This page contains three sections: 
- Articles related to online harassment and online sexual harassment
- A summary of the Internet-related harassment and sexual harassment that I experienced
- Links to blogs I wrote about the experience.
Troll, cyberstalking and Internet sexual harassment-related articles:
Why “uppity” women are targets of sexual harassment: an interview with Prof. Jennifer Berdahl
NYT’s David Carr on Fox News hangovers
Former Washington state Assistant Attorney General pleads guilty to harassment (unsolicited Internet sex requests made on behalf of a former neighbor / his wife’s former colleague).
Juicy Campus set won’t show their faces
Maureen Dowd on Liskula Cohen and Rosemary Port, who created an anonymous blog devoted to Cohen’s defamation
Sexual Harassment in the blogosphere (WaPo)
Yale women out their anonymous Internet harassers
My Internet stalking / sexual harassment story, in brief:
I worked as a features reporter for The Record Searchlight newspaper from June, 2003 through December, 2008, when I was forced to resign as part of a workers’ compensation settlement agreement. From February, 2008 through December, 2008, I was out on disability leave for stress and depression, which resulted when colleagues, a Jefferson Public Radio host (JPR is an affiliate of National Public Radio) and a former friend spent an exorbitant amount of time and energy seeing to my Internet stalking, harassment and sexual harassment. They sent anonymous messages via my work blog and created a blog, titled NoPhat & Pink Chicks, which was linked on my newspaper’s comment boards. The blog contained the following preamble: “Welcome to our new Mock-U-Blog, developed by, and for, the former friends, former collegue’s (sic) and other victims of Christy Lochrie’s back-stabbing reporting at the Record Searchlight newspaper in Redding, California.” This was in the midst of industry-wide upheavals, when newspaper staffs were being hacked and burned like firewood kindling. Moreover, in my newsroom, there was a push to form a union to combat the changes, which set the stage for more rank and file turmoil and dissention.
When I sought a restraining order against one of the harassers, Beth Doolittle-Norby, who had a relationship (pseudonym is “Boots”) with my former newspaper colleague, Thom Gabrukiewicz, my newspaper refused to help, stating that I was opposing free speech. (Doolittle-Norby’s pseudonym claims: Blogger profile No.16265222704741832864, claims name as Beth Norby, claims name of Boots and Hilda on Gabrukiewicz’s blog) Apparently sexual harassment, stalking, the implicit threat of rape and intimidation had become free speech and enduring it had become a new job requirement. (Blog PDF sample here; feed to Zimbio, which doesn’t include the links and masthead, here)
I continued with my restraining order request, particularly since Doolittle-Norby had disavowed (letter page 1, page 2 and page 3) any participation in the anonymous blog and I had proof (see the aforementioned pseudonym claim to Boots) that showed otherwise. Moreover, she had threatened to sue me (see the letter) and stormed my table three times at a burger joint where we both happened to dine (when I saw her, I invited her to my table to “talk.” She ignored me and then stormed with threats). Between that, and her co-conspirators, including Gabrukiewicz, who at the time was penning personal blogs about death wishes, crazed feelings and had engaged in this type of behavior before (and was angry and glaring at me when the opportunities arose), I saw no peaceful alternative but to seek a restraining order, particularly since my employer refused to address the problem.
My newspaper chose to cover the restraining order hearing and sent a reporter who was partially involved in my harassment. My former editor, Kelly Brewer, and a former colleague, Doni Greenberg, who now, together, run an online news Site that competes with The Record Searchlight, both chose to cover it. (It should be noted that both Gabrukiewicz and Doolittle-Norby worked for Greenberg and Brewer.) Greenberg, like my harassers, was angry that I wrote about her very public separation from the newspaper when her friends and family organized a protest outside of the newspaper’s office.
The restraining order, in which I represented myself (I lacked the funds for an attorney), was denied. Doolittle-Norby, who had representation and asked the court for me to pay her legal fees, was required to pay her own attorney fees. Since, California has enacted cyberstalking laws that, I believe, would have been applicable to my case.
I filed a sexual harassment complaint with the EEOC. An investigation ensued. But, since no “proof” that the harassment occurred at my workplace (they were using personal e-mail accounts, folks, not work e-mails), I was issued a right-to-sue letter with no findings. The investigator, exasperated, said it was clear that I was harassed for a prolonged period of time. This, however, is a new area and little case law exists. I checked with several attorneys regarding my case. It would be difficult to try, I’m told. A civil suit against the individuals, however, is another matter. I’m not interested in suing them. But I am interested in shedding light and showing what individuals will do when given the cloak of anonymity on the Internet. And I’m interested in changes to existing laws / ideals, to ensure my story isn’t repeated.
-Christy
Blog entries related to my cyberstalking and Internet sexual harassment experience (in the order that they were penned):
Standing up to sexual harassment, scarlet letter be damned
Java banter and online newspaper comments
Transparent as shattered glass
A month past resignation and counting
Walking papers, a multimedia project concerning my experience being cyberstalked
Finished — and naming harassers
“Welcome to our new Mock-U-Blog, developed by, and for, the former friends, former collegue’s (sic) and other victims of Christy Lochrie’s back-stabbing reporting at the Record Searchlight newspaper in Redding, California.”
