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Conceptualising Technosocial Sexual Harms

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Sexual Violence in a Digital Age

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Cybercrime and Cybersecurity ((PSCYBER))

Abstract

The Internet has been described as a normative public or counterpublic space, a frontier of new democratic engagement and justice, populated by fluid identities that are not necessarily bound to, or constricted by, the physical body. To date, studies of virtual or cybercriminality have surprisingly paid very little attention to the dynamics of gender, power and inequality. Likewise, embodiment theory remains significantly under-utilised within the field of cybercriminality. This chapter conceptualises the nature and impacts of technology-facilitated sexual harms through a critical examination of the body as a site and target of power in digital life. We critically examine the role of both the corporeal and metaphysical body in cultures of ‘real virtuality’ (Castells. The power of identity: The information age: Economy, society, and culture, Volume II. Blackwell, 1997), and in doing so, articulate a theory of digital embodiment in order to aid our understanding of the harms of technology-facilitated sexual violence.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Justice and Legal Studies, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Anastasia Powell

  2. Centre for Global Research, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Nicola Henry

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  1. Anastasia Powell
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  2. Nicola Henry
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Powell, A., Henry, N. (2017). Conceptualising Technosocial Sexual Harms. In: Sexual Violence in a Digital Age. Palgrave Studies in Cybercrime and Cybersecurity. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58047-4_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58047-4_3

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

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