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[crimsonheadGCN]

Zoe Quinn & Anita Sarkeesian talks start after the 1:20:10 mark Launch of the Broadband Working Group on Gender Report

Here is the report that got presented at the UN today.

Cyber Violence Against Women & Girls: A Worldwide Wake-Up Call

Key findings:

• An estimated 73 per cent of women have already been exposed to, or have experienced, some form of online violence.
• Women in the age range of 18 to 24 are uniquely likely to experience stalking and sexual harassment in addition to physical threats.
• Nine million women in the European Union’s 28 countries alone have experienced online violence as young as 15 years old.
• One in five female Internet users live in countries where harassment and abuse of women online is extremely unlikely to be punished.
• In many countries women are reluctant to report their victimization for fear of social repercussions.
• Cyber VAWG puts a premium on emotional bandwidth, personal and workplace time, financial resources and missed wages.

Key recommendations:

• Sensitization – Preventing cyber VAWG through training, learning, campaigning and community development to promote changes in in social attitudes and behavior.
• Safeguards – Implementing oversight and maintaining a responsible Internet infrastructure through technical solutions and more informed customer care practices
• Sanctions – Develop and uphold laws, regulations and governance mechanisms to deter perpetrators from committing these acts.

"The report argues that rigorous oversight and enforcement of rules banning cyber VAWG on the Internet will be an essential foundation stone if the Internet is to become a safe, respectful and empowering space for women and girls, and, by extension, for boys and men."

Edit. VAWG = violence against women and girls

I am not sure if some of these questions are serious, but some people asked who Anita or Zoe was in the thread.

Anita is the creator of Tropes vs. Women in Video Games. A series that aims to offer feminist critique of video games. She has faced online abuse since she launched her kickstarter for the project in 2012. http://feministfrequency.com/

Zoe Quinn is a developer that created a game based on depression. Last year, an ex-boyfriend wrote a post about her talking about their relationship and accused her of sleeping with journalists for positive reviews. This was proven false, but she has been receiving abuse for over a year. She has created a private network of experts to assist victims of online harassment. http://www.crashoverridenetwork.com/

Here is what GamerGate is:

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Gamergate
https://www.reddit.com/r/GamerGhazi/wiki/index

I’m with @TheQuinnspiracy at @UN_Women’s launch of a new report to end #cyberviolence against women and girls.

https://twitter.com/femfreq/status/647048037123125248

And yesterday, Anita, Zoe, Randi Harper, and others met with the team at Google Ideas and discussed ways to combat online harassment. Google Ideas tweeted about this and the responses from GamerGaters, MRAs, TERFs, etc was mostly abuse.

‏@googleideas
Fighting online abuse w/ @FeministaJones @TheQuinnspiracy @roseveleth @randileeharper @jamiaw @CCRInitiative @femfreq

https://twitter.com/googleideas/status/646783722570682369

@googleideas
The replies to our last tweet are precisely why we are exploring ways to combat online harassment.

https://twitter.com/googleideas/status/646795257057669124

I wonder if there is a stream for the talks?

EDIT: Here is the live feed: http://webtv.un.org/live-now/watch/...roup-on-gender-report/4484980560001#full-text

EDIT 2: This week hasn't really been going well for GG. Even anime has betrayed them: https://vine.co/v/ePY7XLqrrZZ

That's from the dub that Funimation did.

 

[Cincaid]

The replies to those tweets - holy hell. That's a deep rabbit hole of hatred.

They remind me a lot of a racist political party in my country that always act like the victim to gain sympathy (I guess?). They are constantly trying to appear like the victim and seek sympathy from the unknowing public, when they are just awful and hateful human beings.

 

[BY2K]

I know women and girls are getting the worst of it, and I'm all for this, but... if you're going to talk about this at the UN, how about we end online harassment period?

 

[Granadier]

Fantastic idea. Maybe not the greatest people to choose as representatives though.

 

[23qwerty]

Fantastic idea. Maybe not the greatest people to choose as representatives though.

Can't imagine many better

 

[weemadarthur]

I know women and girls are getting the worst of it, and I'm all for this, but... if you're going to talk about this at the UN, how about we end online harassment period?

Don't you think, that if the people who particularly abuse women are banned from using any internet communication services, that there may not be anyone left who abuses men too?

 

[OldRoutes]

I know women and girls are getting the worst of it, and I'm all for this, but... if you're going to talk about this at the UN, how about we end online harassment period?

It has been done before, for racism and antisemitism, If I recall correctly. I guess now they want to tackle the gender issue.

Don't you think, that if the people who particularly abuse women are banned from using any internet communication services, that there may not be anyone left who abuses men too?

I don't know what you're saying but I don't think banning people is necessary. The UN is not a police corps.

 

[Mass_Pincup]

I know women and girls are getting the worst of it, and I'm all for this, but... if you're going to talk about this at the UN, how about we end online harassment period?

Gotta start somewhere.

 

[KarmaCow]

I know women and girls are getting the worst of it, and I'm all for this, but... if you're going to talk about this at the UN, how about we end online harassment period?

