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Danish feminists receive threats over Facebook group
Shifa Rahaman
December 21st, 2015
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This article is more than 9 years old.
Danish women are a target for hate speech on social media
Danish feminist Facebook page ‘A Feminist’s Confessions’ has been taken down by its owner after a barrage of threats and harassment in recent days.
Sarah Elizabeth Daley, the page owner, told DR that she has received over 5,500 hateful messages since establishing the page – messages that have ranged from jokes about her sexuality to out-and-out rape threats.
No safe space
Daley has been the target of renewed threats ever since uploading a video where she detailed previous instances of harassment she received as a result of running the page.
“I have experienced a lot of shit, but never in the same caliber as this. I had to block and delete about 200 men from my side,” she told DR.
Democratic problem
According to The Danish Women’s Society, this type of hate speech is a problem all women on social media who speak about gender issues face.
“Every day there are women who are threatened into silence on Facebook,” Ulla Tornemand, a board member, told DR.
“It is a huge democratic problem as these women become anxious. They do not know whether the threats are real, and therefore they refrain from participating in the public debate,” she said.
Facebook not doing enough
Sarah Elizabeth Daley has reported the problem to Facebook, but without much success.
The Danish Women’s Society has previously been critical of Facebook’s handling of situation like this one.
“Facebook has several times promised to take this seriously, to crack down on this kind of sexual intimidation, harassment and abuse,” the society wrote on its Facebook page. So far, however, nothing concrete has been achieved by the social media giant.
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