76 percent of women under thirty have experienced online abuse or harassment

Evidence

Online hate speech directed toward women is not new but, rather, is considered an unfortunate hangover of the male-dominated culture of geekdom that defined the early web. Misogynistic expressions run the gamut—from vitriolic “e-bile” to revenge porn to physical threats waged from behind a veil of anonymity. In an article on “The Harsh Realities of Being a Woman on Social Media,” Femsplain founder Amber Discko offered a blow-by-blow of being “someone who gets a lot of attention online,” including “ugly private messages, emails, the threatening phone calls, and all the stress and energy that goes into protecting yourself.” Reporting survey data that 76 percent of women under thirty have experienced some form of abuse or harassment online, Discko shared her desire to “exist as a woman on the internet without having to ‘deal’ with harassment every day.” — Brooke Erin Duffy, (Not) Getting Paid to Do What You Love, 349

Categorization

• SHARE: A concrete data point to send to a friend who writes on online gender dynamics and harassment.
• XREF: connects to: Harassment is a structural condition rather than an aberration of social media — Tarleton Gillespie, Custodians of the Internet: Platforms,…, 183; Concentrated psychological harm is hidden among evidently ordinary young women — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 2466

Broader Connections

• Harassment is a structural condition rather than an aberration of social media #expands (0.80) — Tarleton Gillespie, Custodians of the Internet, 183
• Concentrated psychological harm is hidden among evidently ordinary young women #exemplifies (0.75) — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 2466