Sunday, January 25, 2015

A Writer Gets to Confront Her Troll

Lindy West (shown at right) writes a lot about gender politics. A few years ago she wrote that stand-up comedians make too many jokes about rape, which prompted a big series of debates in the comedy world — some civil, many not so civil. A small army of trolls mobilized against West. Some threatened to rape her; others, because West is fat (her term), said things like, "I love how the bitch complaining about rape is the exact kind of bitch that would never be raped."

One troll went above and beyond: He created a fake Twitter account in the name of West's deceased father and used it to tweet seriously vile stuff at her. Think about that for a second — jeez.

But in a development similar to my interview with Big Cock Johnson, West got to confront this particular troll. Even better, she recorded her interview with him (with the troll's knowledge and permission) and put it on the radio as the lead segment in the latest edition of This American Life.

It's a fascinating listen — highly recommended. Check it out here.