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Can This Model Really Sue Someone For Calling Her A Ho?
The Week You Gave Us 'Faith' In The Internets

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bowleserised
01/09/09

In reply to Can This Model Really Sue Someone For Calling Her A Ho?
I'm somewhat surprised that so many people here seem to be busy calling her a stupid, too-big-for-her-boots hooor for objecting to getting slagged off by some random misogynist on the internet.

Seriously?

What about the Jezebel feature where we all get worked up into a rage by Perez et al's woman-hating? Or the story of that law college message board? Or any attack on a Jezzie editor?

Why does she have to "suck it up"? Is it because she's a model?
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IceCreamIsAwesome
01/08/09

In reply to Can This Model Really Sue Someone For Calling Her A Ho?
I think she wants the name so she can challenge he/she to a "walk off"
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littlebunnyfoofoo
01/08/09

In reply to Can This Model Really Sue Someone For Calling Her A Ho?
I am furious at some of my fellow Jezebels who insinuate that this woman has it coming because of how she looks or the career she chooses.

Are you the same people who sit on juries and acquit rapists because the victim has a history of lovers or was wearing a short skirt? Because there is some ugly blaming-the-victim going on.
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Crabby Cakes
01/08/09

@littlebunnyfoofoo: I agree, but I think most of the comments are more of the, 'if you're in the public eye, people are going to talk shit about you, it comes with the territory.' I also think most people didn't click the link, and this story does not AT ALL make it clear that this site is about her only, it's not Perez Hilton. Plus, the name 'Skanks in NYC' implies there are more than 1 skank, perhaps a list of skanks, and that is not the case. This post should have made that a lot clearer, so we wouldn't have to add to this guys pageviews.
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Crabby Cakes
01/08/09

In reply to Can This Model Really Sue Someone For Calling Her A Ho?
Ok guys, I didn't click the link cause I didn't want to add to Skanks In NYC's pageviews, but some of the comments got me wondering, so I gave in.

This isn't some site calling out a bunch of NYC girls for being skanky-looking, this site is SPECIFICALLY targeting this woman and this woman alone. I'm sorry, but that's some scary sociopathic shit. He is obviously trying to cause her great personal embarrassment and harm, (although his evidence is hardly skanky- she's just letting loose with friends,) and is hoping that when you google her name, this is what you find.

Also scary, it seems to me that he must know her, because the pictures he has are not stock images or images taken at bars. I'd want to know who in my life was out to get me also, if only to get a restraining order against this obviously unstable person.
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littlebunnyfoofoo
01/08/09

@Crabby Cakes is playing Goldfish.: Agreed! It's scary stuff. And there's a possibility that it's a woman behind it as well, which makes it very close to the Megan Meier thing in my opinion.
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littlebunnyfoofoo
01/08/09

In reply to Can This Model Really Sue Someone For Calling Her A Ho?
Ugh, I know a little bit about this first hand as Mr. FooFoo's name has been smeared online many times. He doesn't read this stuff but I do and our child will eventually google her dad and see his work insulted and his name smeared by people who've never met him. The mean crap complete strangers say hurts badly, I don't care who you are. And once it's out there, it's out there. It's a helpless feeling.

This blogger needs to be outed. Fucking coward.
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Crabby Cakes
01/08/09

@littlebunnyfoofoo: My brothers' name was put through the internet ringer. Sorry your family had to go through that, it really is sickening.
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littlebunnyfoofoo
01/08/09

@Crabby Cakes is playing Goldfish.: It's a nightmare. And he hates that I comment on Jezebel because he's so private. Maybe I should quit, he's probably right!

Sorry about your brother. It's such a strange and sad position to be in.
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Grim Reaper of the Forest
01/08/09

In reply to Can This Model Really Sue Someone For Calling Her A Ho?
How are blogs defined legally? It seems like newspapers have to be careful what they publish, but I can email all my friends and tell them that Michael Jackson is an alien, since I'm just communicating my personal opinion. Blogs seem to be in a weird in between state.
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ninles
01/08/09

In reply to Can This Model Really Sue Someone For Calling Her A Ho?
I think that you definately have grounds to sue someone who creates a pathetic, immature site or blog just to slag you off. I mean, when someone focuses on hurling hideous verbal abuse at a specific person again and again and again, then there is something wrong with that picture. It's like cyber-stalking. It's creepy and should be punishable. It's not like a random gossip blog where all stars get theirs, it's centering on some model who not many people have heard of. There must be a personal reason for this cheap attack.
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littlebunnyfoofoo
01/08/09

@ninles: It does sound like harassment to me. And terribly cowardly of the blogger in question. That's the frightening part. He (or she) gets anonymity with no ramifications while this woman suffers in perpetuity. Not right.
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BackinBlackCats
01/08/09

In reply to Can This Model Really Sue Someone For Calling Her A Ho?
Hopefully this doesn't turn out like it did for Oscar Wilde... what if she really is NYC's #1 skank?
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bananaprincess
01/08/09

@BackinBlackCats:

That's why i keep reading- you know you can stay in the suite he died in? I am going to do it!
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exelizabeth
01/08/09

In reply to Can This Model Really Sue Someone For Calling Her A Ho?
Actually, I'm curious... I mean, everyone keeps on being like, "Oh, this lady's an idiot, hasn't she heard of the First Ammendment?" But the First doesn't mean you can say whatever the hell you want, there are limits, and those limits haven't really been tested on the internet. I mean, I don't really know what constitutes liable, and has it changed with the digital age? We don't really know, because there haven't been enough cases, so this is one that will start establishing precedence. We figure this stuff out through lawsuit. So what's the problem?
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Crabby Cakes
01/08/09

@exelizabeth: Wait, I may be missing something very big here. I didn't click the Skanks in NYC link cause I didn't want to add to his pageviews, so maybe I'm off here, but is this a site like Hot Chicks with Douchebags, that is about all kinds of "douchey" guys or is this site specifically targeted at her and her alone? Cause that would seem to be VERY different. To set up a site that is all about attacking someone so when you google them, that's the first thing you see would seem to be far different than saying "look, these anonymous guys look douchey, yuk yuk."

