Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Online Othering: An Introduction

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Online Othering

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

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the rapidly changing social and political context which is driving a contested social media landscape and explores examples of othering and discrimination propagated and encountered by individuals online and in social media contexts and cultures. After providing an overview of literature on ‘othering’, we outline our concept of ‘online othering’ which problematises and analyses the dichotomy presented between real and virtual space(s) by exploring the motivations behind othering behaviours and the impact this has on the targets of online abuse. It also explores the extent to which ICTs facilitate and exacerbate traditional offline offences (such as domestic abuse and stalking). Finally, we consider various responses to ‘online othering’ which recognise its oppositional nature and the agency of the othered.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Alcoff, L. (1991, Winter). The problem of speaking for others. Cultural Critique, 20, 5–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alexander, C. (2009). Stuart Hall and ‘race’. Cultural Studies,23(4), 457–482.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allen, C. (2010). Islamophobia. Farnham: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Awan, I. (Ed.). (2016). Islamophobia in Cyberspace. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bates, L. (2014). Everyday Sexism. London, UK: Simon & Schuster.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bauman, Z. (1991). Modernity and Ambivalence. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berridge, S., & Portwood-Stacer, L. (2015). Introduction: Feminism, hashtags and violence against women and girls. Feminist Media Studies,15(2), 341.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bessire, L., & Bond, D. (2017). The rise of Trumpism. Hot Spots, Cultural Anthropology. https://culanth.org/fieldsights/1030-the-rise-of-trumpism. Accessed October 13, 2018.

  • Bhabha, H. K. (1994). The Location of Culture. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bhatt, C. (2006). The fetish of the margins: Religious absolutism, anti-racism and postcolonial silence. New Formations, 59, 95–115.

    Google Scholar 

  • Billig, M. (2002). Henri Tajfel’s ‘cognitive aspects of prejudice’ and the psychology of bigotry. British Journal of Social Psychology,41, 171–188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Binns, A. (2012). Don’t feed the trolls! Journalism Practice,6(4), 547–562.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bishop, J. (2013). The art of trolling law enforcement: A review and model for implementing ‘flame trolling’ legislation enacted in Great Britain (1981–2012). International Review of Law, Computers and Technology,27(3), 301–318.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowles, N. (2018). Thermostats, locks and lights: Digital tools of domestic abuse. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/23/technology/smart-home-devices-domestic-abuse.html. Accessed October 13, 2018.

  • Brons, L. (2015). Othering, an analysis. Transcience,6(1), 69–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chatterjee, R., Doerfler, P., Orgad, H., Havron, S., Palmer, J., Freed, D., et al. (2018). The spyware used in intimate partner violence. 2018 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (SP). https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8418618. Accessed October 13, 2018.

  • Citron, D. K. (2016). Hate Crimes in Cyberspace. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cixous, H., & Clement, C. (1975). The Newly Born Woman. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crawford, A. (2017). Facebook failed to remove sexualised images of children. BBC News. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-39187929. Accessed October 20, 2018.

  • Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum,1(8), 139–167.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review,43(6), 1241–1299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cuthbertson, A. (2018). Pride month 2018: YouTube runs ‘anti-LGBT ads’ while demonetising transgender videos. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/pride-month-2018-youtube-anti-lgbt-ads-demonetising-transgender-gay-videos-a8386181.html. Accessed October 20, 2018.

  • De Beauvoir, S. (1976 [1949]). The Second Sex. Paris: Gallimard.

    Google Scholar 

  • Devine, D. (2018). Hate crime did spike after the referendum—Even allowing for other factors. Brexit, LSE. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2018/03/19/hate-crime-did-spike-after-the-referendum-even-allowing-for-other-factors/. Accessed October 13, 2018.

  • Dodge, A. (2015). Digitizing rape culture: Online sexual violence and the power of the digital photograph. Crime, Media, Culture,12(1), 65–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Donarth, J. S. (1999). Identity and deception in the virtual. In M. A. Smith & P. Kollock (Eds.), Communities in Cyberspace (pp. 29–59). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dragiewicz, M., Burgess, J., Matamoras-Fernandez, A., Salter, M. Suzor, N. P., Woodlock, D., et al. (2018). Technology facilitated coercive control: Domestic violence and the competing roles of digital media platforms. Feminist Media Studies, ifirst. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2018.1447341.

