The Dark Side of Internet Searches: A Macro Level Assessment of Rape Culture
30 Jul 2015-International Journal of Cyber Criminology (International Journal of Cyber Criminology)-Vol. 9, Iss: 1, pp 1-23
TL;DR: For example, this article tracked the search query "best rape scenes" on the Google search engine and found that nearly one hundred thousand websites were searched for the best rape scenes over a ten-year period.
Abstract: Introduction.28 seconds, the total time the Google search engine takes to deliver nearly onehundred thousand websites for the search query "best rape scenes". The intent of this statement is not to reflect in availability of material or suggest the search reflects those looking for, in fact, the best rape scenes. Rather being able to identify these search queries and track the trends and popularity of user queries is methodologically worthy of inquiry. Researchers agree the Internet is an influential source of acquisition and replication of norms, behavior, and attitudes (Jaishankar, 2008; Yar, 2006). The evolving nature of these networks have fundamentally influenced production of knowledge, distribution of tasks, and activities society engages, shaping the perspectives of generations of individuals (Castells, 1996). While research continues to study the relative strength of the Internet within acquisition and reinforcement, it has remained a consistent source of interest within human development (Greenfield & Yan, 2006). Having access to track interesting search queries overtime or following specific events presents as an important source of data, one that may undoubtedly provide new insight into human behavior.Currently there are ~275 million Internet users in North America and ~2.4 billion Internet users globally (Miniwatts Marketing Group, 2013), making the study of this tool incredibly relevant to social scientists. Introducing new methods has the capacity to benefit and reinvigorate discussion on sexual violence and foster the emergence of new perspectives. The increasing use of the Internet and resulting immersion into the daily lives of users would prove an important data source, specifically if the data allowed a longitudinal analysis, which controlled for population changes. For example, if Internet queries for "how to be a better parent" gradually increased 50-percent over a ten-year period, or "racist jokes" decreased 35-percent, a nation and its people would offer signs of change.In the past, access to violent, heterosexual pornography was largely limited to pornographic magazines or dark curtained rooms in video stores. Growth in the Internet and diverse nature of Internet users has fostered spread of not merely pornography, but the growth of niche pornography. As pornography becomes more socially acceptable, accessible, and marketed to wider audiences, its role in perpetuating misogynistic behaviors and attitudes thereby increases (Jensen, 2011; Picker & Sun, 2008). Scholars have suggested that pornography has a prominent feature within acquisition of behaviors and attitudes that correlate increasingly with acceptance, reproduction, and transference of what scholars have voiced as 'rape culture' (Miller & Biele, 1993).Conceptualized and widely studied across disciplines since the late 1980s, 'rape culture' research concerns itself with operationalizing, evaluating, and mediating acquisition of the associated attitudes, behaviors, and norms correlated with violence against women (Herman, 1989). Researchers suggested that violence against women is multifaceted; reflecting the interplay between personal, situational, and socio-cultural factors (Heise, 1998, p. 263). The research took multiple paths, but as Heise (1998) offers, it was important that scholars understand the primacy of culturally constructed messages promoting and promulgating violence against women in a society. Therefore, it was important to understand further the acquisition, modes of transmission, and reinforcement of these intricate markers (attitudes, behaviors, and norms) for rape culture.The resulting research produced important insight into rape culture and sexual violence. Researchers have explained the characteristics reflected at a micro and macro level for prolongation of misogyny and manifestation of rape culture in society. However, accurately measuring individual characteristics within the current studies is limited to survey instruments and focus groups, or at a macro level, official crime statistics, surveys of victims, or content analysis of popular media. …
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TL;DR: The authors examined the shifting momentum of right-wing extremists in Australia and provided an in-depth assessment of eight of the most active RWE groups in Australia, and identified the most influential groups.
Abstract: This research examines the shifting momentum of right-wing extremism (RWE) in Australia. The study provides an in-depth assessment of eight of the most active RWE groups in Australia, throu...
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Cites methods from "The Dark Side of Internet Searches:..."
