Culture

Death Threats, Insults And Relentless Abuse: This Is What It’s Like To Go Viral On Election Day

How do we start a conversation if facts get this kind of fury?

by Amelia Paxman  14 November 2016

Want more Junkee in your life? Sign up to our newsletter, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook so you always know where to find us.

This piece discusses sexual assault and extensive online abuse.

–

On the day of the US election, at around 2pm Brisbane time, it became clear that Trump was leading and I posted a tweet. It has now been shared more than 130,000 times, and is still going.

As the exposure of the tweet grew, so did my sense of impending doom. I’d witnessed the many ways in which women on Twitter are hounded for challenging the status quo, or simply existing (intensifying particularly for women who are Indigenous, Muslim, WoC, or LGBT). Mention of sexual assault seemed to bring similar abuse. At one point I had to ask my sister to log in and monitor my account for the presence of Pepe and swastika avatars because the onslaught of notifications was physically too much to handle.

–

Let’s Talk About The Facts

My tweet was borne out a sense of frustration. Sexual assault claims are seldom taken as seriously as other crimes. The all-pervading fear of false accusations often completely overshadows the reality that a low percentage of reports turn out to be false. In Australia, it’s estimated to be between 2-10 percent. And these are just the percentage of claims that are reported to police — the majority of sexual assaults go unreported.

There are many barriers to reporting sexual assault in Australia and elsewhere. These include fear of retribution, public shaming, and a lack of faith in the criminal justice system. It’s a lack of faith that’s reinforced when authority figures like County Court Judge Christopher Ryan in Melbourne call vulnerable 14-year-old girls who are raped by older men “worldly” and “older than [their] years”.

And how could we forget the incident earlier this year where former federal MP Jamie Briggs sexually harassed a junior staffer in a Hong Kong bar. After she raised a complaint against him through official channels, he responded by leaking her photo and personal details to the media. Much of the media coverage, especially from The Australian, suggested the complainant had blown the issue out of proportion, and was broadly sympathetic towards Briggs.

Shaming And Blaming The Victim: Why The Jamie Briggs Controversy Continues To Escalate

In an interview recorded in 1998, current President-elect Donald Trump called Paula Jones (who sued Bill Clinton for sexual harassment) a “loser”. But this October, he infamously held a press conference with Paula and other women who’d accused Clinton of assault, and praised their courage. And that’s not even close to being the worst of it.

As many watched in horror as Trump’s tally climbed, I’m sure thousands wrote tweets expressing the same sentiment that I did (probably worded better too). Trump wasn’t just accused of sexual assault by one person; he was caught on tape gloating about groping women, and over 20 women have now come forward to say that he harassed, abused or assaulted them. This New York Times piece is a good chronicle of the accounts and the contexts in which they occurred.

Trump’s election victory was a strong message from his voters — mostly white men and women — that no matter how brazen, no matter how many accusers, no matter how many witnesses, they didn’t mind electing an alleged sexual predator as president (as well as a candidate who’d been endorsed by the KKK).

–

Cue The Fury

My friends soon began messaging me to let me know that the post was being shared widely across social media platforms, congratulating me for going viral. I began to panic. As the retweets climbed over 100k, I received messages telling me to kill myself. One man (boy? Child?) wanted my “children” to “die in front of me”. I was called ugly, stupid, a feminazi, r*tarded, a loser, a moron, and a c*nt. Just for making an observation.

A great number of the replies to my tweet consisted of “Bill?!!” “Ask Bill Clinton!” “Ask Bill #Clinton!” “Hillary’s husband!” “Are you talking about Bill?!” This is clearly in reference to Bill Clinton’s own history of rape and sexual harassment accusations, ones which Trump decried. It’s also an echo of the press conference Trump held, where some would argue that he used the accusations against Bill and his obvious connection to Hillary to deflect the chilling “grab them by the pussy” recording which had just emerged.

Clearly, in this tweet I wasn’t referring specifically to Bill Clinton; he was not in the presidential race. But it is also true that the sexual assault claims against him didn’t prevent or hinder his rise to the presidency. So, my point stands.

Another name frequently drawn against me was Bill Cosby. Confusingly his name was being used to both refute the point and underscore it. Cosby is now facing accusations of sexual violence by over 50 women — allegations that date back to the 1960s. On some level, yes, his career is now ruined, but it took 50 years and 60 accusers for that to happen. Before that, he became a household name and remained a much-celebrated comedian. The definition of a career being ruined in this instance is rather broad, wouldn’t you say?

–

Return To Oz

I think the election of a man who bragged about groping women on tape — a man who dismissed one of his accusers by insulting her looks — will have a ripple effect in Australia. Reports have already surfaced of Trump supporters at a Sydney University US election party chanting “grab her by the pussy”.

There are already elements of this in our culture. You don’t need to look further than the popular ‘Yeah the Boys’ Facebook page. What started as a satire of ‘Aussie bloke-ness’, turned into a cesspit of misogyny where women are routinely referred to as ‘two-holes’. There is a dark undercurrent of this kind of degrading sexism in Australia — and anything that normalises this even more is downright dangerous.

The furious backlash from my tweet — “KILL YOURSELF AND LIVESTREAM IT” was one charming response — shows that even merely observing well-established facts with regards to sexual assault comes at a cost. While my experience is only a fraction of the disturbing threats and abuse that many outspoken women on the internet receive (especially women of colour who face additional racist abuse), this is not acceptable. Ever.

The wave of sexual degradation, xenophobia and racism that’s swelled from the election of Donald Trump threatens to engulf the world, but we must not stand idly by and allow these standards to become the new normal. Women have the right to be free from gendered harassment at work, online and in their community, and they should be free to report sexual assault without fear of public shaming.

As harrowing and exhausting as it is, the fight goes on. All people should speak out against this degrading behaviour. Even if it comes from one of the most powerful men in the world.

–

Feature image via George Skidmore/Creative Commons.

–

Amelia Paxman is a Brisbane-based doco filmmaker and writer. In 2015, her directional debut, Crack Up for ABC2 won the United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Award for Promotion of Disability Rights and Issues.