Kathy Sierra and Her Critics

“I do not want to be part of a culture–the Blogosphere–where this is considered acceptable. Where the price for being a blogger is kevlar-coated skin and daughters who are tough enough to not have their ‘widdy biddy sensibilities offended’ when they see their own mother Photoshopped into nothing more than an objectified sexual orifice, possibly suffocated as part of some sexual fetish. (And of course all coming on the heels of more explicit threats).” — Kathy Sierra

There's no question that women have a harder run of things on the internet than men do. Blowhards and egomaniacs are pretty much guaranteed with a y-chromosome, but any female who's even the least bit outspoken is automatically turned into a harpy or whore for the simple fact that no respectable, submissive lady would ever dare to have opinions or engage in argument to defend them.

The blogosphere is not an inviting medium for sane, rational discourse. It goes to Joey's much-cited Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory that anonymity allows for the kind of violent nastiness one wouldn't find at a lecture or debate (except from the most unhinged elements). As a result, the locker room palaver moves upstairs and becomes even more violent and more nasty. You waste no time at all getting at the nature of a mob to allow unregulated comment threads.

That said, I agree with Michelle Malkin, herself the target of innumerable death threats and sexist and racist taunts. Report the serious stuff to the police, don't let the rest get to you. Otherwise, you don't belong on the internet.

There is something unseemly and absurd about the woe-is-me attitude engulfing this Sierra business. It's hard not to suppress a giggle to hear of self-imposed moratoriums on blogging — a kind of Take Back the TypePad campaign — in solidarity with her.

Am I in any position to speak on this subject? Well, yes, I think I am.

Due to our Kevin MacDonald dialogue, Jewcy's top external "referrers" are neo-Nazi and white supremacist sites. This means having to wade through a bog of anti-Semitism in our comments section. Frankly, no one here is terribly upset or made anxious by this, nor can it be said that we're flattered by all the attention from people who probably do own guns and certainly do believe in a Jewish world conspiracy. (We're not sweating it because the Michigan militia types have adopted Joey as their foolish but well-meaning messiah, the one Jew who'll bring down the whole sordid, Protocols-infested edifice.)

And our office address is posted for all to see.