Sisterhood Agenda

3 Cyber Sheroes Who Protect Women Online

Angela D. Coleman
Latest posts by Angela D. Coleman (see all)

Have you every been cyber-bullied?  In true sisterhood style, these three women protect women online by fighting the hate.  These sisters are crusaders against the trolling, threats, shaming, name-calling, and other abusive online behavior.  See how they take a stand for women everywhere and uplift us all in the process.

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Zoë Quinn, Cofounder of Crash Override Network:
After surviving Gamergate in 2014 (groups of male gamers terrorized Zoë with threats of violence and death), she spoke to Congress and the U.N. urging them to institute wide-sweeping changes to protect those like herself.  Taking it one step further, she launched Crash Override, a crisis-response task force of lawyers, counselors,  and others that teaches people how to protect themselves from cyber attacks. “We’re getting nearly 100 cases a month,” she says.
“Stalking, hacking, revenge porn—the really nasty, scary stuff…  We always hear, ‘Oh, it’s just the Internet,’ ” Zoë says. “No. Not when trolls are telling people to die.”

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Michelle Ferrier, Ph.D., Founder of TrollBusters:
Michelle launched TrollBusters in 2015 after receiving racist and sexist mail and email as the only African American columnist at a Florida newspaper. “We jokingly call ourselves online pest control for women journalists,” she says.  Michelle has left the paper and is currently an associate dean at the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University. When TrollBusters find out that a woman is being cyber-attacked, her team sends advice and inspiration for protection and emotional support.

“Our goal is to support each woman emotionally to make sure she keeps expressing her ideas,” Michelle says.

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Mia Matsumiya, @perv_magnet on Instagram:

After receiving “creepy” emails and rape threats, Mia decided to act. “People accept this stuff as normal. This is not normal,” she says. “People don’t act like this offline. Why is it OK online?” Mia outed the creeps by publishing the disturbing communications. on her Instagram account. She soon discovered that she was not alone.

“Women are punished for having any visibility at all,” says Mia. “I want every woman to know she doesn’t have to hide.”

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