It has gotten so bad that I generally avoid anything related to feminism on the whole website and just stick to news stories, puppy pics, knitting and other innocuous subreddits for my own mental health. Of course, even then I still see a lot of sexism. Which led me to an experiment. I've posted lots of comments on Reddit and as long as they aren't overtly feminist they usually stand and even get a few upvotes. Anything that clearly identifies me as a feminist has gotten downvoted until it disappeared from the page. So just for kicks, I posted something kind of anti-feminist. Not too overtly or offensively, just suggested that if a man hits a woman who hit him first, he isn't totally in the wrong. I'm not sure I believe that, I just posted it to see what would happen. To date, it has been my most highly upvoted comment yet. What gives?
So, I assert, Reddit has a sexism problem. It isn't as bad as 4chan or some of these other male dominated troll spaces, but it is still pretty bad and I think it needs to be addressed. I've written before about using the internet as a space for feminist liberation and I still believe the internet has that potential. And I haven't given up on Reddit because I still think there is hope. I still believe that there are some people who don't want it to be an anti-woman, anti-feminist space.
