Sexual Threats Stifle Some Female Bloggers

As women gain visibility in the blogosphere, they are targets of sexual harassment and threats. Men are harassed too, and lack of civility is an abiding problem on the Web. But women, who make up about half the online community, are singled out in more starkly sexually threatening terms -- a trend that was first evident in chat rooms in the early 1990s and is now moving to the blogosphere, experts and bloggers said. Full Story »

Posted by Julian Friedland
Tags Help
Subjects: Business, Living, Media
Topics: Women, Blogs
Editorial Help
Posted by: Posted by Julian Friedland - Apr 29, 2007 - 11:24 PM PDT
Edit Lock: This story can be edited
Edited by: Julian Friedland - Apr 29, 2007 - 11:27 PM PDT

Reviews

Show All | Notes | Comments | Quotes | Links
Julian Friedland
4.2
by Julian Friedland - Oct. 1, 2008

Disturbing and important. Could have included some psychological and sociological theory about why this happens and the types of people who do it.

See Full Review » (11 answers)
Veronica Barlee
3.7
by Veronica Barlee - Oct. 1, 2008

A well-researched story about the effects of sexual threats against female bloggers.

See Full Review » (13 answers)
Jami Dwyer
4.8
by Jami Dwyer - Oct. 1, 2008

Cites studies supporting what feminists have been telling skeptical male bloggers like Markos Moulitsas all along: threats of violence against women online are real, serious, frequent, and they make some women want to quit.

See Full Review » (7 answers)
Dave Martin
1.6
by Dave Martin - Oct. 1, 2008

Get over it. Are these people new to the Internet? Where were they in the days of Usenet flame wars? The Internet is an anonymous medium, it is relatively free, people say all kinds of stuff. It's not pretty. It never has been. That can be a flaw or its strength, depending upon how you look at it. Sounds like a bunch of people got nervous when their internet blatherings didn't receive the decorous response they were used to on their school newspaper or debating team. My advise: if you receive serious threats, report them to the police. Better yet, if you have a nervous temperament, confine yourself to print media, use a moderated mailing list, or just blog under an assumed name.

See Full Review » (6 answers)

Comments on this story Help (BETA)

NT Rating | My Rating

Ratings

3.4

Average
from 6 reviews (50% confidence)
Quality
3.5
Facts
3.8
Fairness
3.6
Information
3.7
Sourcing
3.5
Style
3.5
Accuracy
3.0
Balance
3.7
Context
3.2
Popularity
3.4
Recommendation
3.7
Credibility
3.8
# Reviews
3.0
# Views
1.2
# Likes
1.0
# Emails
1.0
More
How our ratings work »

Topics

(See these related stories.)

Links Help

No links yet. Please review this story to add some!