Monografico_2_EN_Doxa_28

Paradoxically, virtual life is submerged in constant ambivalence derived from the co-existence of extremely subversive spaces for breaking up gender frameworks and exploring non-normative identities1 (Haraway, 1991; Plant, 1998; Turkle, 1997; Zafra, 2005b); with others marked by one of the most effective patriarchal mechanisms for sustaining male domination: violence towards women (Lagarde, 1990). In the interest of demonstrating how certain types of patriarchal domination are reproduced in the virtual world, several emerging studies are focusing on the cyber violence that women are suffering ((Gobierno Vasco, 2013; Megias & Ballesteros, 2014; EIGE, 2018; UNESCO, 2017; Lenhart 2009; Powell & Henry, 2014; Strassberg, et al. 2012; Delegación del Gobierno para la Violencia de Género, 2014; Navarro, 2016; EIGE, 2018).

Some of this research shows that the percentage of girls who suffer harassment via ICTR is higher than that in boys – 9% versus 6% respectively, according to the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE, 2018); and 12% versus 8% according to UNESCO (2017). However, the empirical evidence shows that the problem is more structural and qualitative than quantitative, given the gender differences that exist in the object of harassment and the forms this takes. In this sense, girls are the object of various types of sexual and/or sexist cyberbullying, which creates intimidating spaces against their bodies and their sexuality (Lenhart 2009; Powell & Henry, 2014; Strassberg et al., 2012; Delegación del Gobierno para la Violencia de Género, 2014; Navarro, 2016; EIGE, 2018).

Our proposal is to explore these forms of assault in one of the most crucial stages of building an identity: adolescence (Jiménez-Albiar et al., 2012; Vázquez, Estébanez & Herbón, 2013; Tubert, 2008; Pineda & Aliño, 1999; Rovira, 2001; Frosh, Phoenix & Pattman, 2002: 67; Martino & Pallota-Chiarolli, 2005; Renold, 2002, 2007; Egan & Hawkes, 2012). In particular this paper aims to study sexual and/or sexist cyberbullying suffered by girls in the Basque Region from a qualitative, gender and (cyber) feminist perspective. To do so, in line with the results from the research consulted, we start with two main hypotheses: 1) that girls suffer specific forms of cyberbullying, like sexual and sexist; and 2) these forms of cyberbullying are based on a patriarchal and macho legacy2.

From these premises, the paper first looks at some of the previous research on forms of violence towards women that are being produced on Internet among adolescents, and reviews the conceptual framework used in this field, opting for a suitable term for a cyber-feminist perspective understood as a reflexive strategy of varied critiques and politics which seeks empowerment for women in the digital world, and at the same time the subversion and transgression of traditional conditioning (Zafra, 2005b; Wajcman, 2004; Haraway, 1991; Turkle, 1991; Paasonen, 2011). This first bibliographic analysis supports the empirical part, which involves the discussions with 15-17 year-old adolescents, from stages equivalent to GCSE and FE in 9 different secondary schools in the Basque Region. These discussions enabled us to analyse the different types of harassment suffered by girls and examine the patriarchal/macho structures which underlie these kinds of cyberbullying and discover their consequences.

With these concerns, this paper is not written with a generalizing proposal so much as an exploratory one; an attempt to generate a space for analysis and debate which delves into and draws attention to the patriarchal mechanisms taking

1 People with non-normative identities subvert the patriarchal norm (hetero), either because their behaviour breaks the gender mandate or because their sexual orientation does not fit into the heterosexual frameworks (Valdes, 2013).

2 This paper stems from the most relevant results obtained in the PhD thesis The Macho Digital Iceberg.