The war on 12-year-old girls

[redqueen]

An epidemic of high-profile trolling is a testament to how pathological misogyny is —and how early it begins

http://www.salon.com/2012/10/19/the_war_on_12_year_old_girls/

...

Brutsch is a grown-ass man who has made his own choices, choices that creatures with opposable thumbs would generally find repugnant. Yet when he showed off the gold-plated Reddit bobblehead award he received “for making significant contributions to the site,” he was offering very real evidence that in addition to being a singular, walking piece of vomit, he’s also undeniably a bro in a community of fellow dirtbags. He existed, and thrived, because he had the encouragement to do so.

And if you require any further proof, read Soraya Chemaly’s nausea-inducing Huffington Post piece on “The 12-Year-Old Slut Meme and Facebook’s Misogyny Problem.” In it, she takes on Facebook’s famously blind eye to pages that intimidate and exploit underage girls, notably the “12-Year-Old Slut Memes” page that’s so chock-full of hilarity about pubes and virginity that it gives new meaning to the word “gag.” It’s the brainchild of two self-described 19-year-old males, and to get a sense of the tone, consider a post from last month declaring “Fuck all you people that had a cry and reported us because we put your slutty fucking photos up, got fucking banned from facebook for a while you cunts, had to make a new account. If you post slutty fucking shit on facebook expect your photo to end up on here, then tagged in, then ripped to shreds by 120 thousand people. Chaos will continue. Go die.” There you go, girls. Doesn’t get clearer than “go die.”

What is it about young girls that’s so incendiary? That could make “Jailbait” for a time the second most popular search on Reddit, that would ever put the words “12-year-old” and “slut” together? This BS –this dehumanizing crap –can’t just be chalked up to the inherent budding attractiveness of youth and freshness. This goes way, way beyond that particular can of worms. I think it has a whole lot to do with just how deeply engrained the hatred of women is in our culture.

It’s not a coincidence that it’s right around the age of 12 that a girl begins to come to an understanding of her potential for power. Not just her sexual power. But her intellectual and physical mettle as well. She’s still very much a child –a child in need of support and protection –but early adolescence is the beginning of a girl coming into her own as an independent person. With a brain and a body she’s going to control. How terrifying that is for the hateful, misogynistic jerks of the world. (And I’m not letting sabotaging, self-hating females off the hook here for their bullying and divisiveness either; they’re a huge part of the problem too.) They pick on girls because it’s easier than dealing with adult women; that’s how weak they are.

...

[CrispyQ]

1. I couldn't finish reading this.

I want to create a safe haven, an enclave, a community, where young people can congregate & are listened to & taught & counseled by elders who know what human decency & human connection & community are about.

Not the shallow, meaningless, marketing crap of today that shapes our entire culture.

[redqueen]

3. We can create that by teaching our children the difference between authentic sexuality

and selling out to porn culture.

I wasn't taught that. I was taught that prioritizing what others wanted and viewed as important was just what women do. The way things are. We need to teach kids the difference between sexuality and porn, the same way we teach them the difference between 'real' food and fast food.

Until then we will continue to see girls pandering to boys and men, instead of seeking out their own fulfillment and gratification on their own terms.

[CrispyQ]

7. I can't imagine raising children in this society.

Parents must spend 99% of their time countering this filth we call a culture. What of families where Mom & Dad either don't have the time or the inclination to give their kids a different world view? I guess it's just hit or miss how those kids turn out.

[redqueen]

8. There is a plethora of teachable moments, that is for damned sure.

It's tough when you realize how few even see this stuff, because if you don't even see it how can you make your kids aware?

But all you can do is whatever you can do. It was the same with racism and homophobia at one time... we'll get there.

[seabeyond]

11. Parents must spend 99% of their time countering this filth we call a culture.

and this is where the HUGE issue is. and the HUGE problem. you got that right. it is all over. so unhealthy and obsessive in manner. and so caricature of our identity. and the consistent fight to bring in reality into this unhealthy make believe.

you are right on.

and the many children whose parents do not have the time or the ability to counter this.

it is .... everywhere. presenting women as things. dehumanizing.

