Mercedes Haefer Character Analysis

Mercedes Haefer is an internet user and “4chan denizen” who spoke with Jon Ronson about the public shamings of Adria Richards and a man known as “Hank.” When Hank and a friend made some lewd comments at a tech conference, Richards took to the internet to post pictures of them and shame them. Hank was publicly shamed on the internet and eventually lost his job—and when he did, men’s rights activists on platforms like 4chan in turn shamed Richards, calling for her to be raped and murdered. Ronson talked with Mercedes at length about the uniquely misogynistic tenor of many public shamings, and Mercedes speculated that in order to shame men, the internet tends to go after the things that degrade masculinity (i.e. calling for a man to lose his job or livelihood). But when the internet wants to shame women, they call for the things that degrade femininity—for example, for a woman to be raped. Haefer’s blasé approach to the internet’s desire for shame and violent speech surprised Ronson, but Haefer suggested that the remote nature of the internet led many users (especially on platforms like 4chan) to see one-upping one another’s egregious language and bad behavior as a kind of game.