Alanah Pearce Responds To Online Rape Threats: Australian Video Game Journalist Contacts Boys' Mothers, Tells Them What Their Sons Are Up To; Says 'It's Not OK To Be Sexist To Women' [PHOTO]

Alanah Pearce is as 21-year-old media and communications student from Brisbane, Australia, and is also a video games journalist for Australian radio stations 4ZZZ and Triple J.  Pearce also has her own YouTube channel, and has recently been shocked and mystified by the online abuse she has suffered at the hands of young boys, who have in some cases threatened to rape her. How did she respond? Naturally, by contacting their mothers.

According to Business Insider, Pearce stated, "A while ago, I realized that a lot of the people who send disgusting or overly sexual comments to me over the internet aren't adult males... It turns out that mostly they're young boys and the problem is they don't know any better, so responding to them rationally didn't resolve the situation. And it got to the point where their comments were starting to make me feel really uncomfortable."

The Huffington Post reports that the majority of Pearce's assailants are between the ages of 10 and 15 years old.

Pearce decided to contact the boys' mother via Facebook message, stating, "...Especially as most of [the boys] write to me through their personal Facebook pages... It's shockingly easy to find out who their families are." When one mother responded, Pearce posted the interaction on Twitter.

In the response, the mother reacts in surprise to her son's behavior and immediately apologizes to Pearce. Pearce noted, "I wasn't going to post it on Twitter [either] but I was just so excited. And I thought some of my friends would find it amusing." She continued, "It was just a way to try to reach a resolution, to productively teach young boys it's not okay to be sexist to women, even if they're on the internet...that they are real people and that there should be actual consequences for that."

The Business Insider reports that, at last count, more than 11,000 users retweeted her comment, and more than 20,000 had favorited it.

For now, Pearce has stated, "Every time this happens to me, I will do this. I won't necessarily post it on Twitter, but I will definitely continue doing it."

Tags
Alanah Pearce
Australia
rape threat
4ZZZ
Triple J
Twitter
Sexism
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