I’ve been writing online long enough to not attach my value as a person or writer to strangers’ opinions, but it would be a lie to say that the cumulative impact of being derided daily isn’t damaging. It is. It’s changed who I am on a fundamental level. And though I’d still like to think of myself as an optimistic person, being called a “cunt” or “whore” every day for a decade leaves its mark.
Il Guardian ha analizzato 1,4 milioni di commenti che sono stati bloccati dai moderatori del sito dal 1999 a oggi. 8 su 10 dei giornalisti che hanno ricevuto la maggior parte di questi commenti, abusivi e minacciosi, indirizzati a livello personale invece che sul contenuto o sulla tematica di un articolo, sono donne.
Altri studi confermano che internet è un luogo ostile, per le donne:
In 2006, researchers from the University of Maryland set up a bunch of fake online accounts and then dispatched them into chat rooms. Accounts with feminine usernames incurred an average of 100 sexually explicit or threatening messages a day. Masculine names received 3.7. […] The Internet is a global network, but when you pick up the phone to report an online threat, whether you are in London or Palm Springs, you end up face-to-face with a cop who patrols a comparatively puny jurisdiction.
(via Mantellini)