  • Eagle, R. B. (2015). Loitering, lingering, hashtagging: Women reclaiming public space via #BoardtheBus, #StopStreetHarrassment, and the #EverydaySexism Project. Feminist Media Studies,15(2), 350–353.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Easter, B. (2018). ‘Feminist_Brevity_in_light_of_masculine_long-windedness:’ Code, space, and online misogyny. Feminist Media Studies,18(4), 675–685.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellis-Petersen, H. (2014). Mary reveals she befriended Twitter trolls following online abuse. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/aug/27/mary-beard-befriends-twitter-trolls-online-abuse. Accessed October 24, 2018.

  • Essed, P. (1991). Understanding Everyday Racism. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, M., & Littler, M. (2014). Tell MAMA reporting 2013/14 anti-Muslim overview, analysis and ‘cumulative extremism’. Centre for Fascist, Anti-Fascist and Post-Fascist Studies, Teesside University, UK. http://tellmamauk.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/finalreport.pdf. Accessed March 11, 2016.

  • Fine, M. (1994). Working the hyphens: Reinventing self and other in qualitative research. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fraser, N. (1990). Rethinking the public sphere: A contribution to the critique of actually existing democracy. Social Text,25–26, 56–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fuchs, C. (2009). Information and communication technologies and society: A contribution to the critique of the political economy of the internet. European Journal of Communication,24(1), 69–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fuchs, C. (2017). Social Media: A Critical Introduction (2nd ed.). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerard, J. F., & Whitfield, K. C. (2016). The experiences of victims of online Islamophobia. In I. Awan (Ed.), Islamophobia in Cyberspace. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gingrich, A. (2004). Conceptualizing identities. In G. Bauman & A. Gingrich (Eds.), Grammars of Identity/Alterity—A Structural Approach. Oxford: BergHahn.

    Google Scholar 

  • Griffin, A. (2015). Twitter still ‘sucks’ at protecting users from abuse, says CEO. Independent 5th February 2015. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/twitter-still-sucks-at-protecting-users-from-abuse-says-ceo-10026328.html. Accessed September 2, 2018.

  • Hall, S. (Ed.). (1997). Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, S. (2000). The multicultural question. In B. Hesse (Ed.), Un/Settled Multiculturalisms. London: Zed Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hardaker, C. (2010). Trolling in asynchronous computer mediated communication: From user discussions to academic definitions. Journal of Politeness Research,6, 215–242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hardaker, C., & McGlashan, M. (2016). ‘Real men don’t hate women’: Twitter rape threats and group identity. Journal of Pragmatics,91, 80–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hawley, G. (2017). Making Sense of the Alt-Right. Columbia: Columbia University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Herman, D. F. (1978). The rape culture. In J. Freeman (Ed.), Women: A Feminist Perspective (pp. 41–63). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herring, S. C. (1999). The rhetorical dynamics of gender harassment on-line. The Information Society,15, 151–167.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herring, S. C. (2003). Computer-mediated discourse. In D. Schiffrin, D. Tannen, & H. E. Hamilton (Eds.), The Handbook of Discourse Analysis (pp. 612–634). Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herring, S. C., Job-Sluder, K., Scheckler, R., & Barab, S. (2002). Searching for safety online: Managing ‘trolling’ in a feminist forum. The Information Society,18, 371–384.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hill Collins, P. (1989). The social construction of black feminist thought. Signs,14(4), 745–773.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hill Collins, P. (1990). Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill Collins, P. (1991 [1986]). Learning from the outsider within: The sociological significance of black feminist thought. In M. M. Fonow & J. A. Cook (Eds.), Beyond Methodology: Feminist Scholarship as Lived Experience (pp. 35–59). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill Collins, P. (1998). It’s all in the family: Intersections of gender, race and nation. Hypatia,13(3), 62–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hmielowski, J. D., Hutchens, M. J., & Cicchirillo, V. J. (2014). Living in an age of online incivility: Examining the conditional indirect effects of online discussion on political flaming. Information, Communication & Society,17(10), 1196–1211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • hooks, b. (1990). Yearning: Race, Gender and Cultural Politics. Boston: South End Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutchens, M. J., Cicchirillo, V. J., & Hmielowski, J. D. (2015). How could you think that?!?!: Understanding intentions to engage in political flaming. New Media & Society,17(8), 1201–1219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ITV News. (2018). Twitter urged to do more to tackle abuse of disabled users. http://www.itv.com/news/2018-02-20/twitter-charity-disabled-abuse/. Accessed October 20, 2018.

