Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Cybersexism: How Gender and Sexuality Are at Play in Cyberspace

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Gender, Sexuality and Race in the Digital Age

Abstract

This chapter demonstrates how cybersexism can be employed as a new way of socially controlling expressions of gender and sexuality. Cybersexism refers to acts of violence that: (1) occur or linger in cyberspace; (2) are sexist, homophobic (lesbophobic) or sexual in nature; and (3) reiterate dominant gender norms targeting girls and boys (tarnishing the former’s reputation and threatening the latter’s masculinity). Data presented stems from the first study on cybersexism in French high schools: 1127 students (ages 12–16) completed the survey questionnaire, and 415 students/48 adults from the same schools took part in focus groups or individual interviews on the topic. It draws the portrait of cybersexism as an inherent part of a digital sociability for French youth, whose gendered and sexualized identities are increasingly developed –at least partially – in cyberspace. This chapter focuses on two characteristics of cybersexism: its pervasiveness since it results from internalized gender expectations and its existence as an outcome of constant peer pressure to adhere to gender norms of heterosexual masculinity and femininity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    “Face-to-face” violence is often referred to as “in real life” (IRL) violence in the literature. We will not be using this expression, since youth do not experience online and offline events as occurring separately. Similarly, they do not consider events occurring online as any less “real” than other types of events.

References

  • Bailey, J. (2015). A perfect storm? How the online environment, social norms, and law shapes girls’ lives. In J. Bailey & V. Steeves (Eds.), eGirls eCitizens. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Balleys, C. (2017). Socialisation adolescente et usages du numérique. In Revue de littérature. Paris: Institut national de la jeunesse et de l’éducation populaire.

    Google Scholar 

  • Benbenishty, R., & Nir, M. (2015). « Harcèlement traditionnel et violence au moyen des outils électroniques de communication entre adolescents en milieu scolaire en Israël », dans C. Blaya (dir.). Cyberviolence et école, Les Dossiers des Sciences de l’Éducation, 33, Toulouse: Presses universitaires du Midi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blaya, C. (Ed.). (2013). Les ados dans le cyberespace: prises de risque et cyberviolence. Bruxelles: De Boeck.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blaya, C. (ed.). (2015). Cyberviolence et école. Les Dossiers des Sciences de l’Éducation, 33, Toulouse: Presses universitaires du Midi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Centre Hubertine Auclert. (2014). Les cyberviolences sexistes et sexuelles: Mieux les connaître, mieux les prévenir. Actes du colloque de novembre, 2014.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clair, I. (2005). Des « jeunes de banlieue » absolument traditionnels ? Lien social et Politiques, 53, 29–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clair, I. (2012). Le pédé, la pute et l’ordre sexuel. Agora débats/jeunesses, 60, 67–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connell, R. W., & Messerschmidt, J. W. (2005). Hegemonic masculinity: Rethinking the concept. Gender and Society, 19(6), 829–859.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connolly, P. (1995). Boys will be boys? Racism, sexuality and the construction of masculine identities amongst infant boys. In J. Holland & M. Blair (Eds.), Debates and issues in feminist research and pedagogy. Multilingual Matters: Clevedon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, A., & Sportolari, L. (1997). Romance in cyberspace: Understanding online attraction. Journal of Sex Education and Therapy, 22(1), 7–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cosgrove, M. (2009, August 30). Young French bloggers find a new a risky way to create buzz. Digital Journal. Available online at: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/278496

  • Couchot-Schiex, S. (2017). “Prendre sa place”: un contrôle social de genre exercé par les pairs dans un espace augmenté. Education et Sociétés, 39(1), 153–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cross, D. T., Shaw, L., Hearn, M., Epstein, H., Monks, L. L., & Thomas, L. (2009). Australian covert bullying prevalence study. Child health promotion research Centre. Perth: Edith Cowan university.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crowley, M. S. (2010). How r u??? Lesbian and bi-identified youth on MySpace. Journal of Lesbian Studies, 14(1), 52–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dayer, C. (2014). Sous les pavés, la plage. Hacker le sexisme. La Tour d’Aigues: L’Aube.

    Google Scholar 

  • Debarbieux, É., Blaya, C., & Vidal, D. (2003). Tackling violence in schools. A report from France. In P. Smith (Ed.), Violence in schools. The response in Europe (pp. 17–32). London: RoutledgeFalmer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Direction de l’Évaluation, de la Prospective et de la Performance. (2014). Un collégien sur cinq concerné par la « cyber-violence ». Menser, Note d’information, 39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dobson, A. S., & Ringrose, J. (2015). Sext education: Pedagogies of sex, gender and shame in the schoolyards of tagged and exposed. Sex Education: Sexuality, Society and Learning, 16(1), 8–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frith, H. (2012). ‘Congrats!! You had an orgasm’: Constructing orgasm on an internet discussion board. Feminism & Psychology, 23(2), 252–260.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gradinger, P., Strohmeier, D., & Spiel, C. (2009). Traditional bullying and cyberbullying: Identification of risk groups for adjustment problems. Journal of Psychology, 217(4), 205–213.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haddon, L., Livingstone, S., & the EU Kids Online network. (2012). EU Kids Online: National perspectives. Report available online at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/46878/

  • Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. W. (2007). Offline consequences of online victimization: School violence and delinquency. Journal of School Violence, 6, 89–112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. W. (2008). Cyberbullying: An exploratory analysis of factors related to offending and victimization. Deviant Behavior, 29, 129–156.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Juvonen, J., & Gross, E. F. (2008). Extending the school grounds? Bullying experiences in cyberspace. Journal of School Health, 78(9), 496–505.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, D. M., Pomerantz, S., & Currie, D. H. (2006). ‘No boundaries’? Girls’ interactive, online learning about femininities. Youth & Society, 38(1), 3–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, Q. (2007). Bullying in the new playground: Research into cyberbullying and cybervictimisation. Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 23, 435–454.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin, N. (1999). Building a network theory of social capital. Connect, 22(1), 28–51.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pascoe, C. J. (2003). Multiple masculinities? Teenage boys talk about jocks and gender. American Behavioral Scientist, 46, 1423–1438.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pascoe, C. J. (2011). Dude, you’re a fag: Masculinity and sexuality in high school. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Patchin, J. W., & Hinduja, S. (2012). Cyberbullying prevention and response: Expert perspectives. New York: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Payne, E. (2007). Heterosexism, perfection, and popularity: Young lesbians’ experiences of the high school social scene. Educational Studies, 41(1), 60–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Payne, E. (2010). Sluts: Heteronormative policing in the stories of lesbian youth. Educational Studies, 46(3), 317–336.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Payne, E., & Smith, M. (2013). LGBTQ Kids, school safety, and missing the big picture: how the dominant bullying discourse prevents school professionals from thinking about systemic marginalization or… Why we need to rethink LGBTQ bullying. QED: A Journal of GLBTQ Worldmaking, 1(1), 1–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Payne, E., & Smith, M. (2015). Bullying as Gender Policing. In E. Brockenbrough, J. Ingrey, W. Martino & N. M. Rodriguez (Eds.) Queer studies in education: Critical concepts for the twenty-first century. Palgrave Macmillan. New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Renold, E. (2000). “Coming out”: Gender, (hetero)sexuality and the primary school. Gender and Education, 12(3), 309–326.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Renold, E. (2006). “They won’t let us play…unless you’re going out with one of them”: Girls, boys, and Butler’s “heterosexual matrix” in the primary years. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 27(4), 489–509.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rice, C., & Watson, E. (2016). Girls and sexting: The missing story of sexual subjectivity in a sexualized and digitally-mediated world. In J. Coffey, S. Budgeon, & H. Cahill (Eds.), Learning bodies. The body in youth and childhood studies (pp. 141–156). Singapore: Springer Verlag.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Ringrose, J. (2010). Sluts, whores, fag slags and playboy bunnies: Teen girls’ negotiations of ‘sexy’ on social networking sites and at school. In C. Jackson, C. Paechter, & E. Renold (Eds.), Girls and education 3–16: Continuing concerns, new agendas. Basingstoke: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ringrose, J., & Renold, E. (2014, November 25). Dépasser le « slut shaming »: étude du cyberharcèlement sexuel dans une perspective féministe. Colloque Les cyberviolences sexistes et sexuelles: mieux les connaître, mieux les prévenir. Centre Hubertine Auclert: Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ringrose, J., Gill, R., Livingstone, S., & Harvey, L. (2012). A qualitative study of children, young people and ‘sexting’. London: NSPCC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ringrose, J., Harvey, L., Gill, R., & Livingstone, S. (2013). Teen girls, sexual double standards and ‘sexting’: Gendered value in digital image exchange. Feminist Theory, 14(3), 305–323.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • UN Broadband Commission for Digital Development Working Group on Broadband and Gender. (2015). Cyberviolence against Women and Girls. A Worldwide Wakeup Call. UNESCO. Available online at: http://www.broadbandcommission.org/Documents/reports/bb-wg-gender-discussionpaper2015-executive-summary.pdf

  • UNICEF. (2014). Ecoutons ce que nos enfants ont à nous dire. Adolescents en France, le grand malaise. Paris: UNICEF France.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vandebosch, H., & Van Cleemput, K. (2008). Defining cyberbullying: A qualitative research into the perceptions of youngsters. CyberPsychology and Behavior, 11, 499–503.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ybarra, M. L., Diener-West, M., & Leaf, P. (2007). Examining the overlap in internet harassment and school bullying: Implications for school intervention. Journal of Adolescent Health, 41, 42–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgment

The authors wish to thank the Centre Hubertine Auclert for funding this project, as well as members of the Université de Paris-Est Créteil OUIEP (Observatoire Universitaire International Éducation et Prévention) research team.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université de Paris-Est Créteil, Paris, France

    Gabrielle Richard & Sigolène Couchot-Schiex

Authors
  1. Gabrielle Richard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sigolène Couchot-Schiex
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Texas A&M University-Commerce, Commerce, TX, USA

    D. Nicole Farris

  2. University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, USA

    D’Lane R. Compton

  3. University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA

    Andrea P. Herrera

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Richard, G., Couchot-Schiex, S. (2020). Cybersexism: How Gender and Sexuality Are at Play in Cyberspace. In: Farris, D.N., Compton, D.R., Herrera, A.P. (eds) Gender, Sexuality and Race in the Digital Age. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29855-5_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29855-5_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-29854-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-29855-5

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation