Amanda Hess's Essay 'Why Women Aren T Welcome On The Internet'

In Amanda Hess’s essay “Why Women Aren’t Welcome on the Internet”, the reader is presented with various firsthand accounts of cyber harassment that women have experienced over social media and even through their personal emails. Some of these messages are terrible enough to make anybody want to turn off their laptop and never go on the internet again, but for some people this is not possible as they rely on the internet for their jobs. Even when the police are notified of sexual assault threats and death threats, no action is taken. After experiencing a horrifying message directed towards herself, Hess decides to share her story as well as the experiences of other women.
My secondary source is titled: “Social Media Harassment of Women Politicians” …show more content…
The women interviewed in this article have all experienced some form of harassment from the internet. One women states, “I knew I was going to be in for a long haul when I read a comment on CBC's Facebook page that said I had obviously performed a lot of sexual acts to get to where I was because there was no way a woman who looked like me, and talked like me and had my limited abilities could have achieved office on my own” ("Social Media Harassment of Women Politicians"). Messages like this one can be discouraging and demeaning especially when directed towards a woman who is under constant scrutiny simply for being involved in politics. This language usage also causes the reader to really feel the struggle that this woman must go through daily which is the goal of publishing this article. These women have to deal with how people on the internet harass their families as well. They are very outspoken about how they feel about this issue, “I can't imagine what we're doing to our children and our young women when we're not screaming at the top of our lungs that this type of thing has to stop” ("Social Media Harassment of Women Politicians"). By using such strong wording to convey their feelings, these women have a greater effect on how people react. Along with using examples from their personal experiences, these women use metaphors to emphasize the struggle they go through, “Then there was just this dog-piling on from …show more content…
By using many first-hand examples of being harassed, Hess engages the reader and allows them to see the unfiltered reality of what women on social media experience. While my secondary source also includes personal accounts of cyber harassment, they are not as extreme in nature and are aimed at the women for being involved in politics, rather than just existing on the internet. The difference of how the messages are conveyed effects which article I believe is more