#twittersilence versus #shoutingback
How should women respond to online abuse?
If you live in the UK, you can’t fail to be aware of the recent publicity that has been given to the online, misogynist abuse received by some prominent women tweeters.
For those who don’t know what the fuss is about, it might be worth taking a look at how the news broke on the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23477130 . After that, many other women — including prominent broadcasters, academics and members of parliament — came forward with their own stories of online abuse and harassment.
Not only has this been a hot topic on Twitter itself, but it has also been picked up by our national news and has made headlines on TV, radio and the printed press. The deeply offensive tweets threaten rape and murder — often using such obscene language that they cannot be quoted — and have resulted in widespread condemnation across the British media and have shocked the country. A barrage of tweets appeared, supporting the women who had been targeted and offering support. Several abusive tweeters were identified, named and shamed and had their photos published in a national paper. The police have made two arrests and are investigating other complaints.
Last night before I headed for bed (midnight GMT) the “twittersilence” hashtag was trending across the UK. I was both surprised and pleased to see many prominent tweeters signing out of Twitter and joining in a silent 24 hour protest against online misogyny.
Surprised? Yes because the notion of a 24 hour Twitter silence is, in itself, controversial. After all, isn’t shutting women up exactly what the misogynist posters want to achieve?
A competing hashtag is #shoutingback - a hashtag started because many tweeters firmly believe that it is time to put aside the standard advice of “don’t feed the trolls”. They believe answering back is a better way of dealing with the problem of sexist abuse and women should not have to put-up and shut-up. Interestingly #shoutingback is not trending at the moment (although it has done so in the past few days).
Overnight, however, another competing hashtag appeared in the trending list and this one is being ‘promoted’ by Twitter — #connectwithrespect.
It seems Twitter has belatedly woken up to the growing outrage and is taking action. As well as the #connectwithrespect promotion, the head of Twitter in the UK has apologised. Meanwhile, Twitter has amended its rules about online behaviour and is in the process of introducing a Report Tweet button. These changes, particularly the Report button, have generated concern both about Twitter’s corporate ability to respond to a multitude of Reports and also around the need to protect freedom of speech.
This morning I was doubly surprised and pleased to see #twittersilence still trending, but a quick look at the posts disillusioned me. While the UK tweeters slept, a barrage of sexist and offensive tweets had been posted using the #twittersilence hashtag — by posters who seemed, mainly, to be tweeting from USA and Australia. (I was tempted to post some here, just to give you a flavour, but then I realised I would be breaking Medium’s rules on the use of sexually explicit material.)
It is now 11am GMT and the #twittersilence hashtag is still going strong and, since the UK community has woken up, most of the tweets refer to the ongoing, healthy debate about whether it is better to observe #twittersilence or to continue #shoutingback.
Where do I stand?
I believe in #shoutingback. But I am still observing #twittersilence. There is a place for both silent protest and noisy dissent. I also firmly believe in freedom of speech. But I don’t conflate freedom of speech with the freedom to abuse and threaten others into silence.
This is my first posting on Medium.
This is my way of SHOUTING BACK while still maintaining #twittersilence.
Now shhhhhhhhhhh.
