The victim’s story
Eileen Rosensteel, 38
“You fat cow.” “You’re too fat to f***.”
Those are the type of hurtful messages that were sent to my email account on
the Tuesday after the convention.
During the day, I work as an office manager
at a university, and I was at my desk when a friend sent me an email about the
somethingawful.com post.
Those
are the type of hurtful messages
I had a great time at the conference that
year. I’m a big reader and a science-fiction fan, so I love the workshops,
meeting authors and hearing readings of new work. There are parties and game
rooms at night. I own a massage business, and that year, I set up a booth
offering massages.
Now, after clicking the link my friend had
sent, I was staring at a couple of photos of myself. My face had been whited
out, but I was easy to identify. Underneath the picture of the massaging a
client, the person wrote: “This is Eileen. She is 400lb of tension release. She
is bodacious. The name of her massage parlor even has the word ‘Bodacious’ in
it. Because she is.”
Other people had read the board and written
similar nasty comments. One person reposted a picture of me and put a pig’s
head over my face. Anonymous people sent emails to my business account, and
spattered among the insults were four or five death threats
I was shaking with anger and shock after
reading the post. My immediate reaction was humiliation. Hurt, I did myself
away in my office and cried.
I called my husband right away. He wanted
to call the police because of the threats, but I wanted to get my head round
what had happen first.
The next day, I found out the name of the
person who wrote the post, after her identity was revealed online. She was a
graduate student at the university where I work. I was shocked, as I didn’t
know Jane, and had no idea why she decided to pick on me.
I’ve been heavy all of my life. But, at 5ft
10in and weighing 500lb [35st 10lb], I’ve come to love the way I look. I’m part
of the Fat Acceptance community, which encourages women to accept their bodies
whatever their weight, and not to buy into the culture of diet and shame.
It’s not the first time I’ve been insulted
because of my size – I was bullied throughout my childhood – but this attack
was different.
Within days of the post going online,
things got very intense, very quickly. I had decided against going to the
police, because I didn’t think there was a real threat of violence, but I did
save the emails as proof, and to cover my butt if I was attacked.
Friends came out to support me, while
strangers were taking to the internet expressing their anger and disgust at
what Jane had written. Vindictive things were said, and people wanted to find
out all they could about her, so they could complain to her boss and send her
nasty emails.
Friends
came out to support me
But I didn’t want to retaliate in a
negative way. After the initial shock and hurt, I decided it wasn’t worth
spending any energy on. Instead, I posted an article about the incident online.
I called the piece A Response to Hate, because I wanted the person who wrote
those things to know her pathetic attempts at humour were not going to stop me
from enjoying my life and loving myself. I also complained to the dean of the
university, as I wanted Jane to be reprimanded for the attack. He talked to
her, but I don’t know if she was disciplined.
Personally, I think internet trolls are sad
people with too much time on their hands. I don’t think about Jane or what she
wrote, but for a two-month period afterwards I was still getting emails – both
negative and positive – because of her actions.
I’m sad that the incident had a negative
effect on her life, but she initiated this. She made the decision to take
photographs without permission and post them online with rude comments, so she
has to deal with the repercussions. Jane has never spoken to me directly to
apologise and, while it doesn’t affect my life any more, it’s still annoying.
The only difference between being insulted
in person and insulted online is that on the internet, it lasts forever.
High-profile hate stars get trolled, too
With their every move documented by gossip
sites, celebs are easy targets for internet trolls. Here, Glamour reveals some
of the nastiest message received by the rich and famous
Alexa Chung
Alexa fell afoul of Instagram bullies after
she posted a picture of herself on the photo-sharing site. Followers criticized
the style icon for being too thin, with comments including, “Ew, she’s so
skinny it’s gross.”
Alexa
Chung deleted a photo of herself from her Instagram after fans protested that
the model looked too skinny in it and compared it to "thinspo."
Miley Cyrus
The 19-year-old starlet has urged Twitter
bigwigs to monitor the site, after receiving death threats in February this
year from a user known as @thecyrusslut. “@MileyCyrus – The only child people
were pro-abortion for :)” was just one of the slurs, which provoked an army of
Miley fans to report the offending Tweeter.
Alexandra Burke
The singer was put under police protection
this year when she was bombarded with a series of death threats on Twitter,
including: “I’m going to kill you tonight… gonna stab you… prepare to die,” and
“Gonna shoot you”. A chilling warning also said: “I’m coming, and I’ll murder
you!”
Louise Mensch
The MP suffered a vitriolic, sexually
aggressive Twitter attack after defending Rupert Murdoch on News night. One
wrote, “Louise Mensch… You would wouldn’t you? Given half a chance you’d
strangle her!” Another said, “I’d love to hit Louise Mensch in the face with a
hammer.”
Internet trolls and the law
People who cause their victim to feel fear
or distress can be charged under the Protection From Harassment Act 1997.
Under the Malicious Communications Act 1988,
it is a crime to send an indecent, offensive or threating electronic
communication to another person.
The Communications Act 2003 prohibits
sending a grossly offensive or indecent, obscene or menacing message with the
intent of causing distress or anxiety. All laws are enforceable with up to six
months in prison and/ or a fine.
October 2010 Colm Coss, 36, is jailed for
18 weeks for posting obscene messages on the memorial pages of, among others,
Big Brother star Jade Goody and John Paul Massey, a four year old mauled to
death by a dog. In online post, he claimed he had sex with their dead bodies.
September 2011 Sean Duffy, 25, receives an
18-week sentence of mocking the deaths of teenagers on their online tribute
pages. His targets include suicide tragedy Natasha MacBryde, whom he labeled a
“spoiled little ****’, and the mother of epilepsy casualty Lauren Drew, to whom
he sent messages impersonating the 14 year old, including one that said, “Help
me Mummy, it’s hot in Hell.”
March 2012 Liam Stacey, 21, is sentenced to
56 days in jail after posting racist Tweets when footballer Fabrice Muamba
suffered a heart attack on the pitch. When Stacey posted his original comment,
“LOL. Fuck Muamba. He’s dead. #Haha.” He found himself on the end of a
backlash. Instead of removing the offending Tweet, he sent a barrage of racial
abuse to his challengers.
What should I do if I’m trolled?
Don’t reply to their comments. Experts
agree that trolls feed off getting you to react.
Set up a Google alert by going to
google.com/alerts so you get an email when anything that identifies you (like
your full name and home address) appears online.
Set
up a Google alert by going to google.com/alerts
Think ahead. RIP tribute sites attract
trolls. Prepare for attacks before you start one. Make sure you have a
moderated comments board so no comments can be posted without your approval. If
it’s a Facebook memorial page, create an ‘invite only’ group.
If you are being harassed or threatened by
trolls, tell the website host or social network admin and inform the police.
