Here’s How Anti-Feminist Trolls Would ‘Save’ Free Speech

September 26, 2016 / Barry Deutsch

(Content Note: Representations of death and rape threats, harassment)

“Feminist criticism? But that’s censorship!”

If you’ve come across those trolls who love to complain about feminism and “social justice warriors,” then you know that they claim to be mighty concerned about “freedom of speech.”

So would everyone really be free to speak if the trolls got their way?

We don’t have to try hard to imagine, and this comic makes the possibilities so clear. Here’s an example of how the trolls would “save free speech” – and why their harassment isn’t about what they claim.

With Love,
The Editors at Everyday Feminism

Click for the Transcript

How Free Speech Was Saved

Panel 1

(This panel shows only the title of the strip, in large, cheerful letters on a blue background.)

Title: How Free Speech Was Saved

Panel 2

(Two men, in their 20s or 30s, are in a coffee shop. One of them, a handsome, muscular blonde man with a square jaw and wearing a sleeveless tee, is looking angrily at something on his tablet. The other, a scruffier looking man in a collared blue shirt, is sitting at a table with his laptop, but looking up in alarm.)

Handsome: The feminists are attacking free speech!

Scruff: Oh no!

Panel 3

(A closer shot of the two guys as they stare at Handsome’s tablet.)

Handsome: Look, this one’s calling out sexism in a video game!

Scruff: Feminist criticism? But that’s censorship!

Panel 4

(Handsome dramatically gestures, looking up and waving fists in the air, as Scruff turns to his laptop.)

Handsome: This injustice cannot stand!

Scruff: I’ll get on social media!

Panel 5

(This panel is divided into four sub-panels, showing four different men in different locations, all reading something on their computer or tablet and yelling.)

All Four Guys: Attack!

Panel 6

(A 30-something woman in a black sleeveless tee sits in front of her laptop, a cup of coffee on the table, and looks shocked at what’s on her computer screen.)

Various Messages from Computer: Step in a hole and die! Rape! I know where you live! Hate! SJW scum! You are pure @#$&! Die!

Woman: Yipes!

Panel 7

(The same woman, now crying a little, types a message into her computer.)

Woman: Dear friends: For the time being, I’m shutting down all my social media accounts…

Panel 8

(Another panel that’s been divided into four sub-panels, each showing a different woman in a different location. They are all looking at their Internet devices, and all thinking the same thought.)

All Four Women (thought): Look at what they did to her… Maybe I shouldn’t post online.

Panel 9

(Back to the two guys, who have their arms crossed and are looking happy and prideful, as they talk to a third man, a hippie-looking dude who is very impressed.)

Handsome: And that’s how we saved free speech!

Hippie: Wow! You guys are heroes!

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Barry Deutsch creates political cartoons with the help of his supporters on Patreon. He also creates Hereville, a comic about an 11-year-old Orthodox Jewish girl who wants to fight monsters, and (with Becky Hawkins) SuperButch, a comic about a lesbian superhero in the 1940s. Check out his blog and follow him on Twitter and on Tumblr.