Sexual Harassment And Anti Feminist Backlash On The Internet

Sexual Harassment and Anti-Feminist Backlash on Social Media In her article â€Å"A Woman’s Place is on the Internet,† Rebecca Mead notes that â€Å"if we have gone a long distance toward disproving the notion that a woman’s place is in the home, we are still discouragingly far from it being widely understood and accepted that a woman’s place might, safely, be online† (Mead, â€Å"A Woman’s Place is on the Internet†). Mead’s call for safety for women online speaks to the persistent misogyny and sexual harassment many women face on the Internet, and importantly, underscores the potential for feminist voices to make positive change for women on the Internet. However, the Internet is often a dangerous place for women who speak out about gender inequality. These issues are important to consider as Emma A. Jane argues, â€Å"on-line hostility is getting more prevalent, it is getting uglier, and it has a number of gendered character istics† (â€Å"Your a Ugly, Whorish Slut† 534). Our experiences of Internet, then, are certainly marked by gender dynamics, gender norms, and gender hierarchies. The sexual harassment directed at female Internet users reflects an unequal power balance between users on the basis of gender: women are harassed on the Internet in sexually explicit and violent ways because of their gender identity. Additionally, sexual harassment directed at women who are publicly feminists and using the Internet as a means to assert their feminist viewpoints reveals that the Internet is not justShow MoreRelatedViolence Is The Single Most Visible Marker Of Manhood, By Michael S. Kimmel1607 Words   |  7 Pagescontinues to note that in order to be seen as â€Å"manly,† men are conditioned to â€Å"Always be prepared to demonstrate sexual interest in the women that [they] meet, so it is impossible for any woman to get the wrong idea about [them]. In this sense, homophobia, the fear o f being perceived as gay, as not a real man, keeps men exaggerating all the traditional rules of masculinity, including sexual predation with women† (37). With these points in mind, we can read men who sexually harass women online as workingRead MoreFeminist Analysis : A Woman s Motivation Essay3024 Words   |  13 Pages these women were consumer driven, and sex positive, but most importantly they were fiercely independant. Second wave feminism focused mainly on women’s social and political roles. Second wave feminism was born in the early sixties almost as a backlash or breaking point after the synthetic ‘sunshine and bubblegum’ attitude of the fifties. Women’s magazines had shifted from the fiery, racus, and mildly scandalous, and incredibly progressive magazines of the twenties to dull, family-centric affairsRead MoreThe Traditional Media Is A Mixed Blessing For Feminists3028 Words   |  13 Pagesblessing for feminists; on one hand, they educate the American public about issues like wife-beating and the gender gap, and on the other, both synthesize feminism into a homogenous mold and reinforce â€Å"post-feminist† repudiation of feminist wins. Traditional mass communications impose a gender dualism that made no room for gray - â€Å"bad† feminism versus â€Å"good† masculine norm - ignore marginal (feminist) voices, distort feminism, and delimit the s pread of feminist principles (Beck 140). Media backlash typicallyRead MoreOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 Pages Political Woman: Florence Luscomb and the Legacy of Radical Reform Michael Adas, ed., Agricultural and Pastoral Societies in Ancient and Classical History Jack Metzgar, Striking Steel: Solidarity Remembered Janis Appier, Policing Women: The Sexual Politics of Law Enforcement and the LAPD Allen Hunter, ed., Rethinking the Cold War Eric Foner, ed., The New American History. Revised and Expanded Edition E SSAYS ON _ T WENTIETH- C ENTURY H ISTORY Edited by Michael Adas