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Gender, Bodies and Cyberstalking: Embodying Theory, Developing Methodology

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Gender, Bodies and Cyberstalking: Embodying Theory, Developing Methodology CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by ResearchArchive at Victoria University of Wellington GENDER, BODIES AND CYBERSTALKING: EMBODYING THEORY, DEVELOPING METHODOLOGY BY RACHEL WILLIAMS A THESIS SUBMITTED TO VICTORIA UNIVERSITY OF WELLINGTON IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN CRIMINOLOGY SCHOOL OF SOCIAL AND CULTURAL STUDIES VICTORIA UNIVERSITY OF WELLINGTON 2009 ABSTRACT The exponential growth of advanced communication technologies has corresponded with diverse opportunities for criminal offending within this arena. New forms of deviance are supported by the unique characteristics of the Internet environment, whilst pre-existing crimes are also paralleled online. Research indicates that content related offences, including cyberstalking and online sexual harassment, mirror offline gender disparities, although research addressing this disparity is minimal. The disparate victimisation of women, and the characteristics of cyberstalking, facilitates the recognition of this offence as a gendered form of harassment and the development of a theoretical framework responsive to this disparity. However, current theories addressing the Internet often display concepts concurrent with what is commonly referred to as the online disembodiment thesis. These concepts, namely the promotion of an absolute demarcation between the online and offline environment and the notion that bodies can be transcended online, are problematic when addressing the online victimisation of women as feminist theorists have located much of women’s power in the centrality of the body. To inform the development of a gendered framework appropriate for an assessment of cyberstalking this thesis rejected the online disembodiment thesis, alternatively employing the theories of the body to develop a theoretical framework appropriate for an examination of cyberstalking. Criminologists are currently in an exploratory research era in regards to cybercrime, the growth of which has thus far not been matched by criminological scholarship. Consequently, there currently exists little methodological precedent for the researcher intending to qualitatively examine the online victimisation of women. The lack of methodological precedent prioritised the development of a methodological framework suitable for researching the online victimisation of women. The development of an alternative theoretical framework that recognised the immutability of bodies online subsequently informed the development of two key methodological considerations. The methodological considerations developed in this thesis lay the foundations for additional research on cyberstalking and prioritise a gendered assessment of this crime. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost I offer my sincerest gratitude to my supervisors Dr Jan Jordan and Dr Fiona Hutton for the input, guidance, assistance and encouragement they have provided me during the course of this thesis. I would also like to extend my gratitude to the lecturers and students who gave their time to assist in the distribution and completion of the Participant Recruitment Questionnaire. I would also like to thank the staff of the School of Social and Cultural Studies and the Institute of Criminology for their assistance and feedback. I would like to thank the board and staff of the YWCA of Wellington and Hutt Valley for their support and encouragement during the course of writing this thesis. I would like to sincerely thank the many women who shared their stories and experiences with me. For every story shared the importance of this research was made apparent and for that I am truly grateful. I would like to thank my parents, Lorraine, Leo, Ross and Anne for your love and support. Finally, I truly believe that without the love and support of four extraordinary women this thesis would not have been possible and I dedicate this thesis to them. To my wonderful and inspiring grandmother. To my sisters, Hannah and Claire, for your compassion, humour and encouragement. And, finally, to my mother for sharing your strength and wisdom. For your unerring support. For instilling in me the importance of education and the need to constantly question. And for setting your expectations high and expecting nothing less. Thank you. 3 Even if a world of "only minds" were possible, it would be highly undesirable. For without our embodiment - including the plethora of physical differences and limitations following it - we lose one of our greatest resources. The body is a deep well of both strength and wisdom. We know in, with and through our bodies. To assert otherwise is to vastly misconstrue, even distort, the nature of human experience, in ways that are highly damaging not only to women, but to every person on this planet - indeed, to the planet itself. (Underwood, 2000:283) Forgetting the body is an old Cartesian trick, one that has unpleasant consequences for those bodies whose speech is silenced by the act of our forgetting; that is to say, those upon whose labour the act of forgetting the body is founded. (Stone, 2000:525) 4 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................................................7 CHAPTER ONE: CYBERCRIME AND CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORY.............................................................11 THE TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION.......................................................................................................................................................................11 THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF THE INTERNET ..........................................................................................................................................................12 THE SOCIAL IMPACT OF THE INTERNET .................................................................................................................................................................14 DEFINING AND UNDERSTANDING CYBERCRIME.................................................................................................................................................15 Academic Definitions of Cybercrime..........................................................................................................................................................................15 The Production of Cybercrime Knowledge and Popular Discourse ..........................................................................................................................18 WOMEN AND THE INTERNET ......................................................................................................................................................................................20 Cyberfeminism..............................................................................................................................................................................................................21 Women and the Internet Narratives .............................................................................................................................................................................23 APPLYING CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORY ...................................................................................................................................................................26 CONTENT-RELATED OFFENCES AND THE ONLINE VICTIMISATION OF WOMEN......................................................................................32 Cyber-obscenity ............................................................................................................................................................................................................33 Cyberviolence ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................33 Flaming, Hate Speech and Sexual Harassment...........................................................................................................................................................34 CHAPTER TWO: A REVIEW OF CYBERSTALKING LITERATURE................................................................37 INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................37 IS CYBERSTALKING AN EXTENSION OF OFFLINE STALKING? ........................................................................................................................40 OFFLINE STALKING........................................................................................................................................................................................................44 DEFINING CYBERSTALKING........................................................................................................................................................................................47 VICTIM CHARACTERISTICS .........................................................................................................................................................................................50 OFFENDER CHARACTERISTICS...................................................................................................................................................................................56 MOTIVATIONS..................................................................................................................................................................................................................58
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