...Data produced by Google Trends have been successfully used in a variety of applications, including criminology (Makin & Morczek, 2015), medical studies (Althouse, Ng, & Cummings, 2011; Ginsberg, Mohebb, Patel, Brammer, & Smolinski, 2009; Reis & Brownstein, 2010), economics (Goel, Hoffman, Lahaie,…...
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Cites methods from "The Dark Side of Internet Searches:..."
...At the same time, big data (GT) was used to understand the dark side of the world around us, as occurs with Makin & Morczek (2015) in criminology studies or to leveraging trends in market response modeling in marketing (Du et al., 2015), as well as, for health sciences surveillance and systematic…...
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TL;DR: In this article, a Corpus Linguistics analysis of Reddit forum data, research into digital behaviors, and a feminist critique was conducted to establish the connection between Incels and mainstream pornography.
Abstract: This article seeks to establish the connection-via shared discourse-between Incels and mainstream pornography. With an interdisciplinary approach which involves a Corpus Linguistics analysis of Reddit forum data, research into digital behaviors, and a feminist critique, this article focuses on the commonalities between the language of pornography and that of Incels. In doing so, it demonstrates how both pornography and Incels are different manifestations of the same misogyny. The findings of this study highlight the normalization of violence against women (VAW), which continues to be endemic in society, enabled and exacerbated by contemporary technologies.
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TL;DR: In this article, a review of factors at individual, micro-system, meso/exosystem, and macro-system levels that contribute to sexual revictimization among college women is presented.
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Cites background from "The Dark Side of Internet Searches:..."
...It is estimated that 10,000 new pornographic websites appear weekly, and, further, rape-oriented pornography is not only widely searched, but is growing in popularity (DeKeseredy & Schwartz, 2013; Makin & Morczek, 2015)....
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TL;DR: This article present a study of the discourses circulating /r/Braincels, the forum on Reddit for self-proclaimed "incels" that bolster the belief in the structural victimisation of women.
Abstract: This article presents a study of the discourses circulating /r/Braincels, the (now-defunct) forum on Reddit for self-proclaimed “incels,” that bolster the belief in the structural victimisation of ...
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References
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Book•
01 Jan 1996
TL;DR: The Rise of the Network Society as discussed by the authors is an account of the economic and social dynamics of the new age of information, which is based on research in the USA, Asia, Latin America, and Europe, it aims to formulate a systematic theory of the information society which takes account of fundamental effects of information technology on the contemporary world.
Abstract: From the Publisher:
This ambitious book is an account of the economic and social dynamics of the new age of information. Based on research in the USA, Asia, Latin America, and Europe, it aims to formulate a systematic theory of the information society which takes account of the fundamental effects of information technology on the contemporary world.
The global economy is now characterized by the almost instantaneous flow and exchange of information, capital and cultural communication. These flows order and condition both consumption and production. The networks themselves reflect and create distinctive cultures. Both they and the traffic they carry are largely outside national regulation. Our dependence on the new modes of informational flow gives enormous power to those in a position to control them to control us. The main political arena is now the media, and the media are not politically answerable.
Manuel Castells describes the accelerating pace of innovation and application. He examines the processes of globalization that have marginalized and now threaten to make redundant whole countries and peoples excluded from informational networks. He investigates the culture, institutions and organizations of the network enterprise and the concomitant transformation of work and employment. He points out that in the advanced economies production is now concentrated on an educated section of the population aged between 25 and 40: many economies can do without a third or more of their people. He suggests that the effect of this accelerating trend may be less mass unemployment than the extreme flexibilization of work and individualization of labor, and, in consequence, a highly segmented socialstructure.
The author concludes by examining the effects and implications of technological change on mass media culture ("the culture of real virtuality"), on urban life, global politics, and the nature of time and history. Written by one of the worlds leading social thinkers and researchers The Rise of the Network Society is the first of three linked investigations of contemporary global, economic, political and social change. It is a work of outstanding penetration, originality, and importance.
15,639 citations
"The Dark Side of Internet Searches:..." refers background in this paper
...The evolving nature of these networks have fundamentally influenced production of knowledge, distribution of tasks, and activities society engages, shaping the perspectives of generations of individuals (Castells, 1996)....
[...]
TL;DR: A method of analysing large numbers of Google search queries to track influenza-like illness in a population and accurately estimate the current level of weekly influenza activity in each region of the United States with a reporting lag of about one day is presented.
