John Oliver does a pretty good job of taking often complex subjects and boiling them down to easily digestible explanations of what's going on. What you're left with is an often over-simplified look at a complex topic, but a good way to get up to speed when you learn more.
And last night's 16-minute look at the ongoing online harassment of women is a great way to get people who may not pay attention to this world to understand what's going on, how bad it can get, and why so few in law enforcement are able, or willing, to help.
The segment begins with a clip from GTFO: The Movie, a 2014 documentary about women in gaming, before highlighting the violent threats and ongoing harassment of both game critic Anita Sarkeesian and game developer Brianna Wu. But while the world of video games is a notable highlight in the segment, it isn't the only place women are made to feel unwelcome, and ultimately unsafe, online. When targets of this kind of harassment go to law enforcement they're often told to stay offline, or to just ignore it.
With ongoing harassment campaigns typified by GamerGate continuing to target women in both virtual and physical spaces — posters targeting Sarkeesian were posted around last week's E3 conference — it's worth spreading the word about the problem, and hopefully both social media companies and law enforcement will be able to step up to fight the issue.
