(Trigger warning for rape and disturbing material)
The next time someone tries to tell you that harassment isn’t gendered or that fetishization is harmless, send them to Mia Matsumiya‘s Instagram, perv_magnet. However, be aware that you’ll probably leave extremely disgusted and horrified. Matsumiya, a violinist, spoke to Buzzfeed about the harassment she’s received online since she started performing in bands and launched her blog in 2003. Despite receiving highly aggressive messages and death threats, the police simply told her to turn off her computer.
I started getting the messages when I began blogging. My blog ended up with a small following and with it, a bunch of unwanted and frightening attention.
She also recounts an especially disturbing story, where one harasser was arrested for stalking another Asian girl. Matsumiya says he was found with a hard drive with a bunch of pictures and “hundreds of pages of stories he had written about stalking and raping me.”
I live at 354 Nope Blvd. in Nopesville, NOPE. Zip code 9021-no. #pervmagnet #nottellingyou A photo posted by Mia Matsumiya (@perv_magnet) on
😱 A photo posted by Mia Matsumiya (@perv_magnet) on
Matsumiya says that she’s never stopped receiving these types of horrifying messages, and wants to use the Instagram as a means to draw attention to how awful women are treated online. She’s had men messaging her in fear that she’ll publish their messages as well as lots of women who’ve expressed support and shared similar experiences. Matsumiya’s Instagram definitely calls attention and urgency to the problem of internet harassment and the fact that it’s not something you can “turn off,” and it’s definitely not something women should just “learn to get used to.”
(via Buzzfeed)
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