Gossip is also a means for women to abuse their ex-girlfriends. It's a serious problem in the gay community. It's called DARVO. If you know your ex is going to accuse you of abuse in the future, and you have no morals, you can shoot first and appropriate these defence mechanisms against your victim.

Whisper networks have a tremendous potential to abuse women, especially trans women. It happened to Me, set off a chain of dominoes that lead to My ex-wife being raped, and ultimately left Me so riddled with trauma that I lost My career due to poor mental health. I was homeless.

I don't want the women who use whisper networks to be punished. But I don't feel okay with whisper networks' existence. It feels like having a loaded gun on the table, and anyone who's a good enough liar can pick up that gun and use it to hurt someone. Usually, someone queer. Rowling's friends have done it.