This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost Australia, which closed in 2021.

Women Band Together Online To Protect 'S**tty Media Men' Author

Multiple women are taking credit for the creation if the list amid fears the author will be outed.

In an effort to protect the true creator of a private online list of men in the media who have been accused of sexual misconduct, multiple women are taking credit for it after concerns arose that the author was about to be “outed.”

Dayna Tortorici, editor of n+1 magazine, tweeted Tuesday that she was aware of a possible story in the works at Harper’s Magazine that aimed to name the author of the “Shitty Media Men” list. Tortorici and many other women quickly posted on Twitter advising against “doxxing,” in which a person’s identifying information is revealed online.

“It’s come to my attention that a legacy print magazine is planning to publish a piece ‘outing’ the woman who started the Shitty Media Men list,” Tortorici tweeted Tuesday. “All I can say is: don’t. The risk of doxxing is high. It’s not the right thing to do.”

“Shitty Media Men,” a Google document, began to circulate in a “whisper network” of women after the wave of sexual harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein came to light in October. BuzzFeed exposed the list, designed to collect information on accused men, in an article that pushed its creator to take the list down.

Women feared the consequences of naming the author, who seemingly intended the document only as a way for victims in the media industry to collect information in a safe, private manner.

Nicole Cliffe, co-founder of The Toast blog site, offered to pay freelancers to pull articles from Harper’s magazine after sources told her the publication was working on the piece. The Washington Post and The New York Times both reported Wednesday that Katie Roiphe, the writer supposedly behind the story, had no intention of naming anyone in the article.

Close
This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost Australia. Certain site features have been disabled. If you have questions or concerns, please check our FAQ or contact support@huffpost.com.