The sexual threats against Emma Watson are an attack on every woman

This is going to devolve into a flame war. I did read EW's speech and it was really good. She was talking about equality and problems that both genders face, and the courage and danger one has and will experience when doing something like this. HOWEVER, we can't just blame 4Chan. Anonymous message boards provide a bellwether for attitudes, even at the fringe. 4chan represents freedom of speech and expression for those on the channel, AND an insight into problems society faces. People are dissatisfied with the flavor of Feminism that does #killallmen(real trend) and crucified the scientists who developed the nail polish GHB test. 4chan and radfems represent the fringes of these groups, and it is important to have visibility for both in order to 1: define free speech, 2: better evaluate the middle (where most actors actually belong)

What role do anonymous forums play in the macro problem of the lack of female leadership? A big one.

We, as a community of innovators, need to stop these online communities of 'hackers against women' from existing because their threats, like the nude leaking of emma watson photos, prevent women from being public figures, starting companies and sadly participating in a huge chunk of the internet. Read below an excerpt from the article:

"Those three problems — women being threatened, women being pressured to change their own behavior to avoid sexual assault, and women being told that they don't deserve protection unless they stay pure and ladylike — are all individually terrible. But together, they add up to something even worse: a vicious cycle that pressures women out of public life. When we tell women that the threats and attacks they experience are their own fault, for failing to be sufficiently chaste or failing to take "responsible" precautions, we are telling them that they are on their own: that they cannot rely on society's protection against those crimes. How many women hear that message and decide that they have no choice but to give up that activist campaign or to turn down that higher-profile job or to hold off on writing that article? How hard will it be for UN Women to recruit its next Goodwill Ambassador?"

Claiming 4chan or reddit unanimously support the Emma Watson stuff is stupid. You can be a very heavy user of 4chan, not hang out in /b/, and be completely unaware of the Emma Watson site. Similarly with reddit.

   The site threatening Watson was greeted with glee on 4chan and Reddit, where 
   commenters explicitly stated their hope that the threats would force her to 
   abandon her feminist campaigning.

The plural of anecdote is not data. There are misogynist commenters on 4chan and reddit, but using a handful of idiots to characterize everyone on those boards verges on nutpicking. And Amanda, if you're reading this, I'd bet good money the reason people don't argue with the misogynists on those sites is the same reason you don't wrestle with pigs. I assume moot uses /b/ as an asshole sink: the assholes go there, make a lot of noise, and hopefully leave the rest of 4chan alone.

I agree with the rest of her article -- the US and world are often quite hostile to women, and it's still true that a woman who sleeps around is a slut but a guy who sleeps around is a stud. Hopefully the Emma site is just some dickhead with $7 for godaddy and too much time on his hands who figured out a way to troll a ton of people.

I wish I knew the correct response to the people who deluge outspoken women with rape threats. Perhaps part of the answer is George Tierney of South Carolina [1].

[1] http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2012/05/20/internet-man-does-no...

This is such an important read. Please do what you can to stop this kind of misogyny, on the internet and everywhere.