California candidate Rachel Hundley was stunned when photos of her in underwear were posted online. Then she fought back
‘I am here today to tell my faceless bullies that I cannot be shamed into quitting because I am not ashamed’
As soon as Rachel Hundley saw the link, her heart sank.
A city council member in the small, quiet city of Sonoma, California, Hundley was working from home on August 13 when a message from an unfamiliar address popped into her inbox. What she read stunned her.
The anonymous email accused the 35-year-old Hundley of being “immoral and unethical.” It then suggested that she drop out of her race for re-election in November. She read the note a few times before the reality of the threat set in. Then she clicked the link.
The now-disabled website, called “Rachel Hundley Exposed”, attacked Hundley for her stance on divisive issues while mayor of Sonoma. It contained photographs mined from Hundley’s social media accounts, including some showing her in a bra and underwear and working at Burning Man, the famed art and music festival.
The site, supposedly by an organisation called “Sonoma Citizens for Peace and Cooperation,” called Hundley a “cruel and demented person,” who was “a cancer” that needed to be cut from the community.
“I was stunned,” Hundley said. “It’s 2018. I thought we’d gotten past this.”
While unprecedented numbers of American women are running for public office in 2018, harassment and smear tactics that dig into the personal lives of female candidates are still fairly common. But when victims of these attacks, designed to tarnish reputations and derail campaigns, confront the attacker, it can actually spark outrage, inspire voter support and raise the candidate’s profile, experts and candidates said.