I legit feel like I'm in a movie. You know, those feel-good Christmas movies where kids find out that their father is really Santa Claus or whatever.
Meet ARIANE FRIEDRICH, a 28 year old German high jumper with a wicked tattoo of a tiger on her lower back. She is a record holder, German champion and world medallist. She placed 7th in her event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and is expected to medal in the 2012 London Olympics. Outside of high jumping, she is in training to become a police officer.
The thing is, Ariane Friedrich has an online admirer. Seems pretty harmless, right? I mean, athletes have fans. The London Olympics is just around the corner, everyone's getting anxious. Out of Friedrich's many fans and supporters, one of them has been sending her sexually explicit photographs and invitations over Facebook. Recently, she published the name of her cyberstalker along with his e-mail address on her Facebook wall.
Think Lisbeth Salander. Of course, this is not nearly as bad as tattooing "I am a rapist and sadistic pig" on someone's stomach.
Or is it?
A lot of controversy has arisen as to whether Friedrich is within lawful rights to post the name of the man on the Internet for everyone to see. Names of stalkers do not appear in German media. Also, there is the off-chance possibility that her stalker was using someone else's address and information (in which case he would have had to hack someone else's account, or create another identity).
It's a fine line to draw. On the surface, she may have broken German law, she may have taken it to the extreme, she may have breached her stalker's right to privacy.
But on the other hand, you gotta admit that the stalker's right to privacy is irrelevant now that he has made himself known to her on the Internet. Also, what she did was fucking bad-ass awesome, something that will bring more awareness to sexual assault and sexual harassment against women, and even touch on issues such as cyber-bullying. Many people who are victims of sexual harassment don't often come forth, but this girl has, and you really just have to give her a standing ovation for that.
This is her response to the criticisms she has received for publishing her stalker's name and email:
"Dear followers,I have read through the comments of my last post very carefully. It is, of course, a major step to publish such an outrageous message to the public, but it is not the first time I have received private messages like this, although it is the first one from this person…The removal of anonymity is a means to clarify. Think of all the children, young people and adults who are secretly harassed by perverts and don’t know what to do or how to defend themselves. Should we not go forward as a good example and demonstrate strength?"
THERE IS SO MUCH TRUTH IN THIS STATEMENT OMMMMGGGG.
Let this be a reminder to all people who have sexually harassed a girl or do not think sexual harassment is a big deal. That girl you're making inappropriate and unwelcome sexual advances at? Yeah, her? She can ruin your life forever.
So, the debate continues. Was she right to publish her stalker's name, someone who was sexually harassing her? Or was she breaching rights to privacy? There may not be a right answer to this, but it's interesting to mull over.
All I know is, Lisbeth Salander would have definitely approved.
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