Gabriel’s Greater Internet Dickwad Theory

If you’ve ever wondered why it’s difficult to be a woman online, or what objectification looks like, or if you’ve ever wondered why I don’t vlog or like to be on camera, I’d like to direct you to a 27 page message board discussion that took place over the course of 6 months about whether or not I was hot when I was 22.

http://www.xmfan.com/viewtopic.php?t=69611

Spoiler Alert: Not hot. Also, they hope I will kill myself and film it.

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Gabriel’s Greater Internet Dickwad Theory
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6 thoughts on “Gabriel’s Greater Internet Dickwad Theory

  1. 3

    I think we’ve talked about the fact that I had a similar experience that lasted even longer and involved even more people, although without all that crispety, crunchety misogyny you were dealing with. I remember during mine, an ex-girlfriend who had joined in to dish dirt and fan the flames told me in private that all was fair because I had made myself a “quasi-public figure” by having a website.

    It’s like – people can get together and talk sh*t about Paris Hilton on their own time – we get that’s going to happen as part of fame and media culture. But that doesn’t mean they can bust into her house en masse and yell it at her all day long. As a culture we seem to understand there’s a line there.

    The Internets have made every part of that analogy blurrier, though. These message board losers effectively made you famous and then used that fame as a justification for bullying you in a single gesture. And even if you try to completely ignore the trolling and abuse, it will come looking for you.

    And people ask why I still have a filtered Livejournal along with my public blog. Being on the Internet means learning how to build walls.

  2. 4

    Ahh the internet… the same guys who did nothing but call up sports talk radio and act like experts are now the same guys who do shit like this online.

    I enjoy cracking their skulls.

  3. tdj
    5

    I’ve seen this happen to both men and women, over longer spans of time.

    I did notice at the point you came into the thread, you did link to a video with your ‘hair down’ . . . Looking for compliments doesn’t reflect well on your arguments.

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