Women's Views on News |
| ‘Trolling’ is abuse – it’s as simple as that Posted: 07 Apr 2016 05:10 AM PDT
A couple of weeks ago, I had my first experience of what some would call 'trolling'. After footballer Adam Johnson was sentenced to six years in prison for sexual activity with a child, I posted a tweet saying that the amount of victim blaming being expressed on Twitter in response to his sentencing was making me want to throw my iPad out of the window. One man replied 'Emily, as a man, these teenagers are hard to resist. Meanwhile, don’t throw that iPad, send it to me, baby'. I chose not to respond, but instead retweeted his comment and posted a photo of the exchange on Facebook, to publicly shame him if you like. While his tweet was not necessarily abusive, it was an inappropriate and disrespectful thing to say, and made me feel extremely uncomfortable and angry – in particular his calling me ‘baby’. Most people responding to his remarks expressed a similar level of shock and disgust, but one male friend asked 'surely this is a troll?', something which I had, I suppose, expected to be said at some point. The nature of the internet nowadays, along with the rise of social media, has resulted in an automatic response to offensive comments of labelling the perpetrator ‘a mindless troll’ – something I’m sure most of us can say we have said on at least one occasion. However, I would argue that the term 'trolling' has become problematic and is contributing to the normalisation and downplaying of online abuse, also known as cyber bullying. A female friend excellently articulated this in response to the above dismissal of the man as a troll by pointing out, 'there are men who follow tags like 'Everyday Sexism' simply to harass the women posting to it over the internet', and that 'calling it ‘trolling’ masks what is in fact widespread misogny'. The internet and social media have unfortunately given a platform to people who enjoy provoking others and get a kick out of arguing and being nasty to people they don’t know from behind the safety and anonymity of a screen, making it more than likely that we will all be subjected to this kind of behaviour at some point. But those who form a part of oppressed, disadvantaged, and minority groups are far more likely to fall victim to online abuse, and on a much more frequent and severe scale. This abuse goes far beyond the generic list of name callings, swear words and insults that people throw at each other, and often comes in the form of abhorrent personal attacks as well as violent and twisted threats. Women, the LGBT+ community, people of colour, and religious groups, are repeatedly targeted online and face extensive levels of misogyny, sexism, and homophobia, racism, and xenophobia and are often they are subjected to this abuse simply because of their identity, or because they dared to engage in social media and use it to express their thoughts and feelings, like everyone else does. It is easy to dismiss online abuse as trolling when you are not the target and have never experienced the sort of degradation, intimidation and humiliation that victims are subjected to, but to do so is dangerous and unhelpful. Because it is naïve to think that there is no meaning behind this abuse, that the perpetrators are ‘just’ out to anger and upset people. Many of us couldn’t even imagine saying such appalling things to someone, so it must take a certain level of conviction for a person to come out with the kind of abuse that we see online, often on more than one occasion and to more than one victim. I struggle to believe that these people don't actually hold the horrendous opinions that they express online – such offensive views do not come from nowhere. And, even if they were nothing more than vacant comments with the sole intent of provoking people, it does not detract from their content or the effect that they have on the people they are directed at. Sadly, for many faced with online abuse, the harassment, insults and threats that they are subjected to on the internet are nothing new; they face this kind of behaviour in person on a daily basis, so it is all the more frustrating and patronising when they are told to ignore these 'trolls' instead of getting worked up about it. I for one am tired of people belittling and dismissing experiences like the one I recently had on Twitter. As women, we are frequently made to feel like we are over reacting and getting unnecessarily agitated about minor things. In reality, it’s not just that one incident that has riled us – it’s everything that we have to put up with day in day out, and that one incident, no matter how insignificant it may seem to an outsider, is just another example of the difficulties we face because of our gender. I’m sure the same applies for the people who are targeted because of their race, sexuality or religion. Abuse is abuse, no matter who the perpetrator is or what their motives are. We will never fully eradicate it, but to have any chance of combatting it we must take a stand together in recognising it for what it is, calling the perpetrators out, and standing up for each other.  |
| France criminalises the purchase of sex Posted: 07 Apr 2016 04:44 AM PDT
In a historic day for women's rights, prostitution is recognised by France as one of the ‘worst forms of violence against women’. After years of citizenship initiatives and civil actions, French law-makers took a critical step to establish gender equality in France by adopting The Nordic Model. On 6 April 2016, the French National Assembly recognised prostitution as one of the worst forms of violence against women and voted for the criminalisation of the purchase of sex. This vote in favour of criminalisation is the fourth and the final draft submitted between 2013 and 2016 (overthrowing three rejections by the Senate), reinforcing the country's will to fight sexual exploitation of women in prostitution. Under this law, prostituted women, children and men will not be criminalised. They will receive social support and benefits to exit prostitution – while men buying sex will be fined and liable to prosecution. By adopting this law, France complied with its international and national commitments, including the national law on rape (1981) and the United Nations Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others (1949). French law defines rape as "any act of penetration imposed on someone by violence, surprise or coercion" and the French National Assembly acknowledges that buying access to a human body via a financial transaction is inherently an act of coercion. Further, the French National Assembly recognised that prostitution harms all women (in prostitution or not) by undermining their emotional and physical wellbeing, security, health, and fundamental rights as human beings, harming society as a whole. More than a quick-fix to prostitution, the law is ambitious to offer a way-out to women trapped into sexual exploitation and the possibility to prosecute the offenders. More specifically, when it comes to sexual violence against women, the French National Assembly recognised the tremendous level of violence in prostitution, including assault, rape, physical and psychological torture. The French National Assembly also recognised that the existence of prostitution encourages the transnational trafficking of women and children. This has been demonstrated in countries such as Germany, Spain and New Zealand which tried full regularisation of prostitution and yet witnessed sex trafficking surge, with underage and disenfranchised women imported by the thousands to meet the ever-increasing demand of sex buyers. Indeed, while admitting the failure of regularisation at an international scale, the Assembly recognised the need to urgently address the demand-side in prostitution. It has been established that sex buyers are responsible for the ever-increasing number of women and children brought into prostitution, as well as the worst form of violence perpetrated against them. Their forums, where they evaluate their preys as goods, details explicitly the hatred, domination and violence they impose on women. By this historical decision, French law makers confirmed that they heard the voices of hundreds of survivors, as well as women still trapped in the sex industry. They acknowledged that most women in prostitution were groomed while still underage, and that all attempts of legalisation led to even more exploitation while failing to offer them any form of safety. Indeed, it is impossible, let alone human, to regularise and streamline pedocriminality, slavery, torture and murder. All countries must take all the steps in their power in order to fight such human rights abuses. It is with pride and the greatest enthusiasm that French feminists and abolitionists welcome the new legislation, as an effective tool to achieve gender equality: “To us, it is more than a step in the right direction: it's the beginning of a new world…” "Today is a historical date because France chooses the path we want to see in Europe," Viviane Teitelbaum, president of the European Women's Lobby (EWL) said. "Equality can be achieved only if the system of prostitution is abolished, together with all the violence, exploitation and trafficking that it fuels!" In February 2014, the European Parliament adopted a resolution promoting the abolitionist model in the field of prostitution and sexual exploitation – the Honeyball resolution – introduced by Mary Honeyball, Labour MEP for London, The hope now is that this European precedent, as well as the courageous and audacious choice of French parliamentarians, will be a source of inspiration for other countries in Europe. Please pass this news on to your MP and MEP.  |
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