A new study suggests online harassment is pressuring women and minorities to self-censor

[applegrove]

A new study suggests online harassment is pressuring women and minorities to self-censor

by Alice Marwick at Quartz

http://qz.com/844319/a-new-study-suggests-online-harassment-is-pressuring-women-and-minorities-to-self-censor/

"SNIP...............


“The interwebs can be a very savage place.”

This assessment came from a participant in my study on online harassment—a young woman of color living in a low-income neighborhood in New York City. Her tone was only half-ironic. While she faces plenty of challenges in her daily life, the digital world worries her more. She’s scared of being harassed for what she posts online, having personal photos hacked and distributed without her consent, or getting “doxed”—slang for posting someone’s address, phone number, and sensitive personal information without their permission. For this bright, motivated young woman, the internet is a frightening, dog-eat-dog world. It’s often safer to keep your opinions to yourself than risk retaliation.

Sadly, she’s not the only one who feels this way. A new report released by the Data & Society Research Institute and the Center for Innovative Public Health Research found that 47% of Americans have experienced online harassment and abuse, from nasty name-calling to stalking and privacy violations. This is concerning on its own, but the data also shows worrisome demographic divisions.

Many people once believed the internet would be a great equalizer, where diverse people could meet, learn, and contribute to national conversations. But this survey shows what many technology critics suspect: Not everyone has an equal voice online. This is at least partially because people who are marginalized in other areas of their lives are being systematically dissuaded from participating.



................SNIP"

[Warpy]

1. Well, DUH

I post on a lot of sites around the web (each with a different nick, so don't bother to look) and I'm a lot more circumspect in mixed groups, whether they're mixed politically, racially, or by gender and by how public they are.

I would do it this way even without the web harassment of women with opinions.

[Duckhunter935]

2. Not just them

I do it all the time

[bravenak]

3. Always

[WhiteTara]

4. Surprise Surprise

Self preservation is strong.

[Squinch]

5. It happened here.

[applegrove]

7. Yes. And last week someone posting a link that said JR website was a russian dupe

one. That is where many of the harrassed Duers ended up.

[Squinch]

8. That's not where feminists and most minority DUers who have left ended up. They were just run off.

And the report said JPR often reposts fake Russian news stories. The report didn't say it was a Russian website, it said that it is a "useful idiot" in the Russian effort to circulate false stories. Which it is.

[applegrove]

11. The great bernie hillary war was manipulated by trolls. Many of those people

on both sides felt harrassed and incapable of coming together for the election. I've said that all along. Practice wars ginned up on the DU as for trolls included wars focussed on feminism right after Romney lost due to female voters and african america rights as BLM was being born. Both issues pretty much settled amongst Democrats. But hate was created for a few months here on those topics. Then it mysteriously ended just as suddenly.

You are right that I forgot the details of the russian duping jpr. Thanks for that.

[Dorian Gray]

13. What is JPR?

[Squinch]

14. Jackpine Radicals. It's a website started by some people who had their posting privileges revoked

here after they spent years trolling Democratic Underground. The website is all Democratic Underground hate and conspiracy theories.

It's full of people who used to post here but who voted for Trump or Stein.

In short, it's the assholes that brought us Donald Trump.

[gollygee]

6. Ha!

Really, I had no idea. /sarcasm

LOL

[Solly Mack]

9. Do tell

[pnwmom]

10. And this is why there are almost 4 million mostly female members

of the secret Hillary Facebook site. In two weeks they went from 2 members to 800,000 because there was so much pent up demand to be able to discuss Hillary and what she means to them without being harassed by haters.

[Behind the Aegis]

12. GBLT, especially gay men and trans, are ripe for attack.

Of course, there is the always "popular" ( ) Jews, who always seem to be an easy target, whether discussing dead dictators or simply explaining why we are concerned about attacks on our people, often get a good "'splaining to" by those who "know better" and go as far to try to track us down IRL, posting our work places, credit cards numbers, and pretending to be us elsewhere.

Yeah, being a minority can really suck, especially for the ones who aren't considered "the "it" group".

[mythology]

15. Shocking

women don't like rape threats. Who ever would have guessed.