[Dion]

On Friday Wyshynski announced the firing of writer Harrison Mooney over social media impropriety. Two weeks ago, Mooney was embroiled in controversy over claims of sexual harassment over texts and Twitter DMs. Sharks blogger Jen Ramos

The offending tweet that got him fired..



http://network.yardbarker.com/nhl/ar...favorites_head

Sharks blogger Jen Ramos talks about Mooney as a sexual harraser and how it affects women who try to make a go in the hockey world.

By now, I'm probably infamous in hockey twitter as the woman who started the string of tweets that exposed Harrison Mooney as a serial sexual harasser. If I'm going to be honest, it's things like that that drove me away from wanting to be a part of hockey fandom. I didn't want to write about hockey anymore, I didn't want to talk about hockey anymore; I just wanted to enjoy the game in peace without fear of harassment.

I've been harassed by two hockey writers by my count, and I know other women have been harassed numerous times, too. Plain and simple: being a hockey fan online isn't a safe space for women. In fact, it's downright frightening at times.

But! Hockey fans come in all forms — intersectionality exists for a reason — and that's good! Telling them to keep quiet when there's an injustice, such as sexual harassment, isn't helping anyone. If one woman speaks up about being harassed, the response shouldn't be to shame her or to harass her even more or to not believe her. Support her, believe her, let her know it's not her fault (because it's not! No one asks to be sexually harassed).

In order to truly enact change, you start with changing the systemic wrong, such as constant harassment. Condoning it only perpetuates the awful cycle that treats women like objects. People who identify as women aren't objects; they're so much more than that. Hell, they're pretty damn good hockey writers, too. Discrediting them because of their gender is such a sophomoric, sexist, misogynistic thing to do. And you don't want to be any of that, do you?

Hockey's a safe space for men, which shouldn't be the case. It should be a safe space for everyone to enjoy a great game.

http://www.fearthefin.com/2014/8/16/...d-ol-boys-club