That’s not trolling

Written by

Ophelia Benson

in

I pointed out yesterday that calling a man who threatened to kill Rosie Duffield and JK Rowling a “troll” is offensively trivializing. I see I’m not the only one who thinks so.

You’re god damn right it does.

Comments

One response to “That’s not trolling”

  1. Your Name's not Bruce? Avatar
    Your Name’s not Bruce?

    …using the word ‘troll’ to describe men who make explicit death threats against women minimises both the offence and the effect on the recipients.

    And that’s the point. Their critics get to say “It’s her own fault” and “She had it coming.” It fits in with the pre-existing narratives by means of the “established fact” that these women are “transphobes.” Their suffering doesn’t count, and if any “troll” follows through on their threat, the backstory makes it clear that the consequences are more the fault of the victims than the perpetrator. After all “She should have known better.”

    As an added bonus, Billy Bragg will be able to haughtily tut that this what they get for agreeing with fascists.

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