Andrew Funke, a straight-A student at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, committed suicide last month after being bullied and harassed online over his love of the cartoon My Little Pony. Local police have said they don't plan to press charges against anyone who taunted Funke.
Funke, 19, had recently posted a video talking about how much he liked My Little Pony. According to KMSP, after former classmates from his high school in Oak Park Heights, Minnesota, discovered the video, they began sending him abusive messages through Twitter and Facebook.
On April 16, Funke completed suicide at a boat landing on Big Carnelia Lake, 26 miles from River Falls and 9 miles from Oak Park Heights.
KMSP reports Funke's family did not want to speak on camera, but said they believe the cyberbullying played a significant role in his decision to end his life. The Washington County Sheriff's Office told the station that it does not think the taunts rise to the level of criminal harassment. The investigation is still ongoing.
The Daily Dot reports that her family launched The Andrew Stop Bullying Fund, which raised $165 in the 19 days it was active.
Funke's death follows the widely covered harassment of Bob Knox, a Duke University freshman who did the same thing and was harassed by students on campus after she was publicly identified. But she became very open about his obsession of My Little Pony in spite of what Knox has referred to as "a culture of masculinity and maturity."
Parody of this.
So after reading this and clicking the link what do you think the inane phrase 'slut shaming' and its associated reactions? Frankly I think they're stupid. If promiscuity is really just another value neutral activity, then I don't really see the point of targeting people who mock it. After all, I doubt the people who try to passionately stop slut shaming would try to passionately defend bronies, furries, otherkin, Ron Paul cultists, or any harmless group of people that regularly get mocked.
