A recently released poll by Rad Campaign, Lincoln Park Strategies, and Craig Newmark of Craigconnects reveals that women experience of majority of online harassment – and that the impact can be devastating.
The poll found that 25 percent of all Americans have experienced a form of harassment online; of them, a whopping 57 percent are women. Respondents under 35 were almost twice as likely to have experienced harassment than their older counterparts; of them, 52 percent are women. Sexual harassment was the most common experience women reported, occurring in 43 percent of all incidences.
“There have been several rape threats,” HollaBack! cofounder Emily May wrote about online harassment in a Ms. magazine blog published last year. “But it’s mostly ‘I want to rape you’ or ‘Somebody should rape you.’ Most are not physical threats–they’re more about how ugly I am, how nobody would bother raping me because I’m so fat and hideous.”
Women bloggers frequently discuss and disclose tales of online harassment, and even women who have evaded harassment themselves know about the widespread practice, with 65 percent of those polled reporting that they know someone personally who has been victim to bullying, threats, or other forms of harassment. “None of this makes me exceptional,” freelance writer Amanda Hess wrote after telling a personal story about online harassment in Pacific Standard. “It just makes me a woman with an Internet connection.”
Those surveyed in the poll reveal that harassment has significant effects on the well-being of those receiving it, with 29 percent scared for their life and 20 percent scared to leave their house. According to Ms. magazine, harassment may also push writers to tone down their voices or stop writing altogether. “Once, after reading all these posts, I just sat in my living room and bawled like a 12-year-old,” May confessed in her blog.
“Some people may think the Internet is a place where they can threaten people without consequences, but online harassment has horrifying real-life effects. About 30% of people who are harassed online say that they fear for their lives,” said Allyson Kapin, co-founder partner of Rad Campaign. “These poll results show the need for effective responses to the problem at all levels.”
The full data set from the poll is available online at onlineharassmentdata.org.
Media Resources: Online Harassment Data; Ms. magazine 1/23/13
