By Vanessa Martinez
The Seattle Times
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) Several Seattle women gathered this week to discuss the harassment they faced after the Seattle City Council rejected a proposal that would have paved the way for a new basketball arena. The hashtag #EnoughSeattle has been trending as the women fight back against online trolls.
The Seattle Times
The Seattle Women’s Commission hosted a panel tackling sexism and online harassment at Sole Repair Shop in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood Wednesday night. The event, called Enough, came a few months after the women on the Seattle City Council faced harassment over the council’s vote against a proposal to vacate a Sodo street for an arena.
Two of those council members, Lisa Herbold and Debora Juárez, were part of a panel discussion moderated by Tamara Power-Drutis, the executive director of Crosscut, a sponsor of the event.
In May, the Seattle City Council rejected a proposal to give up part of Occidental Avenue for a new arena and bring professional basketball back to Seattle. The five women on the board voted against the proposal, while the four men on the board voted in favor. This divisive vote prompted nasty and gender-based attacks toward the female council members from angry sports fans.
“I don’t look online because, at the the end of the day, when I work hard, I don’t want to be called a c– for doing my job,” Juárez said at Wednesday’s event, according to a tweet from Crosscut.
Juárez and the other councilwomen appeared on “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” shortly after the vote to mock the misogynistic blowback. They were announced, basketball-player-style, as a team called the Seattle Seawards (pronounced “C-words,” natch) — a nod to their reasoning that building an arena would threaten maritime jobs at the Port of Seattle.
Wednesday’s event also included a story slam, in which other attendees were invited to share their experiences.
Blogger Jess Estrada, Planned Parenthood director Treasure Mackley, community activist Marissa Johnson and Siren co-founder Susie Lee were among the slammers.
“I’ve walked through the gauntlet of protesters many a time just to go to work at many of the health centers where we serve, where many are slut-shamed and called names on a daily basis,” said Mackley, a political and organizing director at Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest.
Lee, who founded the dating app Siren, which puts women in control of initial interactions, talked about the comments she received from men about not being able to see photos of women on the platform without those women’s permission.
#EnoughSeattle began trending soon after, allowing the online community to join the conversation.
But ironically — or perhaps fittingly? — “trolls” were quick to seize the opportunity.
