Sometimes we all see and hear things that we don't want to. Certain things are easier to escape and forget about than others. But last night, there was something that was an absolute disgrace that nobody should have to see.
At this point, I just quickly want to put a *trigger warning* out there so people that might be affected by the matters I am about to discuss can stop reading right now. You do not deserve to go through anything again, especially if you had to endure the events on twitter last night.
Alright, so after being awake into the early hours I saw a hashtag on twitter starting to develop and by this morning arguments about it were still continuing.
What was the hashtag you ask? Well if you must know it was #thingsworsethanrape. That's right you read it correctly.
And you guessed it, most people tweeting about it were making the issue a small and trivial one comparing it to "chicken seasoned with tap water & denial" and "going upstairs in the library and finding no seats and having to do the walk of shame back down".
All of this while others laughed at the rest of twitter for having a go at them for using such a hashtag, by extending it to saying "when girls tweet you saying how sick in the head you are for participating in this trend".
Some people were making claims the trend was only doing so because of the amount of people complaining about it and it has caused shame and anger amongst the rest of twitter.
"Why is this even trending... so ashamed to be a twitter user right now" and "anyone contributing 'humour' to the #thingsworsethanrape hashtag is a waste of skin cells," just echo many more of the tweets out there.
Some users directed tweets at the social networking site asking them to put a stop to it, but as yet the site doesn't seem to have commented on the issue.
This is not the kind of thing victims of rape should have to deal with and read. It is the kind of thing so many members of society should be protected from because even if it doesn't directly affect you it may affect somebody you know.
But the idea that people think of serious suggestions for this hashtag, that it actually got off the ground in the first place and people think it is acceptable, is a disgrace to twitter and to our society.
And before any readers stereotype, it wasn't just men, it was women contributing to hashtag suggestions too, it wasn't a particular skin colour, race or ethnicity. It was a wide group of people from a wide range of places.
This is a complete disgrace. I know so many people that go to twitter to escape from such life events, they go there to rebuild their trust in society and in people by developing friendships, but they also go there on a night when they can't sleep because they are too scared to. For them to find that hashtag it has done so much potential harm.
It is an absolute disgrace, it should be stopped and such demeaning, heartless 'jokes' should be silenced. We are in 2013, we are supposed to be a civilised society, a world that is looking for everybody to be equal and safe and then we have this.
I am very disappointed, what is life coming to if these things are part of 'life'?