Rape in the age of the Internet
Keywords
Rape
Digital rape
online risk
harm
Publication details
| Year: | 2019 |
| DOI: | 10.4324/9780429467608 |
| Issued: | 2019 |
| Language: | English |
| Start Page: | 189 |
| End Page: | 205 |
| Editors: | Heinskou MB; ML Skilbrei; K Stefansen |
| Authors: | Fransson E.; Martinsen T.; Staksrud E. |
| Type: | Book chapter |
| Book title: | Rape in the Nordic Countries |
| Publisher: | Routledge |
| Place: | London |
| Topics: | Internet usage, practices and engagement; Risks and harms; Online safety and policy regulation; Access, inequalities and vulnerabilities |
| Sample: | One rapist who had conducted a series of online rapes was the focus of the case study. The victims were children and young people. The attacks started when the perpetrator was a minor. |
| Implications For Parents About: | Parental practices / parental mediation; Parenting guidance / support |
| Implications For Educators About: | Professional development |
| Implications For Policy Makers About: | Stepping up awareness and empowerment; Fighting against child sexual abuse and child exploitation; Creating a safe environment for children online |
| Implications For Stakeholders About: | Researchers; Industry; Healthcare |
Abstract
Online sexual engagement, exploration and even criminal offences among youth is a common practice, and there can be blurred borders between pubescent explorative engagements and illegal activities such as digital rape. At the same time, digital rape is a serious sexual, often violent crime, which can have devastating and long-lasting consequences for its victims. The focus of this chapter is to advance the perpetrator’s perspective through a case study. The methodological approach is qualitative and consists of interviews with a young boy, Alex, his diary and his Court judgements. The material tells about Alex’s logic related to online sexual activity, analyzed in light of theory of computer-mediated communication. A central focus is how this type of communication differs from face-to-face meetings, and how such meetings exceed the local and temporal by what we usually think of as rape. The chapter highlights some of the core challenges met when digital, often generation-specific transgressive practices cross boundaries, become illegal and meet courtrooms and legal provisions. The article points to the challenges of providing a research-based approach to policy interventions, legal initiatives and the need to accept the complex nature of computer-mediated communication. Further, it points to the need to develop a legal vocabulary that can be understood and find its legitimacy – in the Internet generation and beyond.
Outcome
The chapter highlights some of the core challenges met when digital, often generation-specific transgressive practices cross boundaries, become illegal and meet courtrooms and legal provisions. The article points to the challenges of providing a research-based approach to policy interventions, legal initiatives and the need to accept the complex nature of computer-mediated communication. Further, it points to the need to develop a legal vocabulary that can be understood and find its legitimacy – in the Internet generation and beyond.