Apparently, women who blog about politics aren't the only ones that need to worry about death and rape threats. Tech blogger Kathy Sierra has been so frightened by the threats, sexual harassment and hate directed towards her that she's canceled upcoming speaking engagements and is literally afraid to leave her home. (Examples of the threats she received and some appalling graphics created using her picture are further down the page; prepare yourself.) I'm not familiar with Kathy's blog; I know she primarily blogs about tech issues, so I'm not quite sure why she's being threatened. (Not that there is any excuse for threats.) To me, this simply stinks of putting a woman "back in her place."
Sheelzebub and Zuzu do an excellent job of tearing this crap to shreds; particularly the people that have the gall to scream "freedom of speech!" when they're justifiably slammed for threatening women. Stalking and threatening are not freedom of speech issues, folks. It's called breaking the law. And in case anyone forgets, not only did our own Melissa deal with online threats, she had other terrifying things happen while she was being smeared on national television, like someone blocking her driveway and pounding on her door. How long before something similar happens to Kathy? What if it's happening right now?
Nothing ever happens to the perpetrators, does it? Other bloggers say they "don't approve" of such behavior, if they can be bothered to comment at all, except for the ones too busy suggesting that the recipients of the threats grow a spine. Why is it that a woman has to live in fear because of something she blogged, and people threatening her life do so without the slightest worry that their sorry ass might end up in prison? I'm not trying to say that the women receiving these threats aren't doing enough to protect themselves or pursue the people that have targeted them; online anonymity, tech gadgets like IP masks, and laws that don't keep up with technology don't always make it easy. My point is, people feel perfectly safe making threats online that would land them in trouble if they snail-mailed them or said them over the phone.
This is exactly what Coulter-esqe "it was just a joke" excuses get you.
The blogosphere is growing and gaining more influence as time goes on, and shit like this is becoming more commonplace. The nasty thing is, it's going to continue and get worse unless someone faces consequences for this behavior. It's high time someone is arrested for making online threats. These scumbags need to be dragged away from their keyboards, frogmarched to a squad car in view of the media, and thrown in a cell with other criminals.
Because they are criminals. Only when we begin to see consequences for online threats will we see them begin to ebb.
(Updated: Blogger ate some changes I had made.)
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