The violent sexist,racist internet shaming of Adria Richards.

[sufrommich]

Adria Richards dared to publicly complain about sexist jokes being told at a conference.She tweeted a picture of the men who were making the jokes and one of the men was fired because of it.Richards didn't fire him,his company did,yet all of the overblown outrage has been directed at her.

“PlayHaven had an employee who was identified as making inappropriate comments at PyCon, and as a company that is dedicated to gender equality and values honorable behavior, we conducted a thorough investigation,” wrote PlayHaven CEO Andy Yang. “The result of this investigation led to the unfortunate outcome of having to let this employee go.”

In other words, they didn't just take Richards word for it.






She's been vilified across the internet in ways reserved for women who overstep their boundaries,especially women who work in male dominated areas. The boys clubs of 4 chan and Reddit went after her with a zeal usually reserved for terrorists:

http://www.dailydot.com/society/adria-richards-4chan-raid-sendgrid-donglegate/


She was threatened on twitter by someone so angry and violent that they couldn't help themselves from posting a picture of a murdered,bloody headless woman with the words "when I'm done" and an address and phone number ostensibly Richards's.

http://www.dailydot.com/news/adria-richards-fired-sendgrid-violent-backlash/


On Youtube the usual Mens Rights assholes are showing their true colors:

complete with comments calling her a "n****r, a c**t, a "n****r jew,a "snatch", here's a typical response to this horrid video:

"PS - For those that HAVENT read her blog, she points out that WHITE MALES, not black males, or just white ppl in general, but WHITE MALES are the lowest. Sweetheart, youre a BLACK, JEWISH, LESBIAN... there aint much lower than that on the race card"

Scratch a MRA find a privileged white male and this is what you get.


Right here at good 'ol DU you'll find someone suggesting (using the fictional female as a mouthpiece) that she just needs to get laid:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2548732


and no one bats an eye. Hear that ladies, you aren't really justifiably angry about sexism, you just need to get laid.


So I ask you this my HoF sisters, where is the fucking outrage about this? Where is the outrage that this was the outcome of a post she made with absolutely no intention of getting anyone fired. Where is the outrage that it so infuriated the boys clubs of Reddit,Anonymous,Hacker Central that they harassed and scared a company into firing her? This has no doubt sent a seriously frightening message to women who work in male dominated fields to keep your mouth shut and try not to attract the attention of a certain subset of males who can make your life miserable, where is the outrage?


By the way, Richards isnt posting on her twitter or blog and told VentureBeat that she's "staying safe". Mission accomplished.

[MadrasT]

1. The general reaction to that seems to be

That she overstepped the bounds of what a woman is "allowed" to complain about, therefore "oh well" the backlash was perfectly understandable.

Almost nobody seems to care.

Because... she had it coming?

We live in a completely sick society.

[redqueen]

13. Yep. The responses around the web *and on DU* are very telling.

If a few people who are fine with it don't mind then you'd better keep your fucking mouth shut.

And so what if the rules stipulate it isn't allowed? Don't go tattling or you'll get yours.

Sickening.

[patrice]

26. Some of what you say is true, but not all of it. Some people had a problem with what this PERSON

did and how it resulted in someone else getting fired, a thing that might not have happened were it not for this person's behavior.

If it had been a man who had done the same thing and, as I read somewhere, misrepresented the significance of the "forking" remark, there would still be people who are just as repulsed by that behavior as they are by a woman doing the same thing.

It's not possible to say 100% were angry because she is a female; to discount whatever minority were negative about the behavior ir-respective of the femaleness, is to say that equality for women doesn't matter unless we agree with it in all ways, because such people are NOT judging her for her femaleness; they are reacting to behavior by BOTH sets of those involved that, whether we agree or not, they think would have been better managed in a private exchange amongst those involved in the experience of the behavior. ome of us think whatever injustices committed by those who happen to be men would have been much more effectively/persuasively dealt with by those who happen to be women in this case, who experienced them in that situation. Some people disagree with public ridicule that the problem person had no recourse to defend against and which was also mischaracterized through guilt-by-association for the "forking" remark.

