Who is Anonymous?

However, such noble intentions are more often derided - Project Chanology is now considered “moralfaggotry”, and is more likely to be referred to with disgust than admiration. Any attempt to stand up for women by an Anonymous member is howled down as “white knighting” - one of the culture’s most contemptuous epithets.

The culture defines itself with its outsider status - the uninitiated are referred to as NORPs (normal ordinary responsible people). A popular description of the typical member of Anonymous says “you find women disappointingly pretty”. Anonymous members feel like drones, surplus men who will never find love, so they console themselves with endless consumption of pornography, and strike back at those distant, pretty creatures where they can.

An honest man would admit that their misogyny is not entirely unfamiliar - it reeks of the heady regressive-masculinity vibe that arises when men in the company of men egg each other on to greater heights of crassness. It can be observed in the military, or a workshop, or the NRL; something similar was uncovered in the elite colleges of the University of Sydney recently when male students started a “pro-rape” Facebook group.

What seems unique is the way Anonymous confronts the vulnerable. Anonymity itself might be to blame; it lends a false courage that leads to this sort of behaviour.

Also, in these other scenarios, the men are often separated from women, but the lack of geographical space between the anonymous sites and the broader internet make it easier for this misogyny to spill out.

Of course, anonymity makes it hard to draw the line between real and make-believe. It is not uncommon for a user to post on an Anonymous site claiming to be about to commit suicide, to respond to their own post with deliberately cruel and callous remarks, and then return a few days later pretending to be a bereaved relative. Perhaps many of those attacking and insulting women online see it as merely an extension of this game, separated from real consequences.

Or perhaps the most important factor is the way anonymity makes the actions of individuals seem like they belong to the collective. Or as Anonymous puts it: “none of us is as cruel as all of us”.