Women face unwanted “compliments” that focus on their appearance. These comments sexualise women in a way that men are not subjected to en mass. For women who share their work online, this is a form of abuse that takes focus away from their expertise.

The abuse is not simply sexist; it is often racist and sexually violent and at times homophobic. In the video above, content creators, comedians and writers share some of the comments they’ve received. They explain that no matter what they’re discussing, men will argue with them. 

The women here say that they either ignore comments if they’re “annoying” or block commenters who are especially aggressive. These women say they are bothered by the comments but at the same time, “I just expect it.”

Women are accused of being “angry” when they stand up for themselves. This demonstrates how sexist online culture expects women to simply put up with abuse. Such an expectation goes to broader patterns of gender violence against women.

These are not just words on screen. There is a real-world impact.

Life and Workplace Impact

Feminist Anita Sarkeesian was recently forced to move out of her home because she received death threats. She has lived with hate speech for years, including a violent game created to let men “bash” her face. This online abuse stems from her campaign which raised funds to support her online series that provides a cultural analysis of sexism in video games.

As Erin La Rosa says in the video:

“This is my work…. it’s a problem. It makes me feel demoralised.” 

Regardless of where work takes place, online or offline, women should never be expected to put up with workplace harassment.

The idea of block and ignore leaves gender violence to individual women to manage.

How To Fix It

Online abuse is a public health issue that requires social action, including:

• Standing up against it when you see it: speak up and let others know it’s not okay 
• Reporting formally when you see it (even if it’s not directed at you): all social media platforms have ways of reporting abuse. Use this function when you see attacks on others
• Content platforms like YouTube and Twitter need to take stronger action to ban trolls quickly
• Improving laws dealing with online abuse.