Not theory. Practical considerations: It makes it kind of hard to fight against the injustices of at-will employment if we do not attack it when it suits a politically correct criteria and then want others to join our offensive against it when we say to.

[seabeyond]

31. first, it would not have happened if the man had some sort of professional sense to not tell the

"joke" that he did. how about a little ownership?

she didnt make the decision to fire. he was with a company that clearly hold this position that this is unacceptable. he was well aware. and he made the decision, with his behavior.

[seabeyond]

30. that is the feeling i am getting. nt

[Kurovski]

2. No one is going to argue that she deserves to be violently threatened.

Or maybe they will, then you will have your field day.

But they will be engaging in deplorable behavior. Some threats may be breaking the law in some jurisdictions, for all I know.

Adria Richards will remain--forever on the internet-- an inappropriate, lacking-in-proportion, hypocritical asshole. Surely you can seek out a better heroine. The savagery expressed toward her will not change her into a Rosa Parks of the dongles. It is insulting to every pioneer who stepped up. The best she did was inadvertently reveal the shocking violence expressed for her petty, grandstanding actions that lost someone a job. (hideous economy, this) . but don't expect Anonymous to put on their Sunday shoes anytime soon. Quite the opposite.

Please, do not call this "mansplaining". If you must use a distancing device, try the term "mosplaining". As a gay person I had for years read and heard privileged white women explain to me what's what about my sexuality, I earned my titles.

But no one is really respecting anyone else at this point today, so maybe later.

[sufrommich]

3. No where did I call her a herione or compare her to

Rosa Parks. I pointed out that the reaction to her tweet was beyond the pale and frightening. She didn't get anyone fired, as I pointed out in the OP,his company fired him after an investigation. Nor did I call her a "pioneer",I said she worked in a male dominated field as do other women who will no doubt learn a painful lesson from her treatment. Your attempt to paint me as some blithering fan girl is ridiculous and insulting.

"But no one is really respecting anyone else at this point today". Oh the irony.

[Kurovski]

4. I apologize. I certainly did all you say. i have confused myself by conflating this

with some other post. I may be able to figure out my mistake, and I ask you forgive me....i'm having tech probs., too. sorry

I think another lesson might be to take issues one-on-one before going worldwide. especially because there was no direct and aggressive harassment. not that the field is not famously obnoxious as a boys club

This spells out some issues without The threatening, ugly violence:

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="

?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[sufrommich]

5. No problem. I can't watch the video right now.

I'll watch it later.

[Kurovski]

7. No matter. just expresses another point of view. Not everyone agrees that the firing was not related

to Richard's actions.

The video shows Richards' own words from tweets and such (not transcribed here) with this narration:

"People of the media, social networks, and digital world.

It has come to our attention that injustice and hypocrisy is still all too common in these days.

We the people of Anonymous decided it was time to take action against Adria Richards. It seems that a light of truth must be shined upon Ms. Richards, who has become comfortable in a world where she has control. For some reason Ms. Richards feels that because of the cards she was dealt, that it is okay for her to use the same hurtful words that she claims to be against. We will let her show you in her own words.

It has also come to our attention that some people have decided to be supporters of Ms. Richards, without looking at all the facts. This is partly due to Ms. Richards’ heavy usage of social media instead of simply talking directly to the people she has problems with. For sake of justice and truth, we are here to tell the parts of the story you might not know. Some people seem to think that she is a person that should be applauded for “standing up to the “white man”. We are here to tell you that she did no such thing. Instead of simply brushing off a joke that involved legitimate technical terminology, she had the desire to take offense at the joke and publicly shame the joke teller. She could have A: laughed at the joke, B: said something to them face to face or C: directly tell the PieCon staff. She chose the method of the coward; going straight to Twitter resulting in one of the men joking being fired.

We believe People of all races and sexes should be treated equally. Ms. Richards doesn’t share this belief. We feel it is only right that we show you her perspective of fair treatment. She feels that is it okay for a black person to hate on white people. To us, this sounds like justifying hatred and other uncivil behaviors. Also, to get an innocent man fired for an arguably sexist joke and a misinterpreted statement, yet freely making jokes that are sexist towards men. Since Ms. Richards finds it safe to expose people for minor things, we feel it right that she is exposed for what she has said. Your actions must be accounted for.

