I've hesitated to publish it because I wanted to add more to it. My larger comment to Linda on her post explains why: I think there's TONS of room for nuance, and I wanted to take the time to flesh that out before going public with the ideas, as well as to explain how the idea could be expanded to health-related and other types of content. However, I'm still happy to share the letter here. It focused primarily on misogynistic content and toxic dating advice (for reasons the letter will soon make clear), but I see it as an idea with broad applicability. Copied below, dated December 2, 2022:
Hi Medium,
I have a concern/suggestion about the website. A piece that has been published — and become popular — in recent weeks promotes and romanticizes deeply unhealthy psychoemotional dynamics... not to mention that it's a fabulous example of what "toxic masculinity" looks like. Toxic masculinity is contributing to mental health problems and a suicide epidemic among men, along with countless forms of public health issues for women (by way of misogyny). As such, even though the piece is written as a "romance" listicle, it's harmful to readers of all genders. [*I included the link in the original email but won't include it here because I don't want to send angry people over to that writer.]
I don't follow the writer in general, so I'm not sure how much of his content is like this. I am reporting only this story, but I'd like to share with you some related ideas more broadly:
Frankly, I see content more than just sometimes on Medium that promotes or glorifies toxic interpersonal dynamics, by writers of any gender. It's great that everyone is allowed to have a voice on Medium, regardless of whether they're fully on top of their own healing process... but it's not so great when their more problematic stories circulate without disclaimers.
Quietly removing toxic works from distribution is not the answer; people will still find those stories (albeit less often), and the most vulnerable readers won't realize the ideas are toxic.
It's crucial that the platform find a way for content like this to be flagged.
I would highly recommend that Medium consider some sort of "disclaimer" banner to attach to problematic stories. Something that says, "This story has been flagged for promoting unhealthy attitudes or behaviors."
Yes, there would likely need to be some sort of human review process, since this feature could otherwise become a weapon of misogynists who want to silence feminist writers; they could simply report feminist essays as "unhealthy." Ideally, someone qualified to opine on psychology/sociology should be responsible for screening. Moreover, it would be important to do this in a way that didn't overtly shame any writers; I believe that many people who write toxic content are unaware of their emotional health issues. They're merely sharing what they believe to be "truths," in the spirit of being "helpful."
Still, problematic content needs to be indicated as problematic.
It's great that users can report hate speech and spam, but that's not enough. Essays that contribute to social problems by glorifying (or validating) toxic attitudes and maladaptive approaches to mental health are just as bad; they cause psychoemotional and interpersonal damage. What's more, at least in the case of toxic-masculinity content, it further serves to "legitimize" misogynist hate speech in the minds of many men. Medium has a valuable role to play here in prevention.
Lastly, for what it's worth, I don't flaunt my qualifications in my Medium bio — on a platform like Medium, creatives should be judged by the quality of our content, rather than by our CVs — but I have training and experience as a mental health volunteer, in addition to an M.A. in Sociology and Demography from a program that is highly regarded among sociologists for its research on interpersonal relationships, with high rankings nationwide [https://sociology.la.psu.edu/about/] and worldwide [https://sociology.la.psu.edu/news/sociology-ranked-7th-in-the-world-by-the-academic-ranking-of-world-universities/]. I also wrote a statistics-driven thesis on relationship abuse in order to earn that degree. In other words, when I'm concerned that some essays on Medium are problematic, this is more than mere, reactive "opinion." This is an educated assessment.
Relationships are political. Mental health is health. This is why "feelings" content matters; it has tremendous potential to drive positive social change, if done well. But it also has tremendous potential to drive negative social change, if done irresponsibly.
It's vital that Medium take it seriously.
Thanks for your time,
Laura Rosell
