One small step for mankind, four giant steps backward for men

Julie DiCaro is a columnist for CBSChicago.com and an update anchor for 670 The Score who has been reporting on the investigation of alleged sexual assault involving the Chicago Blackhawks’ Patrick Kane. But on Friday, she had to stay away from her office. The threats against her on Twitter for doing nothing more than her job had become too intense. As DiCaro provided a series of live updates on the developments of the case on Thursday night, Blackhawks fans began to berate her on Twitter, calling her “a joke” and a “skank,” among far more graphic attacks…. DiCaro made the inflammatory extent of the tweets public, stating, “Not at work today because of a threat made on Twitter last night. Can’t believe I ever thought Hawks fans would be different than FSU/PSU,” referring to the public response to sexual assault investigations in the Florida State and Pennsylvania State athletic departments. When asked about the specific threat she received, she tweeted that the message included details such as knowing “the places [she] go[es]” on a typical day.

I’ve always hated the term “rape culture,” in part because I think it inaccurately paints a large segment of the population with a broad brush. That there are far too many males who for whatever reasons don’t respect women means we as a culture have a significant problem. Whether or not that qualifies as a “culture” is something I’ll leave to the sociologists. For me, the bottom line is that misogyny and denigration of women are never acceptable. The idea that a woman reporting on sexual abuse allegations against a popular male athlete is somehow “a joke” or “a skank” simply for doing her job is frankly embarrassing.

Twitter is tailor-made for misogynists and men’s rights activists who believe sports to be a male domain and that women should stick to more “traditional” tasks on their side of the gender divide. In 140 characters or less, you can be truly insulting and/or demeaning, hit “ENTER”, and smugly lean back from the keyboard secure in the knowledge that you’ve just set things right. Except that using Twitter to toss cheap personal insults from a distance is the mark of a rage-addicted coward who can’t be bothered to treat others (particularly women) with respect and dignity. If the only way you feel confident speaking your mind is to unload on Twitter, you’re a coward.

We all have wives, mothers, daughters, and/or sisters. We all have women in our lives that we love and respect and for whom we’d stand up if a misogynist troll like Peter Harris came after them. What I fail to understand is how someone like Harris can look their wife, sister, daughter, and/or mother in the eyes after revealing himself to be a thoroughly objectionable and misogynistic dick. How can a man- if Harris can even be referred to as such- treat a woman in such a shoddy, disrespectful manner? How much impotent rage must one be carrying around in order to behave in such a ridiculously immature manner?

More importantly, whatever happened to the Golden Rule?