This is where we come in. To level the playing field. To give a voice to the voiceless.

We are Anonymous.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
Expect us."

[DURHAM D]

10. drivel

[Kurovski]

14. Extremely potent nonetheless.

We disagree on the "drivel" part. I didn't care one particular sentence, but even that I wouldn't call drivel.

EDIT: Did you watch the video? it juxtaposes Richards' own written words with the voiceover.

[redqueen]

16. Oh FFS. Anonymous taking the case of some beavis and butthead wannabe who spewed his juvenile BS

where it was prohibited by the rules?

Yeah, no.

It's reddit and 4 chan, taking the Anon banner and waving it for their preadolescent fanboys.

[Kurovski]

18. You are not describing the video. That is not what is in there.

Can you address the content? Will you?

[redqueen]

19. Based on what you typed, no.

I'll pass. I've waded through enough anti-woman shit for one weekend.

Demonizing her overreaction as some major crime, blaming her for his company firing him... fuck. all. of. that.

There are much bigger issues right now that I'm interested in discussing. One woman possibly not living up to her own ideals is nowhere near important to me.

If Anonymous is honestly going after "exposing" her and ignoring the men posting fucking gore to her with threats and her address, they can fuck the hell off.

I would rather think it's a bunch of subhuman 4chan and reddit pieces of shit.

[sufrommich]

34. "she feels it's OK for a black person to hate

on white people". Jesus.No thanks, I think I'll pass.

[redqueen]

15. That kind of hyperbole seems to be par for the course, doesn't it?

And people call *us* the outrage brigade, the perpetually offended, etc.

Meanwhile... back in reality...

[Kurovski]

20. Lack of forgiveness, diminishing others, refusing to reply to content, rigid, mean,

you certainly can't be wondering about the overall response people have to all that, even when they do actually agree with you on a topic.

[redqueen]

21. Tone?

Please.

What am I supposed to be forgiving?

Who am I "diminishing" and how?

Content? Not all content is equal and worthy of wasting time on.

Rigid and mean? Are you fucking serious?

Yeah, if people are too wrapped up in their own fucking ego to bother with the serious issues in the discussions then ... yeah, they really care more about other things, don't they? I'm not here to do fucking PR for feminism. This board is supposed to be for progressives.

Should we really have to expect people to soft-sell feminism? To ease others into it? To "frame" feminism so that other progressives will opt in?

Should we not expect anger and frustration? Has anyone been reading the news?

I mean, I know rape and violence against women is so fucking commonplace it's hardly noticeable, but fucking hell... pay attention. You might start to understand why so many women are fed the fucking fuck up.

[Kurovski]

22. this OP showed up on the greatest page, and it is the HOF forum,

which is meant for venting, for the like-minded. And that's a good thing. I'm actually overstepping bounds on the forum and appreciate my time here and will now step off, despite the posts that one may find that I entered downthread.

[redqueen]

23. I appreciate your consideration.

And I'm sorry if I made you feel attacked, that was not my intent. I simply have no more patience at the moment and should probably take a break now.

[Kurovski]

25. It's cool. and as I know, that's what the forum is for.

I don't mean to ever diminish anyone's anger over the real injustices we need to face together in the farked up world. nor anger from personal experiences.

Take care of yourself, and thanks again everyone for letting me into your space.

[seabeyond]

32. HE lost his job. HE choose to tell a joke his company clearly outlines is against policy. nt

[ismnotwasm]

6. This is a trend in media

Every time a woman speaks up on the internet about sexism in a specific field she gets rape threats, death threats, is called a whore a slut etc. hormonal, whatever-- every time. Every time.

Every time.


There have been a number of women in a number of fields lately who've tried to speak up, via blogs or twitter or other social media and have received. The same treatment

There is no outrage. Not really.


So feminists continue to work, most of that work isn't visible, except in small gains.



What's encouraging is, as women gain ground in the tech fields, in the science fields, gamers, Comic fans, atheist groups---all who have had recent examples of this same behavior, is that they are continuing to speak out. And they're pissed.

