to the video's page and read the comments, you won't see many of them. This is because I am forced to delete them. Despite it being obvious with a moment's glance that I, the video submitter, am female, lots of the comments I get are horrifically misogynistic, some going as far as to contain graphic descriptions of sexual and other violence. They started off as a slow trickle, but have increased over the years. Now I get one every few days, and have moved from being mildly offensive (I left some of those up) to being thoroughly nasty. They're getting worse, and a few weeks ago I left a comment myself saying that misogynistic comments will be deleted.
It didn't make any difference. The problem has continued getting worse, to the point where I am starting to think I may have to take the video down.
Here are some of the comments I have deleted.
"tut woman drivers, am messin am not sexist lol shes just not a full shilling" - 10 May, 2009
"i cant belive he dint get out n knock er fronts out silly cunt" - 1 May, 2010
"In the descrition... "The lady driving..." I see the issue." - 2 December, 2010
"Why didn't you knock on her window and call her a fat slag?" - 28 January, 2011
"voting was the first mistake. allowing for licenses was the second." - 11 July, 2011
"Dumb cunt!" - 15 July, 2011
"had to be female!" - 6 August 2011
"Woman driver. Say no more." - 6 August, 2011
"if i was there i would smash her face in and rape her :-)" - 10 August, 2011
"YOU DUMB BITCH" - 12 August, 2011
"Clueless woman, an embaressment to woman. She had no idea of what she was doing or causing. Take the tits licence of her." - 15 August, 2011
"stupid bitch" - 19 August, 2011 (today)
For me, the worst and most personally shocking one is the one with the smiley face, proclaiming that the poster would "smash her face in and rape her" *SMILE*
As you can see, they're now coming in at the rate of one every couple of days, and if anything they are getting nastier.
I have heard that many women on the Internet pretend to be men. Go figure.
Also posted at http://auntysarah.dreamwidth.org/252209.html - you can comment here or there.
Anyway, at the time I videoed what was happening on my cheap and cheerful Nokia smartphone (this was before I made the jump to using iPhones) and posted it to YouTube. The video can be found here. The description text that goes with it reads:
The lady driving this van had decided to park in the middle of the road outside Cambridge station, in rush hour, blocking a bus, which in turn blocked all the traffic behind it, which in turn caused it to back up all the way to the main arterial route out of the city to the south. When I started filming, several people had come to remonstrate with her and all she did was move a couple of metres forward each time, which was no use at all. This continued for a few minutes after I stopped filming.The video must have become associated with some other popular videos because over the years since i filmed it, over 21,000 people have seen the clip and it appears to be quite highly rated. I get a regular trickle of comments on it.
If you go to the video's page and read the comments, you won't see many of them. This is because I am forced to delete them. Despite it being obvious with a moment's glance that I, the video submitter, am female, lots of the comments I get are horrifically misogynistic, some going as far as to contain graphic descriptions of sexual and other violence. They started off as a slow trickle, but have increased over the years. Now I get one every few days, and have moved from being mildly offensive (I left some of those up) to being thoroughly nasty. They're getting worse, and a few weeks ago I left a comment myself saying that misogynistic comments will be deleted.
It didn't make any difference. The problem has continued getting worse, to the point where I am starting to think I may have to take the video down.
Here are some of the comments I have deleted.
"tut woman drivers, am messin am not sexist lol shes just not a full shilling" - 10 May, 2009
"i cant belive he dint get out n knock er fronts out silly cunt" - 1 May, 2010
"In the descrition... "The lady driving..." I see the issue." - 2 December, 2010
"Why didn't you knock on her window and call her a fat slag?" - 28 January, 2011
"voting was the first mistake. allowing for licenses was the second." - 11 July, 2011
"Dumb cunt!" - 15 July, 2011
"had to be female!" - 6 August 2011
"Woman driver. Say no more." - 6 August, 2011
"if i was there i would smash her face in and rape her :-)" - 10 August, 2011
"YOU DUMB BITCH" - 12 August, 2011
"Clueless woman, an embaressment to woman. She had no idea of what she was doing or causing. Take the tits licence of her." - 15 August, 2011
"stupid bitch" - 19 August, 2011 (today)
For me, the worst and most personally shocking one is the one with the smiley face, proclaiming that the poster would "smash her face in and rape her" *SMILE*
As you can see, they're now coming in at the rate of one every couple of days, and if anything they are getting nastier.
I have heard that many women on the Internet pretend to be men. Go figure.
Also posted at http://auntysarah.dreamwidth.org/252209.html - you can comment here or there.
