Pretty effective "mean tweets" video

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Not sure how many people have seen this, but it seems like a really effective video:

Sportswriter Talks Mean Tweets

Thoughts?

How's everything going?

I saw this on Jezebel yesterday. Here is the youtube video, if anyone is interested:

Going good. You?

Thanks! I probably should have posted a Youtube video. The video in the CBC link I posted might not be viewable if you aren't in Canada.

No problem. I'm happy to contribute to the "victim mentality" that women have by posting a youtube video about the harassment of female sportscasters. Because we all know that women exaggerate this stuff and men get harassed too, so to talk about the harassment of women online is clearly encouraging this victim mentality that women LOVE to cling to.

Yay! I'm a victim! Woohoo!

I'm all right. Thanks for asking.

It made me cry, a lot. It would really hurt me if someone said those things to me. Especially things making fun of rape, because it's bad enough when it happens. A person has said not-so-nice things to me about what happened to me, and it was very upsetting.

I am not an overly sensitive kind of person, either. Those things were terrible. I can only imagine what it does to them to have to see people wish for them to be beaten or to die.

I feel really sick now.

I'm sorry that happened to you. I had a couple of close friends turn against me when I was sexually assaulted, who said very callous things about me and what happened, and it was very painful.

It was hard to watch, but I think that's actually why they made the video--because when people read words on a screen it's hard for them to imagine how they might emotionally impact someone else, but to actually hear them read out loud by real people who themselves are being emotionally impacted by what they are reading to the person they were sent to, who is also obviously emotionally impacted by them, that helps them to understand how it feels to have people say things like that to you, whether they say it in person or online. A lot of people think online harassment is no big deal and it's just words and you can always walk away from the screen if you don't like it or just not go on the internet and that women need to "toughen up" and "get a thicker skin" if they can't handle some mean words, etc. But they fail to acknowledge that this happens to women all the time, and in their work environments (some jobs, especially those in the media like these sportscasters, require participation in social media like twitter) and they can't just "walk away" from it. No one should have to accept this garbage as the price of being a woman in public and having a job.

^ I honestly don't think that people should be saying those things to anyone, even celebrities who are apparently just supposed to deal with it because they are celebrities.

They'd never have the courage to say it to someone's face. It is harassment. It's not just being critical, as I'm sure some people think, and it's not funny, either. Real criticism is actually pointing out the negative aspects of a person or what a person is doing, not wishing death or disasters on that person, criticising their appearance when it isn't relevant, commenting on their sex lives, making fun of tragedies, etc.

People don't seem to grasp that people on the internet are real people, and so are celebrities and those in the public eye. They ought to think first how they would feel if those things were directed at them or someone that they care about.

I think the video was very effective, or at least it was enough to make me feel terrible and bad for those women.

Sorry. :S I wasn't trying to make anyone feel bad. I just thought it was an effective/unique way of bringing a difficult subject to light. Or even a useful tool to broach the subject with people. It can really make you think in ways that you aren't used to. (Well, if you aren't someone who has to deal with this kind of stuff daily anyway. I guess when it comes to the internet, none of us are really free of trolls)

It's true that no one should have such things directed at them--but how many guys would have sexual assault and domestic violence specifically wished upon them just for being male sportscasters? It's the gendered insults that get to me the most, people who insult and threaten them just for being women in a "male-dominated field" like sportscasting. They see a woman doing something they don't like and they think "What things can I say to this b***h that will put her in her place as a woman, and maybe scare her away from this activity that I don't think women should be doing? I know--women are scared of rape and they get beat up by their husbands/boyfriends, so I'll say something about that. That should make her feel small and afraid and stupid for trying to do this thing that I don't think women should do." That's what bothers me the most about this kind of online harassment--how specifically anti-woman it is.

No, that's ok. I don't mind it. Emotions are good, and in this case negative ones are what people should be feeling. Life is full of all sorts of emotions, and I don't usually run from them.

I do think that the video is really a good idea. Not sure if it will change the minds of trolls, though. Some people are just sadistic.

Yes, you're right. I can't see that happening to a male sportscaster. Women do often have to deal with that when in male-dominated fields. It shouldn't be that way, but it is. A percentage of men do seem to still think that women are somehow less, and are resentful when they are working in traditionally male careers.

I still get that kind of treatment (not harassment, but sexism) from some older men who have more traditional ideas of what women should be. Women too, actually.

Oh yeah. World's going to hell. People can absolutely not live in peaceful tolerance. Might as well be dead. I'm not a former pop star, so no one will miss me.