For people in public life, it's the degree to which you can be individually targeted. It's why social media companies are doing better—with the Twitter mute function, for example. On Facebook, if you run a campaign page, you can actually hide someone's comment. They still believe it's there. They still believe their hate is out there in the world, but in fact it's been hidden. You have more control. I think it's the degree to which it's individually targeted and it lasts and you can't counter it effectively. Clearly, the viral effect is significant.
I'm EV's past executive director. I can't tell you how many calls I would field where this was among the top three questions: What will I do when—it's not even “if”—I am the target or my family is the target? It's all online. No one's thinking about a flyer in their community. People are wondering what do they do when they're the target.
It's a little bit better now, but barely. There was very little we could offer. Women have internalized this notion that if they're going to run for office and if they have intersectional identities that are also subject to being targeted or vilified, they expect that this is part of public life.
I think it's good to be realistic about public life. I don't think we ever want to say to women that this is all roses and they'll have a great time. It's incredibly satisfying and now that I'm serving in elected life I can say that.
We are always up against reframing politics and the political journey because of all of the crap. So much of it now dominates your online engagement, which is absolutely required to get elected. In my own experience, I actually don't think my electoral campaign would have been viable without online engagement. I had a huge reach. It is so incredibly powerful, but then the capacity for it to be turned against you is equally, if not more, powerful. That's the dance you're doing.
With better rigour and with better standards, at least we can say there's something to work with. The non-criminal administrative route to pursuing justice is also very helpful, I think.