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Jack the Ripper’s victims had to be whores. Anyone saying different risks a trolling | Stephanie Merritt theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
And this issue is one faced by many historians, not just women. I believe @guywalters was subjected to similar abuse when he published Hunting Evil.
In the case of Ripperologists, and perhaps for others acting as the 'guardians of truth', I believe these angry attacks are ego driven. When you've given years of your life to formulating a theory about the killer's identity, you need fixed truths to support it.
When someone comes along and questions the basis of everything on which you've predicated your theories, you're not just going to roll over and take it. It's an existential threat to your interests and to you personally. This is why they're going bananas.
Case in point - the latest review of The Five to appear on Amazon... 
The points he raises in the review, 1. the feminist agenda, 2. my dishonesty, 3. doing the victims a disservice by saying they weren't 'prostitutes', 4. the insistence that there are 'facts' I've ignored, are all taken verbatim from Ripperology High Command's diktat on The Five.
If you can stomach it, this is one of the locations of Ripperology High Command: jtrforums.com/showthread.php…
