#NoSnowflakes: The toleration of harassment and an emergent gender-related digital divide, in a UK student online culture. (October 2021)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- #NoSnowflakes: The toleration of harassment and an emergent gender-related digital divide, in a UK student online culture. (October 2021)
- Main Title:
- #NoSnowflakes: The toleration of harassment and an emergent gender-related digital divide, in a UK student online culture
- Authors:
- Haslop, Craig
O'Rourke, Fiona
Southern, Rosalynd - Abstract:
- In recent years, some political commentators and mainstream media outlets in the United Kingdom have pejoratively labelled young people, especially university students, a 'snowflake generation' – a term used to mock their perceived intolerance and over-sensitivity (Fox, 2016; Gullis, 2017; Slater, 2016; Talbot, 2020). This article challenges this discourse by drawing on findings from a large-scale study ( N = 810) conducted on a university campus in England that critically examined student's perceptions of and attitudes to different forms of online harassment, including abusive, offensive and harassing communications, using survey and interview data. Key findings indicate that online harassment is so pervasive in digitised spaces that it is often viewed as the 'norm' by the student population who appear willing to tolerate it, rather than take actions to address it, which challenges pejorative claims that they are intolerant and easily offended 'snowflakes'. Respondents who identify as female and transgender are more likely to be targeted by online harassment. We argue that the label 'snowflake generation' is diverting attention away from student's everyday experiences of online harassment and its adverse effects, particularly on women and transgendered people, which has the potential to create a gender-related digital divide (Jane, 2018). The implications of these findings for the higher education sector will be outlined.
- Is Part Of:
- Convergence. Volume 27:Number 5(2021)
- Journal:
- Convergence
- Issue:
- Volume 27:Number 5(2021)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 27, Issue 5 (2021)
- Year:
- 2021
- Volume:
- 27
- Issue:
- 5
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2021-0027-0005-0000
- Page Start:
- 1418
- Page End:
- 1438
- Publication Date:
- 2021-10
- Subjects:
- Digital divide -- gender -- motivation -- online harassment -- 'snowflake generation' -- social inequalities -- social media -- university students
Mass media -- Technological innovations -- Periodicals
Telecommunication -- Periodicals
Mass media and technology -- Periodicals
621.3897 - Journal URLs:
- http://con.sagepub.com/ ↗
http://www.uk.sagepub.com/home.nav ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1177/1354856521989270 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 1354-8565
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 18223.xml