"You're my bitch": women's experiences of gender-based cyber- harassment on the internet in South Africa, flaming and trolling

dc.contributor.advisorMoult, Kelley
dc.contributor.authorVan Den Heever, Savannah
dc.date.accessioned2025-10-01T12:10:37Z
dc.date.available2025-10-01T12:10:37Z
dc.date.issued2025
dc.date.updated2025-10-01T09:29:30Z
dc.description.abstractThis research paper examines how women experience gender-based cyber-harassment in South Africa. It focuses on two forms of cyber-harassment: flaming and trolling. It further discusses how women change their online and offline behaviours due to their experiences and what they recommend to other women and social networking sites to manage and combat it. Using individual interviews and following a standardised questionnaire, nine women were interviewed, and their responses were thematically analysed to better learn and understand their lived experiences. As a result, this research demonstrates that cyber-harassment has detrimental effects on women's psychological states and behaviours. It argues that cyber-harassment mirrors traditional gender-based violence in its causes and manifestations and that women have valid recommendations about how to manage cyber-harassment. Such recommendations are aimed towards social networking sites and other women who navigate them. It emphasises that even with these recommendations, women are left disillusioned at the lack of support for gender-based cyber-harassment, just as they are for traditional gender- based violence.
dc.identifier.apacitationVan Den Heever, S. (2025). <i>"You're my bitch": women's experiences of gender-based cyber- harassment on the internet in South Africa, flaming and trolling</i>. (). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Law ,Department of Public Law. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41942en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationVan Den Heever, Savannah. <i>""You're my bitch": women's experiences of gender-based cyber- harassment on the internet in South Africa, flaming and trolling."</i> ., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Law ,Department of Public Law, 2025. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41942en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationVan Den Heever, S. 2025. "You're my bitch": women's experiences of gender-based cyber- harassment on the internet in South Africa, flaming and trolling. . University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Law ,Department of Public Law. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41942en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Van Den Heever, Savannah AB - This research paper examines how women experience gender-based cyber-harassment in South Africa. It focuses on two forms of cyber-harassment: flaming and trolling. It further discusses how women change their online and offline behaviours due to their experiences and what they recommend to other women and social networking sites to manage and combat it. Using individual interviews and following a standardised questionnaire, nine women were interviewed, and their responses were thematically analysed to better learn and understand their lived experiences. As a result, this research demonstrates that cyber-harassment has detrimental effects on women's psychological states and behaviours. It argues that cyber-harassment mirrors traditional gender-based violence in its causes and manifestations and that women have valid recommendations about how to manage cyber-harassment. Such recommendations are aimed towards social networking sites and other women who navigate them. It emphasises that even with these recommendations, women are left disillusioned at the lack of support for gender-based cyber-harassment, just as they are for traditional gender- based violence. DA - 2025 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town KW - Cyber-harassment KW - Flaming KW - Trolling KW - South Africa LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2025 T1 - "You're my bitch": women's experiences of gender-based cyber- harassment on the internet in South Africa, flaming and trolling TI - "You're my bitch": women's experiences of gender-based cyber- harassment on the internet in South Africa, flaming and trolling UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41942 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/41942
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationVan Den Heever S. "You're my bitch": women's experiences of gender-based cyber- harassment on the internet in South Africa, flaming and trolling. []. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Law ,Department of Public Law, 2025 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41942en_ZA
dc.language.isoen
dc.language.rfc3066eng
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Public Law
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Law
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subjectCyber-harassment
dc.subjectFlaming
dc.subjectTrolling
dc.subjectSouth Africa
dc.title"You're my bitch": women's experiences of gender-based cyber- harassment on the internet in South Africa, flaming and trolling
dc.typeThesis / Dissertation
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
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