More than 1,200 women are tackling online abuse by naming and shaming "trolls" in a Twitter campaign which launched on Friday morning.

Members of a secret Facebook group are tweeting out names of more than 150 men who trolled Clementine Ford — with comments including "go to the bathroom and kill yourself" and "bitches like you are the reason why some men are prone to violence" — after a male Meriton employee was fired for calling her a "slut" online.

The hashtag #EndViolenceAgainstWomen and screenshots of the abuse would also be included.

Within 20 minutes of its launch on Friday morning the hashtag was trending at number one in Australia.

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Sydney author and columnist Kerri Sackville is leading the charge against the men she has labelled trolls, saying she is sick of seeing women, particularly those in the media, maliciously threatened with rape and murder online.

"When you abuse one woman you abuse all of us ... I said to my friend there has to be something we can do," Sackville told the ABC.

She was inspired by posts following the Paris attacks that killed 130 people, which tweeted the names of victims one by one.

"It made the victims something other than numbers, something other than statistics," she said.

She discussed with friends tweeting the names of the men who had recently written abusive comments to Ford.

The idea quickly gathered traction, and after creating a closed Facebook group "Twitter campaign — Stop Violence Against Women" on Tuesday, it had more than 1,000 members by Friday morning.

While the majority are women, there are some men.

The names tweeted will focus on a "top 10" — which Sackville said had been verified and were the "most abusive and repeat offenders".

"We're not slandering them, we're not abusing them, just posting their name. [The comments are] already in public domain, it's just taking that next step," she said.

Sackville said the majority of trolls did not hide behind anonymity, meaning their first and last name would be shared.

"They feel they can be in the public arena without any fear or consequence or retribution and I want men to know we are watching," she said.

People outside the group can participate by screen-shotting the tweets and posting themselves, Sackville said.

"There are some women who have joined the group but they are too traumatised from past threats of violence online they just don't feel strong enough to participate — but we will do it for them," she said.

'I'm ashamed to be honest, it shows it does silence women'

Journalist and television personality Tracey Spicer is a member of the group and has endorsed its strategy.

She said ashamedly, trolls had silenced her.

"Ever since I started writing opinion pieces ... I noticed some of the vicious, hateful, scary comments that would come [on social media]," she told the ABC.

"I put up with it for years and thought it was normal until a couple of pieces I wrote got attention from the MRA — the Men's Rights Association — in the US.

"I started to get some really terrifying stuff."

Journalist Tracey Spicer says she has been "silenced" by trolls after they threatened her and her family. ( Supplied: Tracey Spicer )

Spicer said the group knew where she lived and what school her children went to, threatening her on Twitter, Facebook and email.

"I spoke to a friend of mine who is very high up in New South Wales Police and he said, 'look, you can complain about them ... but once you do that it can fire them up'," she said.

Spicer said she made the decision to be less "strident" in her viewpoints to protect her family.

"I'm ashamed to be honest, it shows it does silence women," she said.

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"That's why I admire Clementine Ford and Jenna Price and those women who get incredibly hateful comments and are still speaking out.

"It's wonderful and encouraging for all women."

Spicer said male columnists she had spoken to did experience trolls but the harassment was not as violent or sexual.

"Women are targeted with very sexual stuff. I was told I would be raped and my children will be raped," she said.

"It does speak into that real gender power imbalance."

Sackville echoed these comments, saying men who expressed opinions in the public domain were not attacked the same way.

"You get people like Alan Jones ... who can be incredibly right wing and express controversial views and people might call them idiots or morons ... no-one threatens to rape them," she said.

'We have to impose our own kind of order'

Sackville expects the hashtag will begin trending at speed and hopes the campaign will not only raise awareness but cause a "cultural shift".

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"I'm not kidding myself thinking there will be an end to violence against women in general or online," she said.

"But I want men and women — there are some women [offenders] too — to think twice.

"I want them to know we are watching and we will stand together.

"When you target one journalist, you are targeting all of us.

"There are no checks and balances online. We have to impose our own kind of order."

Sackville wished to clarify the project is not Ford's initiative.

'No pushback so far'

Sackville said late Friday morning that the campaign had been an overwhelming experience, with minimal negative reaction.

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"There has been virtually no pushback at all at this point. People have been incredibly supportive," she said.

Specifically, none of the men who had been named had reacted online that Sackville was aware of.

Plenty of men had shown their support, she said.

"Troy Jones from the Real Men Project has got on board with his group and there are other men like Andrew P Street tweeting too.

"I'm just really proud of everybody and people are feeling so empowered and comforted by the fact everyone has each other's backs."

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