It is pretty disappointing they aren't going to be talking about the displaced Syrian refugees.

 

[FlyinJ]

Fantastic idea. Maybe not the greatest people to choose as representatives though.

I agree. They should have gotten Brad Wardell and Derek Smart instead.

 

[Hedge]

Fantastic idea. Maybe not the greatest people to choose as representatives though.

I agree. They helped make it a public issue to be addressed, but there are a lot of academics that have researched this issue for years.

 

[Pezking]

Don't you think, that if the people who particularly abuse women are banned from using any internet communication services, that there may not be anyone left who abuses men too?

Actually...no.

 

[GrantDaNasty]

This is good. While the talk may be about women and girls for the moment, the overall conversation could and in my uninformed opinion, will apply to all individuals. Don't be a jerk to people. It's just a shame there need to be laws established to make that clear to everyone.

 

[Deleted member 20920]

I know women and girls are getting the worst of it, and I'm all for this, but... if you're going to talk about this at the UN, how about we end online harassment period?

We can talk about problems while being specific because online harassment of women is different from online harassment of men.

It would be like saying "what about other illnesses!" when someone tries to have an agenda about flu or something. Sometimes we need to isolate and separate them before we can really tackle a problem.

Fantastic idea. Maybe not the greatest people to choose as representatives though.

Why not?

 

[Spukc]

good for them

 

[Warxard]

Rad!

 

[The Technomancer]

I agree. They helped make it a public issue to be addressed, but there are a lot of academics that have researched this issue for years.

For better or for worse they were essentially forced into being the representatives on this issue. I don't particularly mind them speaking, although I'll be curious if they cite anyone

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

I know women and girls are getting the worst of it, and I'm all for this, but... if you're going to talk about this at the UN, how about we end online harassment period?

They may be focusing on a specific gender, but anything they say or do that is actually useful should easily translate in some way into dealing with all types of harassment.

Don't #AllLivesMatter up this thread.

 

[User1608]

Thee people are such losers (gg, mra, etc). Ugh.

 

[The Technomancer]

Yeah, this! Men get harrassed too! You're leaving the boys behind yet again! Targeting problems in their worst areas? That's the real racism. Err, sexism. What are we taking about? Oh, right, Black Lives Matter are the REAL terrorists here.

It seemed like an innocent enough comment, we don't need to jump down his throat

 

[Slayven]

@FeministaJones

Word? this will be great, hope they put it online.

 

[2+2=5]

UN? Wow, good for them, this story was on its own level of ridiculousness and sadness, i wonder what the result will be.

 

[NoblesseOblige]

Fantastic idea. Maybe not the greatest people to choose as representatives though.

Those who have been dealing with the exact issue the topic is discussing aren't great choices to talk about it?

 

[BY2K]

They may be focusing on a specific gender, but anything they say or do that is actually useful should easily translate in some way into dealing with all types of harassment.

Don't #AllLivesMatter up this thread.

Yeah, this! Men get harrassed too! You're leaving the boys behind yet again! Targeting problems in their worst areas? That's the real racism. Err, sexism. What are we taking about? Oh, right, Black Lives Matter are the REAL terrorists here.

Hey, c'mon. That's not what I'm doing here.

 

[El_Fenomeno]

Its the first I've heard of these people, hopefully the talk at the UN will bring more attention to online harassment as a whole (race, gender, sexuality, you name it.)

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

Fantastic idea. Maybe not the greatest people to choose as representatives though.

Yeah, it should be people who haven't personally experienced the worst kind of gender-based harassment. That would give them more credibility, right? I mean, if these women have been so specifically targeted, they can't be completely innocent in all this, right?

This is sarcasm.

 

[Loakum]

I feel for what these women went/going through. However, what can be done that don't greatly prohibit free speech on the internet? How will it be regulated? Do we really want "Big Brother" deciding what we can or can't say online? I get that people are a-holes online, but that's what the block/mute button is for.

 

[Henkka]

Why not?

Being a victim of online harassment doesn't necessarily make you an expert on online harassment. As someone else already said, I'm sure there are academics who study this stuff for a living.

But then again, I'm sure Emma Watson isn't an expert on feminism either. Maybe it's more of a symbolic thing, idk, I don't oppose it

 

[MrBadger]

I know women and girls are getting the worst of it, and I'm all for this, but... if you're going to talk about this at the UN, how about we end online harassment period?

Sorry to jump on the dogpile of replies here, but I think it's too big an issue to tackle it in bulk when many different people are harassed online for many different reasons, like how women are harassed by men for little more reason than their gender in a lot of instances. I think identifying why certain groups of people are harassed is the best way to move forwards.

 

[The Technomancer]

I feel for what these woman went/going through. However, what can be done that don't greatly free speech on the internet? How will it be regulated? Do we really want "Big Brother" deciding what we can or can't say online? I get people are a-holes online, but that's what the block/mute button is for.

Agencies taking actual harassment such as death threats, dispersal of personal information and targeted campaigns more seriously as actual criminal affairs would be a good start.

