whisper network

Noun

whisper network (plural whisper networks)

1. Any informal network of people who share information or gossip.
   • There is a whisper network in Bisbee, of codes and messages telling weary crossers where they can stay, safely hidden from the border patrol.2001 June 11, Nancy Gibbs, “A Whole New World Along the U.S.-Mexican border, where hearts and minds and money and culture merge, the Century of the Americas is born”, in Time, →ISSN, retrieved 10 Nov...
   • Earlier families ensured that proper lists and accounts were prepared and the groom's family was made to sign on the list of things they received while the dowry itself was put on display for all the relatives […] Today, no lists are signed and most of the giving and receiving is shrouded in...2005 May, Madhu Purnima Kishwar, “Strategies for Combating the Culture of Dowry and Domestic Violence in India”, in Violence against women: Good practices in combating and eliminating biolence...
2. An informal network of women privately sharing information, typically of people alleged to be sexual harassers, abusers, or rapists.
   • Bluntly: the Loon is part of the whisper network, because there are a very few librarians and library technologists whose behavior in the Loon’s presence does not incline the Loon to trust them to treat a young, conventionally-attractive female professional like a human being rather than an object...2014 January 1, The Library Loon, “In which the Loon endorses anti-harassment codes of conduct”, in Gavia Libraria, archived from the original on 07 Apr 2015
   • Since the police and most organizations are completely inept at actually doing anything about allegations of sexualized violence, women often depend on this whisper network to help keep them away from serial harassers and rapists who’ve never been held accountable.2016 August 5, Siobhan O'Leary, “What do you do when your abuser is part of the whisper network?”, in Against the Grain, Free Thought Blogs, archived from the original on 06 Aug 2016