Sexual harassment in the blogosphere: Women get the brunt of it

I have to admit it. I was naïve. As a child of trickle-down Reaganomics, an era that ushered in the collapse of both the Berlin Wall and that missile-pointing bogeyman, the Soviet Union, I believed that I was the product of a privileged generation. No Starwars to contend with. No wars. And, best of all, no sexual wars. After all, the Civil Rights movement was part of the history books. Everyone was free and equal. But then there were the haunting and ugly reminders that the utopia that I thought I had inherited was simply an illusion. Rodney King’s brutal beating proved that race is still a big-time issue. And now the Internet – or more accurately, its users – has proven that all of those civil rights protections afforded by the 1964 Civil Rights act is a spittoon of lip service.

 

I mean, fine if someone wants to challenge me for my deeds, thoughts and work. But when someone(s) strikes me based on my gender and, with the input from one or two of my colleagues, crafts a blog devoted to sexually harassing me, I’m sorry, I cry foul. My body, including the parts that make me female, has absolutely nothing to do with me as a journalist, professional or citizen. And to reduce a woman, any woman, to sexual parts is not only sexual harassment, its uncouth, unethical and uneducated. It’s unacceptable.

 

Folks who resort to sexual harassment to gain, maintain or exert power and control over a woman, in an attempt to put her in her place, are, I think, deeply terrified of women. After all, personal fear and terror are the reasons that many stoop to control tactics to begin with.

 

I hope other women – and men — join me in standing up against it.

 

Meanwhile, here’s an interesting article on the topic in the blogosphere: Read it here.

 

-Christy