/Not defending the Douchebag site or anything, just the first example that came into my head.
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R_Claw
01/08/09

In reply to Can This Model Really Sue Someone For Calling Her A Ho?
I'm not going to lie, this guy sounds *exactly* like the last guy I went on a date with, I mean exactly.

He called Samantha from Sex and the City a skank, and then said the exact words: "what guy would want to be with that? No guy."

Wonder if it's the same dood, he was a jackass, and I almost left in the middle of the date!
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exelizabeth
01/08/09

In reply to Can This Model Really Sue Someone For Calling Her A Ho?
I really don't feel like slander and lible are actually illegal in the US. It seems like people can say whatever they want and they almost never get in trouble for it.

I think it's pretty fucking stupid. Shit people say can cause permanent damage, financially and emotionally, and I think you should be held accountable for what you say and write about people. Aren't the lible standards pretty different in Britain? I don't know if it's better, but just allowing people to say whatever they want not matter how damaging because it's their "right" isn't the only option.
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nwporn
01/08/09

@exelizabeth: Well, most speech in the United States is protected. Liable and slander are very narrow torts because of the First Amendment. I prefer letting the wackos have a voice--I don't like the government being able to decide what is acceptable speech and what is not. The standards for liable are much much different in Britain. Britain does not have protection from the government like the first amendment. I imagine, that is the reason why we do.
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Kaiser-Machead
01/08/09

@exelizabeth: I suppose it's the fuzzy nature of "free speech", where people are often unaware (or indifferent) of the actual consequences of said speech, and feel as though any ol' word is basically a sticks-n-stones-may-break-my-bones-but-w... sort of affair.

It makes me wonder though. What would be the consequences for say, a writer for a major metropolitan newspaper instead of a blog?
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exelizabeth
01/08/09

@nwporn: You're right, I don't really want the government doing it, but I wish that more site owners would take more responsibility for maintaining their forums. People seem to think that "free speech" extends to other people's (privately owned) websites, and sadly a lot of site owners seem cowed when people accuse them of censorshipt. Bullshit, it's not censorship, it's your site! If more sites would establish standards and actually have comment moderators, more places on the internet would be tolerable. Jezebel is only readable because the editors decided to be vigilant about comments, and incidentally it's the only public site on the internet where I'll read comments.

This has nothing to do with lawsuits, of course, it just comes down to the culture site owners want for their sites, and most sites seem a-okay with contentious, misogynistic, racist, hateful forums as addendums to their content. I mean, if they don't want the traffic that comes from the 95% of the rest of the world that can't stand to read that shit, I guess that's their business.
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clevernamehere
01/08/09

In reply to Can This Model Really Sue Someone For Calling Her A Ho?
I'm bothered by how blase people are being about this. Its basically the same issue as the MySpace mom case, though obviously not as dramatic. Its also the same issue Kate Harding blogged about- a post which I linked here and saw my "followers" number double from.

From Kate Harding: Because online harassment is still a women's issue.

It's a women's issue because those goals up there-making somebody feel afraid of speaking, making somebody feel powerless to stop what's being done to them, making somebody feel like the only recourse is to shut up and hide out forever-are the goals a whole lot of men still hold dear and work towards for all women.
[kateharding.net]
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exelizabeth
01/08/09

@clevernamehere: A-men. A lot of comments threaten violence, rape, etc. Why do the assholes get to win the internet? It doesn't have to be that way, and anyone who tells you it does just wants to practice cowardly assholery anonymously.
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Cerridwen
01/08/09

@exelizabeth: I'd like to second that. I think it's important not to get lazy about things like this in the name of "free speech." Free speech only goes so far and should have important limits. Determining where those limits lie is tough, for sure, but not something I want to see discarded. I think it's good she's trying to force this guy out of anonymity. If these people's misogyny and sociopathy was laid bare, I wonder how much more of it would happen.
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bowleserised
01/09/09

@clevernamehere: I added my comment without reading yours, but thank you. I think you've been more eloquent than I!
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battleaxonista...is a humorless bitch
01/08/09

In reply to Can This Model Really Sue Someone For Calling Her A Ho?
Well, since it seems she got assaulted by some freak who likes smashing glass into women's faces, I can understand her being a little freaked out by a blog dedicated to tracking her every move. While calling her Skanky McSkankerson.
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PinkSoxHat
01/08/09

In reply to Can This Model Really Sue Someone For Calling Her A Ho?
She probably doesn't really have a case, but under common law, one of the categories of slander per se, which NY recognizes, is allegations of impurity in a woman. If she can find out the identity from google, she may be able to get into a courtroom with this. Whether she'll win or not is a whole other can of worms
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YourScreenplaySucks
01/08/09

In reply to Can This Model Really Sue Someone For Calling Her A Ho?
I think you're all forgetting that this America, and our right to file epically stupid lawsuits is sacred & inviolable. I'm almost certain that's written in the Constitution. This lady's a patriot!
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CheBellaVita
01/08/09

@Your Screenplay Sucks:

I just can't figure out which amendment gives everyone the right to sue freely regardless of how stupid it is.
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YourScreenplaySucks
01/08/09

@CheBellaVita: I'd go with the Ninth, the gift that keeps on giving.
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Kaiser-Machead
01/08/09

@CheBellaVita: You're free to file them. What happens afterwards all depends on how stupid it really is. :)
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