There are a lot of below-the-belt shots being directed at New York Rep. Anthony Weiner these days. Something to be expected, of course, after a crotch shot that may or may not be the congressman made its way onto Twitter, directed at a Seattle college student. The jokes really just write themselves.
Whether Weiner has been caught doing something untoward or was simply the victim of an online prank (I tend to believe the latter), there’s nothing funny about what this controversy has meant for Gennette Cordova, the young woman who has been dragged unwillingly into the spotlight.
Cordova told the press, “I’ve seen myself labeled as the ‘Femme Fatale of Weinergate,’ ‘Anthony Weiner’s 21-year-old co-ed mistress’ and ‘the self-proclaimed girlfriend of Anthony Weiner.’”
“I’ve watched in sheer disbelief as my name, location, links to any social networking site I’ve ever used, my old phone numbers and pictures have been passed along from stranger to stranger.”
Cordova reportedly has stopped attending class and is no longer showing up to the school newspaper, where she is a reporter — all to avoid the media. She has also erased her social networking pages — like the one on Facebook — in an attempt to stop the circulation of pictures and private information. “Weinergate” obsessives are using this as a sign that Cordova has something to hide, rather than acknowledging that perhaps a 21-year-old girl who committed the great crime of following a politician she admired on Twitter would prefer not to have lascivious bloggers posting her picture and making comments about her sexuality.
Sadly, what Cordova is experiencing — online sexual harassment — is not uncommon, nor is it likely to go away. It can take the form of stealing and posting young women’s pictures, lobbing sexual slurs, or sending young women suggestive messages. One study shows that women and folks with female usernames are 25 times more likely to experience harassment than males. Maligning women on online forums and blogs has become the new catcalling — but unlike the street harassment that women face, when it’s done online, it’s there forever.
I should know. Almost five years ago, I was sexually harassed online in a campaign started by a conservative blogger who claimed I was using my breasts to entice President Bill Clinton in a photograph. Seriously. I had been invited along with a group of bloggers to meet the former president in 2006; after the short lunch meeting, an innocuous group photo was taken. From what this blogger said about the picture, you would think I was giving Clinton a bikini-clad lapdance: “When [Jessica] goes to meet Clinton, she wears a tight knit top that draws attention to her breasts and stands right in front of him and positions herself to make her breasts as obvious as possible?” (I’d rather not name the blogger, which would give the person much-desired attention.)
The blogger went on: “Jessica’s breasts are definitely a distraction!”
“Jessica should have worn a beret. Blue dress would have been good too.”
What started as nasty comments from one blogger turned into a kerfuffle that involved thousands of comments, hundreds of blog posts and even mainstream media coverage — all debating whether the way I looked in one picture indicated whether I was a slut attempting to seduce the former president. I had to rush to erase pictures on my Flickr account when vacation pictures of me in a bathing suit were taken and manipulated. I read hundreds of emails about what a whore I was. And to this day, when someone Googles me, the related searches that come up are of the “breast” and “Clinton” variety. Never mind the books I’ve written or activist work I’ve done — a years-old harassment campaign will likely follow me for the majority of my career.
Today, it’s not just Cordova who is being harassed as part of this latest controversy. One enterprising blogger, for example, has taken it upon himself to list the Twitter handles and pictures of all the “luscious” young women whom Weiner follows, even those of a teenage girl.
Cordova said, “I do not have a clear understanding as to how or why exactly I am involved in this fiasco. I do know that my life has been seriously impacted by speculation and faulty allegations.”
And that’s what is being lost in the frenzy surrounding one picture on Twitter: the way that women’s lives can be forever changed by the unthinking — and uncaring — masses.
Whether Weiner has been caught doing something untoward or was simply the victim of an online prank (I tend to believe the latter), there’s nothing funny about what this controversy has meant for Gennette Cordova, the young woman who has been dragged unwillingly into the spotlight.
Cordova told the press, “I’ve seen myself labeled as the ‘Femme Fatale of Weinergate,’ ‘Anthony Weiner’s 21-year-old co-ed mistress’ and ‘the self-proclaimed girlfriend of Anthony Weiner.’”
“I’ve watched in sheer disbelief as my name, location, links to any social networking site I’ve ever used, my old phone numbers and pictures have been passed along from stranger to stranger.”
Cordova reportedly has stopped attending class and is no longer showing up to the school newspaper, where she is a reporter — all to avoid the media. She has also erased her social networking pages — like the one on Facebook — in an attempt to stop the circulation of pictures and private information. “Weinergate” obsessives are using this as a sign that Cordova has something to hide, rather than acknowledging that perhaps a 21-year-old girl who committed the great crime of following a politician she admired on Twitter would prefer not to have lascivious bloggers posting her picture and making comments about her sexuality.
Sadly, what Cordova is experiencing — online sexual harassment — is not uncommon, nor is it likely to go away. It can take the form of stealing and posting young women’s pictures, lobbing sexual slurs, or sending young women suggestive messages. One study shows that women and folks with female usernames are 25 times more likely to experience harassment than males. Maligning women on online forums and blogs has become the new catcalling — but unlike the street harassment that women face, when it’s done online, it’s there forever.
I should know. Almost five years ago, I was sexually harassed online in a campaign started by a conservative blogger who claimed I was using my breasts to entice President Bill Clinton in a photograph. Seriously. I had been invited along with a group of bloggers to meet the former president in 2006; after the short lunch meeting, an innocuous group photo was taken. From what this blogger said about the picture, you would think I was giving Clinton a bikini-clad lapdance: “When [Jessica] goes to meet Clinton, she wears a tight knit top that draws attention to her breasts and stands right in front of him and positions herself to make her breasts as obvious as possible?” (I’d rather not name the blogger, which would give the person much-desired attention.)
The blogger went on: “Jessica’s breasts are definitely a distraction!”
“Jessica should have worn a beret. Blue dress would have been good too.”
What started as nasty comments from one blogger turned into a kerfuffle that involved thousands of comments, hundreds of blog posts and even mainstream media coverage — all debating whether the way I looked in one picture indicated whether I was a slut attempting to seduce the former president. I had to rush to erase pictures on my Flickr account when vacation pictures of me in a bathing suit were taken and manipulated. I read hundreds of emails about what a whore I was. And to this day, when someone Googles me, the related searches that come up are of the “breast” and “Clinton” variety. Never mind the books I’ve written or activist work I’ve done — a years-old harassment campaign will likely follow me for the majority of my career.
Today, it’s not just Cordova who is being harassed as part of this latest controversy. One enterprising blogger, for example, has taken it upon himself to list the Twitter handles and pictures of all the “luscious” young women whom Weiner follows, even those of a teenage girl.
Cordova said, “I do not have a clear understanding as to how or why exactly I am involved in this fiasco. I do know that my life has been seriously impacted by speculation and faulty allegations.”
And that’s what is being lost in the frenzy surrounding one picture on Twitter: the way that women’s lives can be forever changed by the unthinking — and uncaring — masses.
