I had just hopped in the car this morning with my husband, daughter and dog for a weekend away when I decided to do a quick email check. I was surprised to see a lot more messages than usual, a few of them quite nasty. Then I saw it. A Google News alert for my name, letting me know that Fox News had published an article about me.
I didn’t bother to read it before rushing to start the routine that’s become depressingly standard for women writers: Turning on increased privacy settings for all my social media accounts, deleting the influx of harassment and blocking the most vitriolic profiles; changing passwords; and ensuring my home address or information about my daughter wasn’t available anywhere online. I pay a service to do this for me each month, but checking it myself made me feel more secure somehow.
Harassment and threats are nothing new to me; like so many other feminist writers and women online, they’re a regular part of my life. Something that—despite over a decade of activists and researchers raising the alarm about the physical and emotional danger to those targeted—remains shockingly normalized.
And while harassment can come from anywhere, when someone is targeted by conservative media—Fox News, in particular—there’s a very specific storm of hate that follows. This is especially true when the person targeted is part of a marginalized community. A Fox News hit about you can mean days or weeks of rape and death threats, being doxxed, or attempts to hack your online accounts.
A study released earlier this year from NYU’s Center for Social Media and Politics confirmed as much, finding that when a conservative pundit like Tucker Carlson attacks a female journalist, it sets off a huge spike of harassment and threats. (Journalist Taylor Lorenz, for example, told the Center about getting daily death threats and having strangers showing up in her neighborhood to look for her.)
It’s a pattern of abuse that doesn’t just impact writers, but politicians, women in public life, celebrities, and even everyday citizens.
But here’s the thing: The harassment provoked by places like Fox News isn’t random, it’s a foundational part of their business model. Stoking outrage through obsessive and misleading coverage is what keeps their audience coming back for more. Conservative media depend on that hate, and nurture it accordingly.
We already know how dangerous this is—not just for individuals targeted, but entire communities. The lies told by Fox News have incited real-life violence and murder. The Buffalo shooter who killed 10 people, all of them Black, was motivated by the racist “great replacement theory,” an idea advanced by conservative media. And the current push to link the LGBTQ community—trans people especially—to ‘grooming’ and pedophilia, has sparked a wave of attacks against Pride events. A Republican candidate in South Carolina and a Texas pastor even called for gay and trans people to be executed.
People shouldn’t have to fear for their lives because a media outlet decided bigotry is good for business. Female writers shouldn’t have to dodge misogyny and threats just to do their jobs.
I hate that I have to write this for what feels like the twentieth time. I hate that I hesitated before writing this column, wondering if it would add fuel to the fire.
Most of all, I hate that I’ve become so accustomed to strangers online calling me a cunt or threatening my life, that a barrage of harassment could feel so familiar. I worry about what it’s done to my brain.
Really, I worry about what it’s done to all of us.
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When Fox News Writes About You
Jessica, so sorry this happened to you. Absolutely terrifying!! You are appreciated so much, always remember that. Your voice is so important. You have a community of support behind you. Look after yourself, sending lots of love your way.
I'm so sorry Jessica. Dangerous to be a woman with a voice. Or really just a woman.