High Tech or High Risk: Moral Panics about Girls Online
Interesting article from the MIT Press Journals:
http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/dmal.9780262633598.053
High Tech or High Risk: Moral Panics about Girls Online
Justine Cassell, Meg Cramer
Northwestern University, Center for Technology and Social Behavior
"""
We argue that the current moral outrage and national panic over the
risks of victimization faced by girls on the Internet has nothing to
do with risks faced by girls on the Internet. Based on historical,
cross-cultural, and discourse analyses, we draw four conclusions. Each
and every time a new communication technology is introduced, it spurs
very public fears on the part of parents and educators, putatively
about the effects of that technology on girls' (sexual) innocence. The
statistics show that predatory behavior on adolescent girls has a
certain profile that has either not changed over the decade since the
Internet became popular, or has improved over time. The Internet
dangerously unfetters girls' spaces and risks changing our image of
what girls can do, and where they can go. This challenges the social
order. Girls' masterful use of the Internet also challenges the view
that technology is dangerous and an inappropriate interest for girls,
and in this sense the moral panic around girls online is a way of
policing the relationship between girls and technology.
"""
PDF: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dmal.9780262633598.053
Greetings,
Miry
PS: Thanks to Lunar^ for the link :)
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