"How did this become your normal?"

[Content Note for links: Intersectional misogyny; harassment; threats; slurs; rape culture.]

Last week, I wrote a piece about the costs of being a woman doing public advocacy called "We Need to Talk About This."

Chloe Angyal has written a piece in response doing just that—talking about it: "When a Rape Threat Is 'Not a Big Deal'."

"It's just one rape threat," I told my mother. "It's not a big deal."

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I regretted saying them. No mother wants to hear that her child is being threatened, especially not when that child lives on the other side of the world. More than the fact that I had spoken the words aloud to my mom, though, I regretted — I was appalled by — the casual tone in which I had said them. It's not a big deal? I thought to myself. A stranger is emailing you and threatening to rape you and you're calling it not a big deal?

How the hell did you get here? How did this become your normal?

I'll tell you how. I became a feminist blogger, and I started writing about gender, body image, and sexual violence. And now, rape threats, and other forms of abuse, are my normal. They're just part of my job.

Go read the whole thing.