[Kurovski]

9. yes, people are just fucking DELIGHTED with sicko threats.

There are only seventeen non-sociopaths in the world.

It's all, all of it, illegal. We have laws and don't need to completely rely on outrage to deal with this relatively new form of threat. (In the old days I just got a murdered pet tucked under a vehicle) Nothing too boistrously literary.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061118005035AAWoXk2

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080115103601AAYw488


Especially the rape threats, that seem to be the go-to threat for a lot of (I'm assuming Heterosexual men?) do they really think that''s better than a death threat? Somehow legal? we might need a department of cyber-threat/stalking funding increase. Something.


http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/helen-lewis-hasteley/2011/11/rape-threats-abuse-sex-female

[ismnotwasm]

27. What, exactly are you trying to convey?

That the world is full of kind, aware, loving activists who are standing up against this and screaming no more?

Not when it interferes with ingrained privilege they don't. They scream 'word police'

The word 'outrage' is practically an internet meme. We have stories of rape, of violence, of harassment coming out via social media all the time. It's almost an outpouring. Outrage happens mostly when it's dramatic like Studenville. And how fast did the blame the victim game start?

This weekend, in another place, the same thing happens to another girl. It will get no attention.

What we deal with as women is systematic objectification and violence. All over the world. When fighting gender slurs, or gender directed threats, the situation becomes diffuse, almost elusive because, in part, heteronormativity, which is the effect of a patriarchy driven social structure.

There's nothing wrong with being hetero, but there is something very wrong with rigid gender standards that aren't just unequal, but have violence as an expected outcome. Rape culture--for sure which these type of responses are a part of, and an argument can be made for War, with its root cause of socio-economic class divisions.

I understand as a Gay male you have your own issues of threats and violence. All over the world.

In my view the two are not unrelated

[redqueen]

17. Yep, rape and death threats are the expected blowback for being an outspoken feminist on the net.

Well, if you're not the pro-objectification, pro-porn, pro-prostitution, pro-sexual-jokes-where-they're-prohibited-because-they-make-for-a-hostile-environment kind of feminist.

Cause, you know... patriarchy.

[ismnotwasm]

28. Any nary an arrest for this illegal activity

Just the same old same old sick continuing to encouraging the ignorant or vice versa, the voices grow and objections are shouted down.

[redqueen]

8. Most of the outrage here is, of course, directed at her.

And I saw that "she needs to get laid" shit posted HERE.

[Kurovski]

11. I saw that. Was that a new DUer claiming the Mother-in-law said it?

Not nice, but there are other women (here) who refuse to be wrestled into intellectuall dishonesty about thier own view on the event and do not resort to such dated tropes.


Adria Richards is an asshole, but threats of violence are illegal.


Adria: asshole, Violence trolls: criminals

[redqueen]

12. She overreacted.

She isn't an asshole IMO.

She overreacted and I can't say I blame her.

[seabeyond]

33. why is she an asshole? cause she didnt "lighten" up? nt

[seabeyond]

24. from what i have seen there is such hyperbole on du with this issue that the obvious cannot be point

out. glad you have this post. so very very glad. i stayed out, cause i am jsut fuckin drained with all the trashy garbage the men adn too many women are routinely throwing out demanding, fuckin DEMANDING that women accept their degradation with fuckin grace.

but... everything i hear on the outrage is. it was a PERSONAL conversation. (in public, at a work convention). she sent a PHOTO out on the net. (ya. and we do not see that fuckin ALL the time. his behavior, he owns it) oh wait, is that the argument because women saying putting personal stolen naked pictures up of women is disgusting? ridiculing the women they violate is disgusting?

men know how stupid this argument is. and yet, they are still saying it out loud as if it hold or means shit.

i cant jump in on this one

and i agree totally with what you are saying. this is the TRASH, this is the GARBAGE that TOO MANY men and TOO MANY women are creating for ALL of us to have to live in.

[BainsBane]

29. Recursion's thread was good

Did you all see it? Unfortunately, very few people seem to have gotten the point. Yes, sexism is pervasive, but I'm starting to wonder if part of the problem relates to cognition.