Online harassment of women is a problem. Here’s what to do about it.

If you're male, you might not realize how common it is for women to experience online harassment. The problem is particularly severe for bloggers, journalists and others who build a public profile online.

Danielle Citron, a legal scholar, has argued that the hostile reception women receive online should be viewed through the lens of the civil rights movement. In her view, online harassment discriminates against women online in much the same way sexual harassment creates a hostile environment in the workplace. Thinking about the issue in those terms might motivate people to action, but actually extending civil rights law to cover online harassment could be a legal quagmire. The courts are likely to hold that some online harassment is constitutionally protected speech. And Congress had good reasons to exempt intermediaries such as Twitter from liability for the vile comments of their users. A more fruitful approach would be to focus on deterring the most extreme forms of abuse, those that cross the line into outright threats.