Content Warning: This article uses screenshots of extremely bigoted tweets to illustrate what it describes; thanks goes out to Twitter user @jennybaquing for screen-capping them, and John Weeks for Storifying them.

When a woman dares to speak her mind online, it can seem as if a thousand Gorgon visages rise to counter her violation of the expected order.

The surge of online hatred directed at Suey Park (and many of the women of color who defended her) for her #CancelColbert hashtag this week is disturbingly similar to other incidents involving outspoken women online. Taken together, they illustrate how women do not have a right to be controversial or equal participants in public discourse — or, put another way, that controversy ...