Cybersexism : How Gender and Sexuality Are at Play in Cyberspace.

Abstract : This chapter demonstrates how cybersexism can be employed as a new way of socially controlling expressions of gender and sexuality. Cybersexism refers to acts of violence that: (1) occur or linger in cyberspace; (2) are sexist, homophobic (lesbophobic) or sexual in nature; and (3) reiterate dominant gender norms targeting girls and boys (tarnishing the former’s reputation and threatening the latter’s masculinity). Data presented stems from the first study on cybersexism in French high schools: 1127 students (ages 12–16) completed the survey questionnaire, and 415 students/48 adults from the same schools took part in focus groups or individual interviews on the topic. It draws the portrait of cybersexism as an inherent part of a digital sociability for French youth, whose gendered and sexualized identities are increasingly developed –at least partially – in cyberspace. This chapter focuses on two characteristics of cybersexism: its pervasiveness since it results from internalized gender expectations and its existence as an outcome of constant peer pressure to adhere to gender norms of heterosexual masculinity and femininity.