Meghan Murphy Petition Reaches 2000 Signatures

I’ve updated the petition, which now has 2,062 signatures. I’ll reprint it here.

We’ve Reached 2000

May 7, 2015 — Between reaching 1500 and 2000 signatures on this petition Rabble has given a response. I don’t know how Meghan or the rest of you feel about it so I can only say how I feel.

The response, in my view, gave quarter to a mob that I liken to Gamergate. They suggested the accusations were serious when any cursory glance at either the petition they created to fire Murphy, the comments on the petition, or the hashtag on Twitter, suggest otherwise.

In today’s online climate it’s easy for a mob to gather and target a woman. As a person who’s familiar with men’s rights activists, I’ve seen this time and time again. In fact, A Voice for Men, the largest MRA website, wrote a piece condemning Murphy and suggesting they use this situation as a way to divide women. This is what happens when you sit on the fence and refuse to fully support a woman.

Rabble wrote that Murphy’s position on prostitution was controversial. It’s not controversial to be against capitalist practices that commodify women’s bodies. They also suggested that Murphy’s analysis of prostitution was Canada-based when in fact it’s a global feminist analysis.

It was also implied that the accusations against Murphy had to be taken seriously and that Rabble needed to find a way to connect with its writers who write off-site. This is dangerous. To me it implies that Rabble wants a way to vet what writers do on their own sites.

Rabble should clearly come out in favour of Murphy’s free speech rights and not pander to the small mob. It’s bad enough women are socialized into the male gaze, now we can’t even write without having a voice on our shoulder whereby we self-censor.

This sets a dangerous precedent.

How many more women and men must sign this petition? How many women must be ‘reigned in’ and controlled because of a mob?

I want Rabble to support Murphy outright and say as much.

Petition · Rabble.ca: We Need Meghan Murphy · Change.org