Gender Inequality and Online Incivility

• In Event: 579 - Section on Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 01. Inequalities

Abstract

It has been suggested that online abuse is simply an unavoidable component of being online, or is dismissed as a harmless manifestation of male adolescent immaturity (Suler and Phillips 1998). Other research finds that online harassment has serious costs to women, including limiting their online networks and harming their careers (Citron 2011). A 2014 Pew Study found that women, and particularly young women, experience severe forms of online harassment that include being stalked, sexually harassed, and physically threatened.
Although we know that women are more likely than men to be concerned about the increasing use of geotags or about the personal information they reveal online, the dynamics and ramifications of online harassment are unclear. I used snowball methods to interview eighteen individuals who have experienced some form of online harassment. In this paper, I ask: What types of online harassment do women experience? Does online harassment influence women’s daily lives, and their use of the Internet? If so, how? How do harassed individuals respond to harassment? What are thought to be the most effective responses to harassment (individual and collective)? In addition to addressing the different types of gender and sexual harassment, I identify three major costs of online harassment: Psychological/emotional, time/financial resources (avoiding harassment), and offline fear. I conclude with a discussion of how feminists and social movement organizations may organize to mitigate these inequalities.

Author

• Alison Dahl Crossley, Stanford University, Clayman Institute for Gender Research