Well, wow. I am a bit shocked, a little terrified at the length that some people willing to go to harm you if they don’t like what you write.
This happened earlier this year. There hasn’t been much drama since, but it was a traumatic enough experience for me to get rid of most all of my social media accounts.
So, what happened?
I wrote an article for Sausage Roll; it’s an Aussie pop-culture website I work for. The article was about how Nintendo developers were harassed by a small group of trans rights activists to remove gendered terms from Animal Crossing.
Before I continue, I want to make it perfectly clear that I’m not a “transphobe” or any kind of “phobe”. I support the LGBTQ communtiy with my whole heart. I’ve even tended several marches in my hometown in Norway.
With that being said, every group has its share of bad apples, radicals, what-have-you. When I wrote the article I was referring to a very small group of people, not the community as a whole.
The article went viral and I started receiving death threats. My Twitter account was mass reported, and someone was able to find very personal information about me through my Steam account. They texted me relentlessly calling me a TERF and other things.
On top of that, every day after, I would receive about 200 text messages from Twitter with password reset requests. I’d simply had enough. I changed my phone number, and closed most of my social media accounts.
I still write for Sausage Roll but I think I’ve learned my lesson. Keep your personal information safe on the internet. There are angry mobs of people who are looking for someone–anyone–to lynch.
You can read more about what happened to me on The Post Millennial. Investigative journalist Anna Slatz wrote an excellent piece about what happened to me.
Erina Wins 