Abstract: This paper - first published on-line in November 2008 - draws on data from an early version of the Google Flu Trends search engine to estimate the levels of flu in a population. It introduces a computational model that converts raw search query data into a region-by-region real-time surveillance system that accurately estimates influenza activity with a lag of about one day - one to two weeks faster than the conventional reports published by the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control. This report introduces a computational model based on internet search queries for real-time surveillance of influenza-like illness (ILI), which reproduces the patterns observed in ILI data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Seasonal influenza epidemics are a major public health concern, causing tens of millions of respiratory illnesses and 250,000 to 500,000 deaths worldwide each year1. In addition to seasonal influenza, a new strain of influenza virus against which no previous immunity exists and that demonstrates human-to-human transmission could result in a pandemic with millions of fatalities2. Early detection of disease activity, when followed by a rapid response, can reduce the impact of both seasonal and pandemic influenza3,4. One way to improve early detection is to monitor health-seeking behaviour in the form of queries to online search engines, which are submitted by millions of users around the world each day. Here we present a method of analysing large numbers of Google search queries to track influenza-like illness in a population. Because the relative frequency of certain queries is highly correlated with the percentage of physician visits in which a patient presents with influenza-like symptoms, we can accurately estimate the current level of weekly influenza activity in each region of the United States, with a reporting lag of about one day. This approach may make it possible to use search queries to detect influenza epidemics in areas with a large population of web search users.
3,984 citations
01 Jan 2002
TL;DR: Social cognitive theory analyzes social diffusion of new styles of behavior in terms of the psychosocial factors governing their acquisition and adoption and the social networks through which they spread and are supported.
Abstract: Social cognitive theory provides an agentic conceptual framework within which to analyze the determinants and psychosocial mechanisms through which symbolic communication influences human thought, affect and action. Communications systems operate through two pathways. In the direct pathway, they promote changes by informing, enabling, motivating, and guiding participants. In the socially mediated pathway, media influences link participants to social networks and community settings that provide natural incentives and continued personalized guidance, for desired change. Social cognitive theory analyzes social diffusion of new styles of behavior in terms of the psychosocial factors governing their acquisition and adoption and the social networks through which they spread and are supported. Structural interconnectedness provides potential diffusion paths; sociocognitive factors largely determine what diffuses through those paths.
2,904 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors trace the use and meaning of rape from Biblical times through to Bangladesh and Vietnam, unravels the origins of rape laws in medieval codes and examines interracial and homosexual rape and child molestation.
Abstract: The author shows why she considers rape not to be just a brutal crime but a reflection of how our society is conditioned. To do this she traces the use and meaning of rape from Biblical times through to Bangladesh and Vietnam, unravels the origins of rape laws in medieval codes and examines interracial and homosexual rape and child molestation. She also includes a discussion of Freudian sexual psychology, legal defence strategy and the message behind popular books, magazines and films. Always, she argues, the myths generated by the latter serve to glamorize the victim while they romanticize the rapist - even in cases of rape murder.
2,592 citations
TL;DR: Social cognitive theory analyzes social diffusion of new styles of behavior in terms of the psychosocial factors governing their acquisition and adoption and the social networks through which they spread and are supported as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Social cognitive theory provides an agentic conceptual framework within which to analyze the determinants and psychosocial mechanisms through which symbolic communication influences human thought, affect and action. Communications systems operate through two pathways. In the direct pathway, they promote changes by informing, enabling, motivating, and guiding participants. In the socially mediated pathway, media influences link participants to social networks and community settings that provide natural incentives and continued personalized guidance, for desired change. Social cognitive theory analyzes social diffusion of new styles of behavior in terms of the psychosocial factors governing their acquisition and adoption and the social networks through which they spread and are supported. Structural interconnectedness provides potential diffusion paths; sociocognitive factors largely determine what diffuses through those paths.
2,560 citations
"The Dark Side of Internet Searches:..." refers background in this paper
...In addition, search functions have the ability to reach those who may have traditionally abstained from viewing this pornographic content either by choice or circumstance (i.e. unreachability) (Bandura, 2001)....
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