Citation

Vitis L, Gilmour F. Crime Media Culture 2017; 13(3): 335-355.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1741659016652445

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article brings to attention and explores women's use of non-traditional forms of resistance to online sexual harassment. In this piece we use Anna Gensler's Instagram art project Instagranniepants to examine how women are appropriating the language and practices of the cyber realm to expose online sexual harassment and to engender a creative resistance which is critical, comedic and entertaining. Drawing from interdisciplinary literature on witnessing, satire and shaming, we explore the techniques Gensler uses to not only document harassment but also resist, engage and punish those who seek to perpetrate it. This article problematises the stereotype of women as passive victims of online public spaces, and is critical of popular discourses that portray online spaces as exclusively risky and that position women as the natural victims of online violence. It concludes that a more nuanced account of women's negotiation of online spaces is necessary, particularly as an overarching narrative of risk and victimisation undermines the liberatory potential of the online realm.

Language: en