Over the course of the last few weeks there has been significant discussion about the very disturbing, derogatory and blatantly sexist #FHRITP trend. Let me point out from the get-go that I personally believe there is nothing about this trend that is excusable. It is wrong, period. I would however, like to discuss a hidden story here within the larger issue of sexual harassment.
Last Thursday, in the course of reading about the Hydro One employee being fired from his $100K+ job for participating in this sad trend, I tweeted about how this was yet another example of the need for education on personal digital footprints (something I have written extensively on). A few people took offense to my tweet in that they thought it was the wrong lesson and that “to not sexually harass women” should be the only conversation here. I clarified my position, realizing that it was being misinterpreted and removed the original tweet to avoid any further confusion. I have rarely done this, but in this case I felt it was necessary given another rising trend occurring these days, social media vigilantism, which I will discuss in a moment. Coincidentally, CBC actually released a documentary on Social Media Shaming as this event was unfolding (video screenshot at the top of this post).