 

[kamineko]

I agree. They helped make it a public issue to be addressed, but there are a lot of academics that have researched this issue for years.

They are there as part of a larger working group. Accounts of people that have experienced the problem firsthand will be part of a larger picture. The UN has experience creating working groups, and access to experts as needed.

That being so,

Fantastic idea. Maybe not the greatest people to choose as representatives though.

What female targets of a one year (and counting) online harassment campaign would you suggest for these accounts?

 

[NeonBlack]

Harassing these women non-stop has given them a platform that they may have never been able to achieve before. Good job to them for never giving up.

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

Hey, c'mon. That's not what I'm doing here.

Whether that was your intention or not, that was literally the form of argument you made. You objected to a specific focus on the harassment of women and suggested it should be about all harassment. Sarkeesian and Quinn are feminist activists and it is their prerogative to focus on the issue in a woman-centric way. The things they say about stopping harassment will apply to all people, even if their examples are gender-based.

 

[MUnited83]

I know women and girls are getting the worst of it, and I'm all for this, but... if you're going to talk about this at the UN, how about we end online harassment period?

 

[LordJim]

The same UN that has Faisal bin Hassan Trad as chair of the Human Rights Council Panel?
That will be fruitful

 

[Anton Sugar]

Hey, c'mon. That's not what I'm doing here.

I'd have to ask: what are you trying to do or discuss?

Harassment of women has overlap with general harassment online, but often women are targeted solely on the basis of being a woman or contributing a woman's perspective.

 

[torre_avenue]

I went once to see Anita Sarkeesian speak at an event at NYU's Brooklyn campus. With the amount of security that was present, you'd think she was a foreign dignitary. It was like they had transplanted the TSA security measures for her talk. Besides that, her talk was rather fascinating as she discussed gender roles in video games and a bit on her whole life ever since Gamergate began.

At least in the UN, there aren't any Gamergaters in the audience. (At least I hope so.)

 

[Loakum]

Agencies taking actual harassment such as death threats, dispersal of personal information and targeted campaigns more seriously as actual criminal affairs would be a good start.

These measure aren't already in place?

 

[The Technomancer]

These measure aren't already in place?

On the books in the US? Technically yes to some capacity. A large part of Quinn's experience in particular has been how maddeningly unresponsive every official channel she's tried to work through has been

 

[BY2K]

I'd have to ask: what are you trying to do or discuss?

Harassment of women has overlap with general harassment online, but often women are targeted solely on the basis of being a woman or contributing a woman's perspective.

All I wanted to say is if some kind of laws against online harassment are made with this, or if anything comes out of it, that it protects all victims of online harassment, not just women, who yes, are getting harassed purely on the fact that they are women.

 

[Two Words]

Can't imagine many better

I imagine there are people that have done far better research than the two of them.

 

[Moff]

I will watch it

 

[Breads]

It is pretty disappointing they aren't going to be talking about the displaced Syrian refugees.

...they aren't experts in refugees. They're experts in harassment. Don't be cheeky!

 

[SliceSabre]

I respect that they are talking to the UN about such an issue and bringing more attention to it.

That said, I've never viewed the UN as a very good place to go about well...much of anything. True they will bring attention to it, but I don't expect anything substantive to come out of it. They(the UN) can hardly stop people from committing crimes against humanity or help solve the current refugee crisis so I don't imagine they'll be much help combating online harassment. Seems like one of those things individual governments are better suited at addressing.

But getting the word out is always good.

 

[NeonBlack]

I imagine there are people that have done far better research than the two of them.

Maybe so but they are the most well known for having to deal with this issue.

 

[GoodCoffeeJoey]

Derek Smart's having a Twitter meltdown over this.

 

[Fractal]

I'm not too interested in all this "cyber harassment" talk, but I guess it's reasonable to see many of you wanting for something to be done about it. That said, are there any prevalent ideas on what that something is supposed to be... in other words, what are the suggested practical solutions to the issue at hand, or is that phase not reached yet?

 

[Fuchsdh]

Ehhh, I'm just showing him the allies that line of thinking has. It has become omnipresent as a response to basically any movement that seeks to represent the underrepresented.

He's a big boy, he can handle a nasty joke or two.

Saying this in a thread about online harassment is... interesting. I'm sure many people think others online should be able to "handle" the abuse they send as well.

As for what the actual UN can do... nothing? Even if an obstacle to stopping threats sent across international boarders are those boarders themselves, that still seems like a country-to-country law enforcement issue. I guess the idea is to try and get it in the minds of the representatives for their own countries.

 

[partyphone]

I imagine there are people that have done far better research than the two of them.

I don't doubt it. but have they also spent a lot of time presenting that research to large crowds of disinterested people?

but I'm sure you can come up with a few examples!

 

[QuantumZebra]

I imagine there are people that have done far better research than the two of them.

Lmao like who?

Zoe Quinn, Randi Harper, etc.. have lived and been under the worst harassment the internet could muster for a long time now. They are perfect for this.