A campaigner against the Hooters restaurant in Bristol has called in police after receiving online threats and abuse.
Sian Norris, from the Bristol Feminist Network (BFN), was reduced to tears after messages appeared on the group’s Facebook page attacking the campaign.
Hooters announced the restaurant, famed for employing skimpily-dressed waitresses and which BFN claimed “served up women as sexual commodities”, would close thanks to a lack of trade, mounting debts and a long-running legal dispute with another company.
BFN said it did not think its campaign had led to the closure, but celebrated it as a “victory for equality”.
But fans of Hooters vented their anger on Facebook yesterday, directing their comments towards Ms Norris – a spokeswoman for the group.
One commenter wrote on his own Facebook page that she was a “c***” and “I’m going to find her address and everything. SHE MUST PAY”.
Ms Norris said such abuse was common but yesterday’s attacks had left her feeling “alarmed and vulnerable”. She has now reported the abuse to the police and Facebook.
“Obviously I was very upset! The post which called me a c*** and encouraged people to find me online and offline and make me ‘pay’ left me feeling very alarmed and vulnerable,” she told Bristol24-7.
“As a feminist, I have naturally had to develop a thick skin due to the kind of aggression you get when you challenge patriarchy and the status quo. But threats to come and find me and hurt me were something different.
“In the past I have received hate messages on my blog (by ‘hate messages’ I mean comments that use gender hate language) and during the period when we were actively campaigning against the opening of Hooters I received a lot of hate messages. These included threats, nasty misogynistic comments and, at one low point, abusive comments about my family.”
The Bristol campaigner added that the abuse was shocking but not surprising, but refused to stop talking about the issues despite the loss of some 39 jobs.
“Hooters treats women as objects and uses imagery and language that degrades women. This has an impact – how can it not?,” she said.
“Although the abuse is shocking, it’s also not shocking because it is coming from a culture that thinks disrespecting, objectifying and degrading women is OK and normal. So of course I will carry on campaigning against that culture and its manifestations.
“I am of course sad that women and men have lost their jobs but I also feel strongly that an establishment that normalises sexual objectification, encouraged a tolerance of sexual harassment and used imagery and language that degrades women has no place on our high street.
“Because the normalisation of sexual objectfication is harmful to women and men, we need to speak out against it and show how it is harmful. Plus if I stopped now, then I would have been silenced by misogynists and I never have any intention of that happening!”
'..the joint closed down..' ?
What kind of term is that ? I know, it's an American term. How about 'the venue', or 'the establishment' ? Speaking in a foreign language is the first step in accepting their culture. And in this case the American culture of dining is what I thought people were protesting against.
Guest, you win Teh Internetz for missing the point big time!
The reactions to the BFN statement have been fascinating to watch.
Despite clear statements of the opposite,they received a lot of criticism for celebrating the job losses and hating Hooters staff, wanting to take away their choices etc. Interestingly, far less criticism has been directed at the Bristol Hooters management who, according to messages from staff to BFN, seem to have deprived some staff of 2 weeks pay.
I'm left suspecting that this criticism of BFN is an attempt to demonise a local group of feminists and invalidate their position. Much like the attempts to silence and individual feminist with all that online abuse.
From what I can see, the feminist protests against hooters were not successful, the joint closed down to lack of business, and the most feminists can be blamed for that is for not spending any money there!
EVIL FEMINISTS!
Threatening violence against an individual because you don't agree with their opinions is wrong.
And the more people reported this sort of behaviour to the police, the better. In a civilised society expressing an opinion should not be something that only the brave are willing to do.
Of course making threats against someone for their beliefs is completely wrong, which is why as a liberal I don't feel fundamentalist preachers or the BNP should be 'shut down' but rather countered with more enlightened ideas. For me, after studying it academically, radical feminism is, for me, another unhelpful extremism.
The BFN didn't half tell a load of porkies about the nature of the of the Hooters business (some of my friends who'd never heard of the chain thought it was a sort of lap dancing joint largely due to BFN's manufactured controversy). No wonder it wound some people up something awful, especially when Ms Norris had a gloat about it on the Beeb after 39 job losses.
You say that BFN told 'porkies' about Hooters. So you can list them, of course? -apart from the questionable nature of what you've written, you're victim blaming. Never a good look. Trust me.
Hi Random Bristolian.
Here are the two statements made about Hooters by BFN:
http://www.bristolfeministnetwork.com/hooters-bri… http://www.bristolfeministnetwork.com/hooters.htm…
Can you point to these "porkies" and examples of "manufactured controversy"?
Because if you can, I think BFN should address them, so as not to be misleading. If you can't, then perhaps you are getting mixed up between what BFN really say and do and a tired old stereotype of what people think feminists say and do?
In several recent cases of stalking or harassment or worse (where the parties did not know each other socially) there is a history of online abuse/unwanted attention.
The abuse in those cases was often overlooked or belittled and so the contact was permitted to escalate.
Sian and BFN have done the right thing.
To say that I am appalled at the behaviour directed towards Sian is an understatement. I considered myself to be on the fence where Hooters was concerned but certainly won't lose sleep over its closure. I read Sian's blog regularly and have seen the comments directed at her on a variety of issues including this one. I am not surprised that she is upset over the threats against her, and has every right to involve the police. The actions and words of these thugs give us half-decent men a bad name. Any man worth his salt, even if they disagree with Sian would not resort to threats of genital harm, rape or worse. Whether they were meant as a joke or just empty threats just goes to show the level of intelligence and integrity they lack, i.e. zero, and these so called "men" represent the sort of clientele the frequented Hooters then it's closure is definitely something to be celebrated.
Who take any notice of keyboard warriors? Immature internet threats are hardly seldom these days.
"Immature internet threats are hardly seldom these days" -unfortunately true; but is it right?
It's very, very common. http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/helen-lewis-has…
Doesn't mean it shouldn't be taken seriously.
The problem is that people forget that there are consequences to what they write on the web, often because they wrongly regard it as anonymous. So I do think that it needs to be taken seriously, yes.
It's one thing to disagree with their stance on Hooters and to criticise their slightly tasteless celebration of job losses, but a whole other thing to make threats and act aggressively.