Women and the Internet: Promise and Perils

683 THE INTERNET is empowering women in ways that would not have been imagined a decade ago. Online activism has generated worldwide support for women’s issues such as violence against women, political oppression, and economic inequities. The ability to broadcast information online has allowed the dissemination of information without censorship, while the ability to find information online has enlightened and empowered women, sometimes in life-enhancing ways, such as when they find critical health information online. Online, women have created community and social support. Communication patterns also are being altered online, allowing freer expression. Online anonymity and lack of face to face (ftf) interactions frees individuals of social and physical restraints, and has allowed women to express parts of themselves that they might not otherwise in a safe environment, enabling them to explore new identities, heal inner wounds, and express sexuality. The Internet opens up new possibilities for women of social, political, and economic power. However, the impact of the Internet for women is not all positive. The Internet also has created and amplified problems for women. Women have been targets of online oppression, harassment, and some have become real-life victims because of their online participation and/or activism. There is a wealth of misinformation as well as information online, and it can be difficult to distinguish the validity of that information. Regardless of gender, users need tools to evaluate that information. Online groups can create support for deviant and undesirable behavior, and can legitimatize hostile, inappropriate, or dangerous behavior, some directed explicitly at women. Online sexuality may be liberating for many women, but there is much sexual harassment online. Pornography has proliferated online, much objectifying and victimizing women and girls. The same conditions that create healthy free expression and exploration of self online (anonymity, lack of ftf contact, lack of physical and social restraints) also can foster uncensored hostility such as flaming and harassment, creating an uncomfortable or hostile environment for both men and women. Females may be particularly affected by hostile climates because of gendered communication styles and expectations. Online communication patterns may amplify gender differences and miscommunication. Power is not distributed equally online, and women worldwide have been last to come online; these may amplify rather than diminish existing gender social, political and economic inequities in the Digital Age. Promise and peril: the Internet has brought both to women. The promise of the Internet to enrich women’s lives is being fulfilled, but perils exist as well. These two themes resonate throughout this issue. As special editor of this issue, I was struck by the consistency of these themes in the articles, which otherwise were unified only by their focus on women. The Internet is not inherently good or bad although sometimes people have characterized it as one or the other. Dichotomous, either/or arguments do not do justice to our understanding of how the Internet is impacting our lives. This issue highlights that the Internet has been a