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VICE: How did you track down this 4chan person who you believe to be behind the fake account that posted transphobic tweets?Hi friends, someone has created a Twitter account impersonating me and tweeting hateful comments. Account suspended, thanks for your help x
— Caitlin Roper (@caitlin_roper) May 20, 2015
Caitlin Roper: I actually was alerted to the 4chan because Buzzfeed acknowledged their post in an article, but then I also googled later and found it quite easily. I've been targeted by 4chan users before in response to the GTA V campaign. I think a lot of them are gamers associated with Gamergate, who are very angry with my colleagues and myself for our campaign to get this video game out of retailers.
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The story with Nader, from last year, was that basically he left a trail linking back to his Facebook account. I think he'd targeted enough women already that there were other Twitter users who were quick to step in and pass along the information.Why do you think this most recent harassment campaign against you is also about transgender people? Do you think the person is sincerely transphobic, or just wants to paint you as such?
I'm inclined to think this is more a deliberate attack on me—to silence me, discredit me, and intimidate me with an onslaught of abuse. I suspect this person/people have little regard for the safety or lives of transgender people, but ultimately I think they said something deliberately inflammatory to turn a backlash of abuse towards me. Some of the content on the 4chan post indicates some real hostility towards transgender people.Right. Why do you think they're targeting you specifically? Do you know anyone else who has been targeted using this "fake profile" method?
I do know of other feminist activists, as well as prostitution survivors, who have been targeted in this way. Trolls seem to believe this is a great way to discredit and undermine our work. If they are damaging our reputations, there is some truth to this. However, the opposite is also true—my platform tends to grow when I'm targeted in this way, and in that sense, my activism goes to a wider audience.Out of all the potential targets on the internet, why choose Roper? Try as I might to suss out some quality that makes her a likely target, I simply couldn't find one. Roper works for a grassroots organization. She has about 2,800 Twitter followers. She's far from the most well-known feminist in the world. But she is a woman who points out sexism in media, and as we've seen before, that's a dangerous thing to be. For all of 4chan's talk of social justice activists' tendency to get "butthurt," their own butthurtiness comes to the surface as soon as someone says, "Hey, the depiction of women in this movie/show/video game isn't great."Roper's work doesn't focus on transgender issues, so the troll's decision to make transphobia his main angle only kind of makes sense. The user clearly thought it would alienate Roper's fellow feminists, while at the same time providing the user an outlet for their own pent-up aggression toward trans people. If I may offer some constructive criticism, I would say that this effort seems muddled and needs a clear direction. But such is the way of trolls angry at being unable to buy Grand Theft Auto V at their local Kmart, the greatest injustice mankind has ever suffered.As for the real Roper, her resolve is staying strong. But online harassment of women remains a frustrating problem because of the anonymity the internet provides. Still, as more and more people become aware of the ubiquity of online harassment, feminist activists like Caitlin Roper gain more support everyday. Maybe that's why her trolls are so butthurt.Follow Allegra Ringo on Twitter.