  • Jackson, S., Prince, J., & Young, P. (1993). Science, medicine and reproductive technology: Introduction. In S. Jackson (Ed.), Women’s Studies: A Reader. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jane, E. A. (2014a). You’re a ugly, whorish, slut. Feminist Media Studies,14(4), 531–546.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jane, E. A. (2014b). ‘Back to the kitchen, cunt’: Speaking the unspeakable about online misogyny. Continuum,28(4), 558–570.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jensen, S. Q. (2011). Othering, identity formation and agency. Qualitative Studies,2(2), 63–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keller, J. M., Mendes, K. D., & Ringrose, J. (2016). Speaking ‘unthinkable things’: Documenting digital feminist responses to rape culture. Journal of Gender Studies. Pre-print version. https://lra.le.ac.uk/handle/2381/33121. Accessed March 14, 2016.

  • Khoja-Moolji, S. (2015). Becoming an ‘intimate publics’: Exploring the affective intensities of hashtag feminism. Feminist Media Studies,15(2), 347–350.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kiesler, S., Zubrow, D., & Moses, A. M. (1985). Affect in computer-mediated communication: An experiment in synchronous terminal-to-terminal discussion. Human–Computer Interaction, 1(1): 77–104.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitzinger, C., & Wilkinson, S. (1996). Theorizing representing the other. In S. Wilkinson & C. Kitzinger (Eds.), Representing the Other (pp. 1–32). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Komaromi, P., & Singh, K. (2016). Post-referendum Racism and Xenophobia. London: PostRefRacism.

    Google Scholar 

  • Korn, J. U., & Kneese, T. (2015). Guest editors’ introduction: Feminist approaches to social media research—History, activism, and values. Feminist Media Studies,15(4), 707–710.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lacan, J. (1977). Ecrits: A Selection. London: Tavistock.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lea, M., O’Shea, T., Fung, P., & Spears, R. (1992). ‘Flaming’ in computer-mediated communication: Observations, explanations, implications. In M. Lea (Ed.), Contexts of Computer-Mediated Communication (pp. 89–112). New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, H. (2005). Behavioral strategies for dealing with flaming in an online forum. The Sociology Quarterly, 46(2), 385–403.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lister, R. (2004). Poverty. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lumsden, K. (2019). Reflexivity: Theory, Method and Practice. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lumsden, K., & Morgan, H. M. (2017). Media framing of trolling and online abuse: Silencing strategies, symbolic violence and victim blaming. Feminist Media Studies,17(6), 926–940.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGlynn, C., Rackley, E., & Houghton, R. (2017). Beyond ‘revenge porn’: The continuum of image-based sexual abuse. Feminist Legal Studies,25(1), 25–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLaren, P. (1994). White terror and oppositional agency. In D. T. Goldberg (Ed.), Multiculturalism: A Critical Reader. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mantilla, K. (2015). Gendertrolling. Westport, CT: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marwick, A., & Ellison, N. B. (2012). ‘There isn’t wifi in heaven’: Negotiating visibility on Facebook memorial pages. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media,56(3), 378–400.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Massanari, A. (2017). #Gamergate and the Fappening: How Reddit’s algorithm, governance, and culture support toxic technocultures. New Media and Society,19(3), 329–346.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McQuail, D. (2010). Mass Communication Theory (6th ed.). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Noble, S. U. (2018). Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism. New York: New York University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • O’Sullivan, P. B., & Flanagin, A. J. (2003). Reconceptualizing ‘flaming’ and other problematic messages. New Media & Society,5(69), 69–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Papacharissi, Z. (2002). The virtual sphere: The internet as a public sphere. New Media and Society,4(1), 9–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Papacharissi, Z. (2004). Democracy online: Civility, politeness, and the democratic potential of online political discussion. New Media and Society,6(2), 259–283.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Papacharissi, Z. (2016). The real-virtual dichotomy in online interaction: New media uses and consequences revisited. Annals of the International Communication Association,29(1), 216–238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parker, D., & Song, M. (2006). New ethnicities online: Reflexive racialization and the internet. Sociological Review,54(3), 575–594.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patai, D. (1991). US academics and third world women: Is ethical research possible? In S. Berger Gluck & D. Patai (Eds.), Women’s Words: The Feminist Practice of Oral History. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillips, W. (2015). This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Pickering, M. (2001). Stereotyping: The Politics of Representation. Basingstoke: Palgrave.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Powell, A., & Henry, N. (2016). Policing technology-facilitated sexual violence against adult victims: Police and service sector perspectives. Policing & Society,28(3), 291–307.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rajagopalan, M., Vo, L. T., & Soe, A. N. (2018). How facebook failed The Rohingya in Myanmar. Buzzfeed 27th August. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/meghara/facebook-myanmar-rohingya-genocide. Accessed September 6, 2018.

