TY - CHAP
T1 - A feminist postdigital analysis of misogyny, patriarchy and violence against women and girls online
AU - MacKenzie, Alison
PY - 2023/8/1
Y1 - 2023/8/1
N2 - In this chapter, I offer a postdigital feminist analysis of misogyny and its harmful manifestations online. The Internet is a powerful tool in the systemic and structural dissemination of gender-based violence against women and girls (VAWG). This violence includes technology-facilitated harmful behaviour, along with technological tools to violate victims’ rights, using devices like smartphones and surveillance cameras. I will offer a postdigital critique of VAWG, arguing that at the root of these behaviours is misogyny, a conceptual, descriptive, and analytical account of which I will give here. I will also analyse this phenomenon from the perspective of epistemic injustice to show how asymmetries in testimonial exchanges and hermeneutical resources sustain misogynistic, patriarchal practices. Despite the scale and prevalence of digital and cyber gender-based misogyny and violence, Big Tech are under little to no legal obligation to address the abuse, though legal measures such as the Online Harms Bill (UK) are in progress, and should, I argue, incorporate a VAGW Code of Practice. I conclude with a tentative formulation of what feminist postdigital analysis could consist in and its relevance to the postdigital condition.
AB - In this chapter, I offer a postdigital feminist analysis of misogyny and its harmful manifestations online. The Internet is a powerful tool in the systemic and structural dissemination of gender-based violence against women and girls (VAWG). This violence includes technology-facilitated harmful behaviour, along with technological tools to violate victims’ rights, using devices like smartphones and surveillance cameras. I will offer a postdigital critique of VAWG, arguing that at the root of these behaviours is misogyny, a conceptual, descriptive, and analytical account of which I will give here. I will also analyse this phenomenon from the perspective of epistemic injustice to show how asymmetries in testimonial exchanges and hermeneutical resources sustain misogynistic, patriarchal practices. Despite the scale and prevalence of digital and cyber gender-based misogyny and violence, Big Tech are under little to no legal obligation to address the abuse, though legal measures such as the Online Harms Bill (UK) are in progress, and should, I argue, incorporate a VAGW Code of Practice. I conclude with a tentative formulation of what feminist postdigital analysis could consist in and its relevance to the postdigital condition.
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-031-35411-3_14
DO - 10.1007/978-3-031-35411-3_14
M3 - Chapter (peer-reviewed)
SN - 9783031354106
SN - 9783031354137
T3 - Postdigital Science and Education
SP - 275
EP - 294
BT - Constructing postdigital research: method and emancipation
A2 - Jandrić, Petar
A2 - Mackenzie, Alison
A2 - Knox, Jeremy
PB - Springer Cham
ER -
