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trolling

This woman deals with rape-threatening trolls online by literally telling their mums

Her tweet is going viral around the world today.

Warning: this post contains very explicit language and abusive phrases.

ALANAH PEARCE IS a games reviewer living in Brisbane. She has her own YouTube channel, and also does radio and TV work.

Pearce has been the subject of abuse online – sometimes escalating violent and sexual threats made to her Facebook page.

So she came up with this way of dealing with them.

Alanah Pearce / Twitter Alanah Pearce / Twitter / Twitter

Pearce posted these two screenshots on Twitter, of a conversation apparently with one of the boys’ mothers.

Alanah Pearce / Twitter Alanah Pearce / Twitter / Twitter

Alanah Pearce / Twitter Alanah Pearce / Twitter / Twitter

The idea came, Pearce told the Guardian, when she realised she was wrong to assume her abusers were middle-aged men. It turned out they were mostly young boys. She said:

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.

She has now contacted four of the boys’ mothers, she said.

Her tweet with the screencaps, posted just yesterday, has been retweeted almost 28,000 times and favourited by close to 45,000 users. And her Facebook page, where it all started, is now being deluged with support.

Some people, however, have responded badly. Pearce posted this message to the page this morning:

I’ve decided to disable private messages on here because a handful of people decided it would be a super fun time to send me more ‘rape threats’ etc., but I wanted to say thank you to every single person who has supported me! I wasn’t expecting this at all, and I’m sorry I couldn’t reply to all of you before disabling. You have my eternal thanks for out-weighing the negativity – I could not be more appreciative

More: Why was everyone making rape jokes after the Love/Hate finale?>

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