Internet Not Fair To African Women

A South African digital media analyst and feminist, Mich Atagana, has said that the Internet is unfair to African women.

Atagana, who was once a journalist and lecturer, said this in an interview Punch.

She noted that the way some people responded to women on the Internet had been affected by a negative societal perception of the female sex existing on the digital space.

“Women in the society are expected to behave in a certain way and that has been transferred to the Internet. This has always been a problem, especially on the world stage,” she said.

Atagana said that women had been increasingly scrutinised online.

She singled out “revenge porn and slut shamming” as indications that women would continue to suffer unfair attacks on the Internet unless there is a change in public perception.

She said, “A study by the Pew Research Centre found that ‘young women between the ages of 18 and 24 experience harassment at disproportionately high levels’ with 26 per cent of them saying they have been stalked online. Among them, 25 per cent said they were targets of sexual harassment.

“A South African writer, Sian Ferguson, probably put it in the best perspective when she recently wrote: ‘I have only a handful of places on the Internet where I know I can be my true self without being disrespected, silenced or trolled.”

According to the woman who is now a brand manager, the unfair treatment meted out to females has defeated the primary principle of the Internet, which is the freedom of expression.

“The Internet was supposed to democratise all voices regardless of age, gender, race or belief. What has emerged since those days is a disturbing trend for this anonymity to be misused. Quite often, this abuse manifests as a tool to be used to provide a cover for some people to harass and threaten women for daring to give a frank opinion in an online forum,” she said.

Explaining the implication of this development, she said the society would breed a generation of women who would grow up nursing a low self-esteem.

She said, “Apart from humiliating the young women, it affects their self-esteem. They will live in a world where they have been painted as something else on the world stage. We seem to have entered a world where a culture of humiliation is okay. And no one is stopping it.

“Young girls are being taught to be ashamed and to keep quiet because the world will not defend them. All over the world, young girls are having their sexuality used as a weapon against them. This is tragic.”

Atagana, who currently works for Google South Africa, said many women had started dumping the Internet to avoid unwarranted harassment.

“We cannot escape the Internet. But more women are either choosing to leave or temper their expressions. It is hard to explore the full possibilities of the Internet, contribute to valid conversations, as well share your world when someone might use these things against you because of your gender.

-Punch

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This double-standardness is real. A man is free to say what ever he likes and acts as he wishes on the internet, but a woman is expected to act a certain way else she's attacked and called unprintable names?And some even add that she is married so should be careful,The men aint married?

People, please stop being unfair to women on the internet!

As for me as an African woman NOBODY can hold my hand or mouth,I say it and i move on *Hisssss!*