10 hours of harassment
An actor who recorded 10 hours of catcalls and remarks from passersby in New York City has received rape threats in response to a video detailing the harassment, the advocacy group that commissioned the video said on Tuesday.
GamerGate anger at women
That’s when the harassment began — a frightening online campaign threatening rape and death that forced Wu to flee her Arlington home. In the process, she became the latest of several female targets across the country — the second in the Boston area — as well as a symbol of the sexism that some say is roiling the $21.25 billion gaming industry in the United States.
The first on street harassment, merely points out the reality of everyday life.
The second to anyone that has played a video game is absolutely obvious.
The reactions have been of such vitriol, whilst not surprising to any of us that look at the internet regularly, still staggering.
Then you tie these reactions in with the reality.
Every 2 minutes, another American is sexually assaulted.
Here's the math. According to the U.S. Department of Justice's National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)--there is an average of 237,868 victims (age 12 or older) of rape and sexual assault each year.
There are 525,600 minutes in a non-leap year. That makes 31,536,000 seconds/year. So, 31,536,000 divided by 237,868 comes out to 1 sexual assault every 133 seconds, or about 1 every 2 minutes.
It is impossible not to take the threats seriously.
The aim of the threats is to terrify and suppress and using rape as a consequence of speaking out falls into the same category.
Some have said it is only idiots on the net, to some extent that may be true, however in "real" life the same threats are used directly, so it is wrong to pass it off as trolling, many of the threats are absolutely real.
It is the same old power play, wives should submit to their husbands, feminists just hate men, how often have you heard such rhetoric? How often do you read reports that blame the victim?
Video games might be virtual but the mentality is also all too present in reality.
Street Harassment might seem banal, but day after day it's downright demeaning and often menacing.
Sexual assault and rape are far too common for threats to be ignored.
It might be easier on the internet to hurl abuse, but it is all too real in our daily lives.