When Kickstarter Funds A Rape Manual
STRONG TRIGGER WARNING FOR SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND ASSAULT
What
does it mean to be a woman with a public online presence? A lot of the
time it means finding like-minded people to make friends with,
collaborate on projects with, and share your view of the world. A lot of
the time it means sharing your presence and letting people know, "Yes!
There are girls on the Internet!"
All of the time, it means a little bit of fear.
That
fear is always riding just under the surface. On the outside, I can be
casual, humorous, and love my life deeply and sincerely. But that
doesn't make the fear go away. The fear is always there. It comes in the
form of comments on my body when I ask people not to. It comes in the
form of private messages asking for my facebook info or to "get to know
me better". It comes in the form of being afraid to tell people off too
harshly in case they lash out or seek revenge, or try to look up my
personal information to spread on hate-sites. It means constant
vulnerability. A vulnerability that I have to contend with if I am to
have any online presence at all.
For me, the fear is people
finding out my real name and where I live and trying to find me. There
are no restraining orders on the Internet. If someone knows my name,
google is all too happy to divulge where I currently am digitally, and
everything I've done in the past. For better or worse, that is how the
internet works. It requires us to be good people and take responsibility
for our words and actions, but our morals are changing slowly, and when
profits become involved, our morals are often pushed to the side or
completely ignored. Everyone has to make a living, right?
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