Surprise! Study Finds Online Harassment of Women Is Becoming an 'Established Norm'

[eridani]

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/35633-surprise-study-finds-online-harassment-of-women-is-becoming-an-established-norm

The Guardian reports:

“Nearly half the 1,000 respondents in the research by the digital security firm Norton had experienced some form of abuse or harassment online. Among women under 30, the incidence was 76%.

Harassment ranged from unwanted contact, trolling, and cyberbullying to sexual harassment and threats of rape and death. Women under 30 were overrepresented in every category.

One in seven—and one in four women aged under 30—had received general threats of physical violence. Almost one in ten women under 30 had experienced revenge porn and/or ‘sextortion.’

The online quantitative survey was carried out with 1,053 women in Australia aged 18 and over in February this year.”

Norton conducted a similar study on “men’s experience of harassment online” and found that women were singled out as targets significantly more often. Indeed, women “receive twice as many death threats and threats of sexual violence as men.” Those identifying as lesbian, bisexual, or transgender women are especially prone to attack: “one in four...who had suffered serious harassment online said their orientation had been the target.”

Harassers also often rely on the well-worn tactic of belittling women’s physical appearance; researchers found that one in five women have been subjected to this form of online abuse.