It's not so much the backlash against her that even bothers me, it's the absolute visceral delight some of her tormenters are taking in it. Other people wore offensive costumes and posted them on the internet. Hell, other people wore the same costume and posted pictures on the internet. But she became the…

Rape threats don't just harm the woman to which they are directed. They harm all women because they're a way of pointing out that women will receive threats of gendered violence if they step out of line.

I'm a bad person because I have empathy for people even when I don't agree with her actions? And that I want some people to have some perspective? Clearly that was my mistake: never ask the mob to have some perspective. It doesn't like it.

So you've never done any of the above things?

I think the Trayvon ones are worse because it seems (disgustingly) that a lot of people think that he deserved to be shot (because he was scary? And black?). At least no one thinks that the Boston marathon victims had it coming to them. And the bombers are definitely not going to be folk heroes to the armchair…

Women make threats but they don't tend to make rape threats, because in our culture we don't think of rape as something that a woman does to punish someone.

I was referring mostly to the 'shoe polish and white mouth' minstrel-y blackface Trayvon costumes, complete with bloodied hoodie, packet of skittles and iced tea. The people wearing those costumes were not honouring Trayvon.

Really? You think that anyone who has done something 'worse' than this is a terrible person? How do we measure 'worse' in this scenario? If we're measuring 'worse' by the extent to which they cause material or emotional harm to people (or have the capacity to cause harm) then I can think of a lot of things that are…

I assume the OP was only talking about the sort of men who make rape threats.

What if your kid's teacher likes to drink and perform burlesque or the local police chief is an atheist? I'm sure that would rile a bunch of people up. Where do we draw the line?

But other people re-tweeted it. Why were people sending out her parents' number and address?

Which is why it's weird that she wasn't fired or reprimanded or sent home to change on the day. She was only fired after the internet shitstorm blew up.

1. It looks like the photo was taken at work, while other people were at work, presumably by one of her colleagues. It doesn't look like anyone has spoken to her about it. It would be weird if she was being 'written up' but no one had actually said 'holy hell, that's a godawful costume!'

It's a reasonable point. I mean, I'm Australian. I've heard a million 'dingo took my baybee' jokes. (Yeah, it's a dated reference, but those jokes came out as soon as that story broke and I can't be bothered racking my brains for other examples). People were literally laughing about a baby being killed. But…

I don't get why you think that making a joke about TERRORISM is literally the worst thing that someone can do. You know, every single person who has ever driven over the blood-alcohol limit has done something worse than what this woman has done because they've actually risked other people's lives. I think making a…

Since you sitting there thinking about her feelings has no impact on her (or anyone else) anyway I don't think it matters whether or not you feel you have the energy to do it.

You've expressed quite a few times that you don't think this (or her) is worth your 'emotional energy'. The message sent by that attitude is that rape threats are ok (or at least will be treated with indifference from feminists) for the 'right' victim.

I agree to some extent, but from what I gather she wore the costume to work with no consequences. She wasn't fired then, nor was she told to go home and change. She was only fired when the internet shitstorm hit. It's pretty hypocritical of her company to change their tune like that.

I agree. I mean, who goes from 'wow, this costume is awful' to 'I'd like to slit her throat and rip her face off'?

That's how it goes, yes.