Dozens of Quebec feminist activists and writers have published an open letter denouncing what they say is a barrage of “routine online misogyny” directed at them for raising the issue of women’s rights and gender equality.

Titled “Misogyny 2.0: Online harassment and violence,” the letter was published by Le Devoir Friday morning, ahead of International Women’s Day on Sunday.

“We believe that a collective discussion should take place to make the web a safer place for everyone,” the letter, which also appears on more than a dozen websites, states.

The signatories wrote that online bullying and harassment is often dismissed as not serious, and called for “legal tools to defend ourselves with new, expanded legislation.”

“Misogynistic violence, bullying and sexism online should be treated with the same seriousness we treat any other hate speech,” the letter states.

Toula Drimonis, a Montreal-based journalist, editor, and feminist commentator, told the Star the attacks she receives online “are always ad hominem, personal attacks.”

She said the harassment is particularly vicious when women speak out on issues that have typically been dominated by men, like video games and sports.

“It is tiring. It’s exhausting. It’s discouraging. I know of a lot of people who have stopped commenting or debating or writing because they just don’t want to deal with it anymore,” Drimonis, who is one of the letter’s signatories, said.

According to a Pew Research Center survey published last October, young women are particularly vulnerable to the most severe forms of harassment online, including stalking and sexual threats.

Twenty-five per cent of women aged 18-24 reported being the target of sexual harassment online, while 26 per cent said they had been stalked, Pew found.

A 2012 survey, meanwhile, found that 63.3 per cent of women were taunted or harassed while playing video games, and the threats were largely of sexual assault.

The group Working to Stop Online Abuse reported that women filed 70 per cent of 4,043 reported cases of online abuse it received between 2000 and 2013.

Cathy Wong, another signatory to the “Misogyny 2.0” letter, said she was forced to create an anonymous online persona last year in order to avoid being attacked based on her gender or family background.

“It seems that since I’m a woman of colour (people think) that they can attack my opinions . . . . For the first time, I realized I was having debates on my ideas,” she said, about how it felt to use a social media account that didn’t explicitly state her family name or gender.

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The idea behind the letter, Wong told the Star, was to open a dialogue on the issue, and let women know that they aren’t alone in dealing with harassment on the web.

“We feel more empowered and stronger in knowing we’re not alone in experiencing this,” she said.

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