Casey Mendoza
Women Are Still A Minority In Behind-The-Scenes TV Roles
A new study shows a lack of women working behind the scenes, but some networks are trying to change that.
LEARN MOREPosted: 8:42 a.m. EDT Sep 23, 2017
"Rick and Morty" co-creator Dan Harmon is blasting some of the show's fans after its new women writers faced online harassment.
Some fans held two of the new women writers responsible for a reported disappointment with two early episodes. As a result, the writers were harassed and even had their personal information published online.
Harmon told Entertainment Weekly the harassers were "knobs" and said: "I was familiar going into the third season ... that any high-profile women get doxxed, they get harassed, they get threatened, they get slandered. ... I think it's all disgusting."
The Pew Research Center reports men are "somewhat more likely" than women to experience online harassment, but women were found to be twice as likely to find it very or extremely upsetting.
Online harassment gained mainstream attention after media critic Anita Sarkeesian Kickstarted a controversial video series about sexism in video games. Outraged male gamers targeted Sarkeesian with a torrent of abuse.
"Pornographic drawings of my likeness being raped by video game characters were sent to me over and over again," Sarkeesian said.
Harassment still follows Sarkeesian, as well as other women in the media. But that doesn't mean they're going to stop their work.
Many media organizations have started dialogues on how to protect people from online harassment. One group — called "Trollbusters" — was even created to drown out the harassment and offer support for women writers.
