While not right Its to be expected you live a public life your inviting people to comment on you.

What happened to the old rule "Don't feed the trolls" all this carry on in the media focusing entirely on celebrities having nasty comments posted about them is "feeding the trolls". There will always be haters, when will we grow up and learn that taking the bait is exactly the point, are we all so insecure that a few comments on your twitter feed is enough to send you crying to the police and media.

A couple of kids post shit about your mum So what I would of thought a bloke like Robbie Farrah would of gotten used to the your mum jokes back when he was playing under 13's but no he makes a reply about how he would kick there ass (real grown up response there) and whines to the media.

Im not saying the trolls are right but theyll always be there either get on with your life or keep feeding them the response's they want.
Why are we getting endless reports on celeb's whose public lives should teach them to have a bit of a thick skin (didn't see gillard rise to farrahs comment or the thousands of others posted daily) Where are the reports on the kids being cyber-bullied by classmates there the ones we should be worried about Not someone making your mum cracks at minor celebrities.

I'm really perplexed as to why several people have labelled my comment as "unconstructive". I'd be interested to know why people think this. Is there something I missed that makes the two words "a noose" misogynistic?

I agree. It's a shame, because it seems to be used as an easy way for people to put down something they disagree with, without having to justify their stance.

Hi Tim,

The difference between the comment left for Julia Gillard and that for Tony Abbot (and again in the girl vs. boy examples you give) is that the language in the insults is sexist when directed against the women but just insulting when directed against the men.

I think you are right that abuse is pretty evenly spread but I think that the fact that the 'language used changes' is a crucial difference. I don't think the insults you list are 'equally bad', sexist, racist, or homophobic language (and I think this article ignores how often racism and homophobia appears online) is the language of oppression and when we live in an unequal world they are given an unequal significance.

Pretty much. I think that is were the misogyny really comes through.

I find it appalling that trolls are so unimaginative when it comes to slagging off women. At least they put in some effort with men. :D

This is something that really needs to be said (and heard), but I suspect it's too late and this new, inaccurate definition of 'trolling' will stick.

i remember late last century when 'pirate' was used to refer to a person or persons who made a business out copying entire cd albums, including the packaging, graphics, booklet, &c., usually in quantity, and then tried to pass these off at markets as the original. then, with the advent of napster, we saw a moral outrage driven semantic bracket creep move inexorably toward the modern usage. we see this again today with a lazy media & politician driven stretching of the perfectly settled & useful term 'troll' to label something which could so obviously have been labelled more accurately 'cyber bully'. -a.v.

haltabuse.org <a href="http://www.haltabuse.org/resources/stats/2011Statistics.pdf">2011 Cyberstalking Statistics</a>
Gender of Victim:
Female 74%
Male 26%

Philip, what sorts of statistics are you looking for? Better yet, what sort of statistics will you accept?

I ask that second because I'm pretty sure you won't accept my story of having been sent abusive emails by a male-named person from a series of throw-away Yahoo accounts in response to posts on a moderated newsgroup as being proof that such things happen. I also suspect you wouldn't accept things like my having been a regular at blogs like Shakespeare's Sister/Shakesville (run by a woman, profoundly feminist slant, US based), Hoyden About Town (run by an Australian woman, Australian based), Tiger Beatdown (run by a woman, strong feminist slant, US based), and Geek Feminism (run by a group of Australian and American women, US based) and reading their regular articles about dealing with misogynist trolls who submit comments (and promptly get moderated out of sight of the users) or who send abusive emails, or who stalk various members of their blogging teams. I suspect you won't accept a response like "have you actually *looked* at the sorts of things which are said in group chat in things like World of Warcraft?" Or even "have you had a look at the comments here on The Conversation - heck, start with this article! - and figured out which gender most of the participants could be identified as?"

There are a number of blogs, tumblrs, twitter accounts and websites out there which basically exist purely to document the incidence of misogyny in this modern life. Do your own research, and have a look for them, instead of pulling out the second great silencing tactic of the privileged and blinkered: namely, saying "I've never seen it therefore it doesn't exist; if you want me to believe it exists, you have to show me the proof." Because trust me, I've seen that one used so very many times, and I know the second stage of it as well: the second stage is "that's not proof, you have to show me X in order for me to believe it as proof", where X changes every single damn time the wretched thing is provided. Evidence becomes statistics, becomes studies, becomes peer-reviewed studies, becomes peer-reviewed studies by specific scientists in specific disciplines published in specific journals, becomes a signed note from God, depending on how long it takes for the activist in question to give up in disgust. It's called "moving the goalposts" and it's a fairly regular derailing tactic.

To find out more about it, go read the "Derailing for Dummies" website. That's got most of them listed.

It's very hard to provide proof of women who are lurking rather than commenting. It's very hard to provide proof of women (and other less-privileged persons) who are staying away from online discussion because they don't want to do the heavy lifting in yet another discussion about privilege and privilege blinkers. It's very hard to provide proof of women avoiding entire disciplines of study (for example, IT!) because they don't want to have to fight up hill and down dale against the gender assumptions which clog them (NB: I'm actually studying toward a BSc in Computer Science at present, and I've worked in the information technology industry for most of the last twelve years. Tell me that there aren't gender pressures on women studying and working in IT and I will laugh in your face). Basically, if something seems to be a bit of a boy's club, and there's no obvious reason why, maybe it's time for you to start asking yourself where the heck the women are, and maybe why it isn't here?