Resisting rape culture in digital society
Open accessAbstract
This chapter examines the promise and potential of feminist activism, focusing foremost on sexual violence and rape culture, in order to contribute to feminist criminological accounts of feminism and anti-rape activism in the context of an increasingly digital society. The potential impacts of the reach and immersion of rape culture in digital society are difficult to quantify. Although the incel community presents just one extreme example of rape culture, it does serve to highlight the challenges of regulating violence-supportive and gender-based hate speech in the context of global, dispersed, and often anonymous, digital networks of hate. The chapter considers the features characteristic of contemporary social justice activism, which is always simultaneously online and offline. Feminist criminologist Tully O’Neill, for example, has described the ways in which the anonymous online platform reddit and less public sites and forums have become communities of support and even informal justice-seeking for some survivors of sexual violence.
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Tweeting India’s Nirbhaya protest: a study of emotional dynamics in an online social movement
Ahmed, S., Jaidka, K., & Cho, J. (2016) · Social movement studies · doi:10.1080/14742837.2016.1192457 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
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Mainstreaming the Blackpill: Understanding the Incel Community on TikTok
Solea, A. I., & Sugiura, L. (2023) · European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10610-023-09559-5 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
“…trivialised sexual violence by claiming that women incite and deserve to be subjected to such acts, demonstrating the pervasiveness of a ‘non-consent’ rhetoric and the embracement of rape culture (Powell & Sugiura, 2018), linking blackpilled beliefs with normalised sexual violence (Kelly, 1987).”
BackgroundSelf-citationVictim Blaming, Responsibilization and Resilience in Online Sexual Abuse and Harassment
Sugiura, L., & Smith, A. R. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-42288-2_3 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Self-citationDeKeseredy, W. S., Stoneberg, D. M., & Lory, G. L. (2021) · Emerald Group Publishing Limited eBooks · doi:10.1108/978-1-83982-848-520211004 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Gender, Violence and Technology: At a Conceptual and Empirical Crossroad
Powell, A., Flynn, A., & Sugiura, L. (2021) · The Palgrave Handbook of Gendered Violence and Technology · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-83734-1_1 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Self-citationEstablishing the particularities of cybercrime in Nigeria: theoretical and qualitative treatments
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(2021) · Emerald Group Publishing Limited eBooks · doi:10.1108/978-1-83982-254-420211011
Pease, B. (2025) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-91477-5_1
Healing Relationally: Connection, Collective Care, and Activism
Powell, A. (2026) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-032-37725-8_8
Self-citation
- Authors
- Powell, A., & Sugiura, L.
- Affiliations
- RMIT University (AU)
- Venue
- The Routledge International Handbook of Violence Studies
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Published
- 2018-10-30
- Pages
- 447-457
- OpenAlex
- W2884579672
- Cited by
- 8
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 3.70
- Type
- book chapter
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- figshare.com
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Routledge eBooks (publishedVersion)
- RMIT Research Repository (RMIT University Library) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender, Feminism, and Media
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Feminism, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
- Keywords
- rape culture, feminist activism, sexual violence, digital society, incel community, online hate speech, gender-based hate speech, feminist criminology, online anonymity, Reddit, sexual violence survivors, social justice activism, online and offline activism
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