  • Said, E. (1978). Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sampson, E. E. (1993). Celebrating the Other: A Dialogic Account of Human Nature. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwalbe, M., et al. (2000). Generic processes in reproduction of inequality: An interactionist analysis. Social Forces,79(2), 419–452.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Segal, L. (1994). Straight Sex: The Politics of Pleasure. London: Virago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shariff, S., & DeMartini, A. (2015). Defining the legal lines: eGirls and intimate images. In J. Baley & V. Steeves (Eds.), eGirls, eCitizens (pp. 281–306). Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sills, S., Pickens, C., Beach, K., Jones, L., Calder-Dawe, O., Benton-Greig, P., et al. (2016). Rape culture and social media: Young critics and a feminist counterpublic. Feminist Media Studies, iFirst. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2015.1137962.

  • Soja, E. W. (1996). Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-Imagined Places. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spivak, G. C. (1985). The Rani of Sirmur: An essay in reading the archives. History and Theory,24(3), 247–272.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Squirrell, T. (2017a). New digital methods can be used to analyse linguistic terms and better understand Reddit communities. LSE US Centre. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2017/08/02/new-digital-methods-can-be-used-to-analyse-linguistic-terms-and-better-understand-reddit-communities/. Accessed October 13, 2018.

  • Squirrell, T. (2017b). Linguistic data analysis of 3 billion Reddit comments shows the alt-right is getting stronger. Quartz. https://qz.com/1056319/what-is-the-alt-right-a-linguistic-data-analysis-of-3-billion-reddit-comments-shows-a-disparate-group-that-is-quickly-uniting/. Accessed October 13, 2018.

  • Turkle, S. (1995). Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. New York: Simon & Schuster.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tynes, B. M., Schuschke, J., & Noble, S. U. (2016). Digital intersectionality theory and the #blacklivesmatter movement. In S. U. Nobe & B. M. Tynes (Eds.), The Intersectional Internet: Race, Sex, Class, and Culture Online (pp. 21–40). New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ussher, J. (1991). Women’s Madness: Misogyny or Mental Illness?. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Zoonen, L. (2002). Gendering the internet: Claims, controversies and cultures. European Journal of Communication,17(1), 5–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, S. (2015). Digital defense: Black feminists resist violence with hashtag activism. Feminist Media Studies,15(2), 341–344.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Communication and Media, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Emily Harmer

  2. Leicester, UK

    Karen Lumsden

Authors
  1. Emily Harmer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Karen Lumsden
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Independent Researcher, Leicester, UK

    Karen Lumsden

  2. Department of Communication and Media, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Emily Harmer

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Harmer, E., Lumsden, K. (2019). Online Othering: An Introduction. In: Lumsden, K., Harmer, E. (eds) Online Othering. Palgrave Studies in Cybercrime and Cybersecurity. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12633-9_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12633-9_1

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-12632-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-12633-9

  • eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation