08 August 2008

Troll Trolling

I have a troll. Not one of those hideous plastic dolls with the stand-up shock of hair, but an anonymous commenter who seems to have it in for me.

Whenever I write a piece about men's fashion, this person pops up. The commenter seems to think that an interest in fashion makes me gay, and the comments are generally disparaging, mocking, and homophobic in nature. The first couple of times, I went ahead and posted them (you can see an example here). Also, I have written a couple of posts about the strange behavior I've witnessed in the rest room here at work, and the troll seems to think that this also makes me gay (example #2).

Eventually I decided to stop posting these comments, but that doesn't stop them from coming. Here's the latest:
Warning! This Blogger is seriously Gay

Gay! Gay! Gay! I mean really, why would a grown man prefer to look at other men's pants? I bet you would like to see men in shorts. Really short shorts. Who wears short shorts?

Why don't you talk about something serious that would greatly help the average consumer. Like women's bikinis?
Either it's someone's lame idea of a joke, or someone who has a real problem and doesn't know how to deal with it. But seriously, enough's enough. I decided to confront the problem head-on by posting about it, on the assumption that the troll will read it, since he (presumably it's a male; I really can't see a woman writing these things) seems to follow the blog.

So, Anonymous: what the fuck is your problem? It doesn't even matter that I'm not gay, because your comments are just as offensive to me. I believe in tolerance, not ignorance. It's 2008, and believe it or not, most people are a bit more enlightened these days. Those who are not are eventually going to be marginalized and, hopefully, ostracized for their hateful, backward views.

Besides all that, you're missing the point. I'm not looking at men's legs. Sure, there happen to be legs in the photos that accompanied the article I referenced in the post that prompted your most recent response. But if I did want to ogle men's legs, I'm sure I could easily find better material, like Olympic athletes. I'm critiquing the fashion industry, and I'm going to keep doing it, so if you are not interested in reading that sort of thing, maybe you should just stop visiting my blog.

In fact, I'd prefer that you stopped visiting. I'm sure not going to post any more of your comments. You are no longer welcome as a visitor. If I could figure out how to block your IP address, I would. Just go away.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Your friend LT, who will be posting her own blog any minute, will probably comment on bikinis, because she is female, and is thus interested in what her own gender wears. There is nothing gay about being interested in clothes. We all define ourselves by what we wear; thoughtful, sophisticated people generally have some degree of interest in fashion. However, nothing signals "sexual confusion" more than randomly accusing others of being gay. This is common in junior high as a form of "macho" posturing when one is secretly uncertain or afraid about one's orientation. If your troll is at it past age 16, he needs to be a lot more honest with himself. I sure hope he hasn't committed to a female troll yet.