Online Abuse

In general there are 2 basic claims made by feminists when it comes to the topic of online abuse or harassment.

There are...

1) Women are more frequently targeted than men

and

2) Women are affected more by the abuse or harassment that they receive.

However, It is in fact MEN that receive more online harassment than women, both in total (by at least 7%), as well as in all but 2 of the categories listed and even then by only a slim margin (Stalking by 2% and Sexual Harassment by 4%).

As for the question of who is affected more by the online abuse that they receive, it does seem that women, even though they are less likely to receive online abuse and harassment than men, are bothered by it more than men when it does occur. While men tend to shrug off these sort of comments, women appear to be heavily affected, according to Amnesty International, resulting in "stress, anxiety, or panic attacks.".

However, "Why is this the case?" is surely the salient question here and furthermore, why is the onus on the responder to tip-toe around the sensibilities of the female poster when they have no such concerns regarding the offence that their post may cause for those that have read it? Surely the mature, adult, approach is to either stop reading the so-called "abusive" replies or comments, abstain from posting anything potentially inflammatory, or to simply refuse to allow the comments to bother you. Just like men (in general) do.

As already mentioned, men get far more online abuse than women and the vast majority seem to be able to take it in their stride. However if Feminists are to be believed, most women simply crumble in the face of harsh criticism or rude language and are also far more likely to characterise robust debate as "hateful" or "threatening".

Are women strong independent adults or are they poor helpless victims who fold like cheap umbrellas when somebody strongly (and perhaps impolitely) disagrees with their opinion online? Or maybe they are just so used to having people defer to them that when someone finally refuses to do so, they just can't handle it and see it as harassment? Are women really that fragile? If so, should we be allowing them to run Fortune 500 companies and represent the public in the rough and tumble world of politics?

Personally, I don't believe that women are as fragile as all that. This is, in most cases, merely a calculated tactic designed to elicit sympathy and demonise their idealogical opponents.

So suck it up buttercup! Everyone who expresses an opinion online gets harsh comments from their opposition and men get more of it than women. If indeed women ARE bothered by these harsh comments, I'd advise them to simply suck it up or stop posting inflammatory opinions, just like men do.

Because women CAN do anything men can do, right?