2. It is important to study the issue of hate
speech and to analyze and critique factors
that influence this problematic topic.
It is also essential to study this topic,
because hate speech is a problem that
plagues a large number of internet users
and negatively impacts the lives of people.
Some consequences of hate speech to
victims include depression, isolation, and
self harm.
3. Therefore, in studying this subject
we could help understand the main
problems and causes of hate speech and
attempt to reduce this problem in order to
make online communication safer.
4. I selected this topic to focus my research
on because as a minority, I am subject to
a lot of negative comments when I go
online, whether due to my race or my
gender. I have witnessed a number of
minorities who have been subjugated
and discriminated online due to different
factors. This adversely affects a lot of
lives and makes people feel inferior.
5. Therefore, due to the fact that I am a minority
and have witnessed a lot of other minorities
being subject to hate crime it personally
affects me and that is the reason why I chose
this topic to study. In this research I focus on
hate speech directed towards women on
blogs. For instance in the political journal The
Atlantic, in the article “When Misogynist Trolls
Make Journalism Miserable for Women”, it
states
6. Online threats against women are the
subject of a lengthy Pacific Standard article
by Amanda Hess, who argues that
gendered harassment has severe
implications for women’s status on the
Internet and their place in the digital era.
Threats of rape, death, and stalking can
overpower our emotional bandwidth, take
up our time, and cost us money through
legal fees, online protection services, and
missed wage…“(Friedesdorf, 2014)
7. As stated earlier hate speech has for a
long time negatively affected the lives of
a large number of internet users, thus
studying this topic will improve the lives
of a quite a large number of people.
8. Hate speech is, outside the law, speech
that attacks a person or group on the
basis of e.g. race, religion, gender,
disability, or sexual orientation.
9. The issue that arises when dealing with
hate speech is the fact that hate speech
is protected by the First amendment
free speech rights in the U.S. This makes it
difficult to punish perpetrators and to
seek justice for victims.
10. Also due to the anonymous nature of
online communication, it is easier for
people to hide behind the computer
screen to discriminate, oppress,
subjugate and victimize other people
online.
11. There are a number of theories that I would
like to introduce in my research.
Implicit Personality theory: The term was
initially used by Bruner and Tagiuri to
describe assumed relationships of
traits…The term could be used to
correspond to the broad conception of
classic personality theory, namely, a set of
assumptions about why people behave the
way they do (Schneider, 1973).
12. In this case, this theory in connection to
my research relates to the factors that
influence people to write hateful or
sexist messages against women online.
13. Gender harassment involves misogynist behaviors
that are insulting, hostile ,or degrading towards
women. Unwanted sexual attention corresponds
closely with the legal notion of creating a hostile work
environment, and may involve behaviors such as
sexual comments about dress, touching, and display
of sexual materials. Finally, sexual coercion is when
someone bribed or threatened to perform sexual
acts in exchange for some job-related benefit. Given
the unique characteristics of CMC, women are in
danger of new forms of harassment. The three
dimensions of sexual harassment indicated above
may take on new forms with the introduction of
technology (Ritter, 2013)
14. A theory of sexism as ambivalence, not just hostility,
toward women is presented. Ambivalent Sexism
Theory distinguishes between hostile and
“benevolent” sexism (each addresses issues of power,
gender differentiation, and sexuality). Benevolent sexism
encompasses subjectively positive (for the sexist)
attitudes toward women in traditional roles: protective
paternalism, idealization of women, and desire for
intimate relations. Hostile sexism encompasses the
negative equivalents on each dimension: dominative
paternalism, derogatory beliefs, and heterosexual
hostility. Both forms of sexism serve to justify and
maintain patriarchy and traditional gender roles(Glick
and Fiske, 1997)
15. This theory can then help us to further
understand why men think it is okay or
harmless to offend women by spreading
hate speech online. Understanding this
theory will then get us one step to
figuring out this issue of hate speech
towards women and how it can be
reduced.
16. According to the results of the study done
by Cory L. Armstrong and Melinda J.
McAdams “… blog posts written by men
were deemed more credible than those by
women, inasmuch as in both studies, posts
with male authors were rated higher in
credibility than posts with female authors”.
(Armstrong & McAdams, 2009). This is a form
of hate, because it offends and reduces
the importance and intelligence of women.
17. Rape culture on Facebook blogs: Women's rights activists in
Britain and the US have accused Facebook of promoting rape
and "rape culture" after the social networking site refused to take
down pages on which users made jokes and apparent
confessions about sexual assault. Petitions urging the site to
remove pages such as "You know she's playing hard to get when
your [sic] chasing her down an alley" have been signed by more
than 3,600 people in the UK and 175,000 people on the US
website Change.org. (Davies, 2011) They say the material found
on the pages is a clear violation of Facebook's terms and
conditions, which bar hateful or threatening content. "This is hate
speech," said Jane Osmond, who has campaigned on behalf of
the UK petition. "I find it very disturbing that Facebook don't
appear to see the connection between pages such as this and
the prevailing rape culture we have in our society.“ (Davies,
2011)
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/sep/30/facebo
ok-refuses-pull-rape-jokepages
18. In May 2013, a campaign led notably by
Women, Action and the Media and the
Everyday Sexism Project attracted global
public attention to the issue of social media
content promoting violence against
women (Hate speech against women,
2014).
http://humanrightscomment.org/2014/03/0
6/hate-speech-against-women/. Basically
this campaign was started to reduce the
sexism, and sexual experiences women
face online on blogs and other CMCs
20. From my investigation on this topic of
hate speech towards women online, I
found that there was a lack of scholarly
information about this issue. Even though
there was a lot of information about
sexism and hate speech toward women
in real life there was limited information
about hate speech towards women
online.
21. However, I was able to find many non-
scholarly articles, blogs, and other
sources about this issue, which helped
me to come to certain conclusions.
In order to help reduce this problem, I
suggest that there should be increased
education on this topic to the public, so
that people are aware of this problem
and how it negatively and devastatingly
affects a lot of women.
22. Through my research, I found a lot of
sources that addressed hate speech
against women online and how it can
be reduced. They were sites petitioning
against this hate, and sites empowering
women, in my opinion, this is a good step
forward to help decrease this problem,
and I suggest that it should be continued
and made more public.