[seabeyond]

10. i was talking to 20 yr old niece about the two colleges, reddit, facebook, amy who killed herself

i ask, ... why arent you ANGRY, why arent you OUTRAGED, why arent you DISGUSTED.

she was telling me she is. that her bf's friends have porn shots of girls legs in their trucks. that it disgusts her. this one is a new one for me.

the defense of porn is it being about sexuality.

my argument against porn is i see it continually being used as a tool by men AGAINST women.

now, reasonably, logically, tell me why a man needs to have a naked girl with her legs spread in his vehicle. if he is so fuckin horny he needs a naked women around him every fuckin second of every day.

or if these fucked up BOYS are so messed up in their perception of women that they must have these pictures for digs at women, to embarrass, shame and humiliate the girls every second of their day. and to get the pats on the back from their fellow BOYS at what a man they are that they continually and consistently are dehumanizing women in order to fuckin feel like a man in their fuckin pathetic life.

why would a boy have a picture of naked women in their fuckin truck.

what reason.....?????

[petronius]

2. Glad to read that Brutsch was dismissed from his job, at least

But what a horrifying article...

[redqueen]

4. It really is. This was one of the hardest parts for me to read:

At one point in the conversation, Griffin faced Brutsch and said of his behavior, “I’m a father. Of a daughter. I would be very mad at you.” Brutsch’s face at that moment was priceless, briefly flickering with the understanding that those drooled over girls in their underwear he posted all over Reddit are somebody’s daughters. Then the light went off again.

[seabeyond]

12. the majority of people would be disgusted if they were even aware. unfortunately

the majority of people i find that are disgusted with this behavior also walk this earth unaware. because it is not their world. because they have no interest. so these pigs get away with it without the majority standing up to these bullies. the only way to shame them out of existence.

that is where the problem is.

[sufrommich]

5. What an incredibly depressing article.nt

[redqueen]

6. It should be motivating.

I outlined in post 3 what I thought we could do to change things.

Sadly many adults are more interested in their own extended adolescence to have much concern for anyone but themselves.

[seabeyond]

13. many adults are more interested in their own extended adolescence

yes.

[seabeyond]

9. he’s one of the grossest examples of our species we’ve currently got going.

lets take this quickly to defending gays and racial minorities by using women for the dig, in GD and meta. this reminds me of that. the clueless.

The self-described “creepy uncle of Reddit,” who was dismissed from his job after his online alter ego was revealed, seemed embarrassed yet only marginally self-aware in his conversation with Drew Griffin as he humble-bragged, “There are hot-button topics that you can make a comment about and just enrage people … Apparently I have a gift for pushing buttons.”

i have to assume the women that defend that, and say where is the problem, that cannot immediately hear the dehumanizing of women to make the point against racism and gays, does not GET basic respect. and i have to wonder why.


and this is a man. this a a father. this is our hope. and i wish every one of these creeps understood, that people of both gender that stand in balance and health look at them and see this.

I look at my own 12-year-old daughter and I see so much possibility in her. So much strength and wisdom and beauty. And some days, I feel like apologizing to her for everything on the Internet that doesn’t involve tiny pigs. I wish I could write off the likes of Michael Brutsch as one isolated, disturbed individual. And he’s exceptional; a king among trolls, to be sure. But he exists because there is a strong and vocal community of little creeps who are simultaneously aroused and hateful and scared to death of everything that a young girl represents. Who look at her and feel so bad about their own pathetic selves they want nothing more than to tear her down and make her feel ever worse about herself. My dear daughter, I am so sorry these morons are out there, and that you and your friends are in their cross hairs. That they don’t see you as a person but a threat.

every time i hear men disrespectful to women i conclude they are some ugly ass, pathetic creep that cant get a woman, so they take their pain out on the young girls that are not quite so capable of defending themselves. vultures. scavengers.