Editor's note

eGirls, eCitizens Putting Technology, Theory and Policy into Dialogue with Girls’ and Young Women’s Voices

“…70 Girls who perform privately, for instance, can be judged as prudish or uptight; women who perform publicly can be judged as attention seeking, superficial, or "slutty." 71 Since it can be impossible for girls and young women to adhere to both sets of media expectations for gender performanceto simultaneously be private and "responsible" as well as public and "mediatized" -in response they can selfcensor or go offline, even at the expense of the increased social and economic opportunities associated with a greater online presence. 72 Conflicting media representations of how to "properly" perform femininity within online spaces and the pressures they can exert upon young women frame another false dichotomy: online self-portrayals as either "authentic" or "inauthentic."…”

“…Ringrose emphasized the role of intensified surveillance by the school peer group as the audience for whom the "heterosexiness" in profiles was produced. 71 The display of sexual confidence, heterosexiness, and availability online can in fact be understood as an expected, constitutive element of girls' selfbranding within the school gender "market." Indeed, Ringrose and Barajas suggest that girls' hypersexualized presentations on Bebo correlate with Gill's insight that postfeminist empowerment requires one to always appear "up for it," while simultaneously, control of one's sexuality in the school context meant sexual restraint.…”

“…70 While many legal scholars have made a convincing case for including gender bias as a ground in relation to sexual violence against women, especially where there is evidence of animus against women as a group, the case for including gender bias as a ground in relation to non-violent sexual crimes like invasion of privacy has not been fully developed. 71 This makes the prosecution's job of building a solid argument for applying sexual orientation bias to non-physical sexual crimes all the more crucial, because doing so could help lay important groundwork for recognizing when gender bias should apply to similar situations.…”

“…70 Education law can "provide a useful framework" within which those on the front lines of education can respond to inherently complex challenges such as sexualized cyberbullying. 71 MacKay further explains that the concept that schools should be "discrimination free zones" and have a positive duty to promote equality originates from the Supreme Court of Canada in Ross v. New Brunswick Board of Education No 15., where Justice La Forest writes:…”

“…68 There has also been a rise of online hate material specifically targeting women, 69 and, like other forms of hate, this rhetoric can influence the culture of more mainstream spaces. 70 While most online misogyny is not connected to what may often be thought of as "traditional" hate groups (for example, white extremist groups), it relies on the same "ideologies" of hate such as othering and dehumanizing the target group and casting the hate group as a victim, 71 and appeals in a similar way to youthparticularly boys and young menwho feel alienated from society. 72 Young people need to be equipped with the media and digital literacy skills to recognize hate content when they encounter itfor example, an understanding of the markers of an argument based on hateand to recognize and decode the various persuasive techniques hate groups use to build group solidarity and recruit new believers, such as employing misinformation, 73 denialism and revisionism, 74 and pseudo-science.…”