:: netwoman's blog ::

Internet Communication and Harassment

For the second time in six months, another friend of mine called to tell me about a terrible email from a student. The first situation happened to a friend of mine in the US, where a student harassed her via email and tried to convince of her of how terrible she was at teaching. She was the instructor for the course.

This time, it has happened to a friend of mine here in Canada, she is the head Teaching Assisstant for an undergraduate course.

What do these two friends have in common? They are women.

My Canadian friend posted instructions to the class list serv about what to do for upcoming tutorials - basically to make sure the students were prepared for discussion and not lecturing. She received an email from a male student telling her to F*** off and who the hell did she think she was. He signed the email with a happy 'cheers'.

Needless to say, she is beside herself, upset and concerned about her safety.

There are two issues here. The first, the continual sexist harassment that young male students direct towards female academics, and the convenience of internet communication to express these sexist sentiments.

What is it about internet communication that leads people to believe that they can say anything to another person? Do people think that there are no implications of such actions? Do people forget that there is another 'real' person on the other end of the email?

Why do female faculty members (Teaching Assistants, Lecturers and Professors) need to be subjected to this harassment by male students? Why do female faculty need to justify or prove their skills twice as much as male faculty? Why are the views of female faculty continually challenged by students or deemed less worthy than male faculty?
Why does a male graduate students think that it is ok to email a female teaching assistant, spew profanity at her and challenge her authority in the course?

Interestingly enough, the course's focus right now is sexuality; heterosexual priviledge and they just finished a discussion of feminist perspectives on deviance and crime. Needless to say, the discussions concerning feminism created much resistance and negativity in the class. Men just don't want to talk about it.

What is all about? It is about power.

The intent of this male student was not to actively debate the material or engage with the content or issues in an analytical way - but to simple demoralize and oppress the female teaching assistant. Why didn't the student just choose not to go to tutorial (no participation grades awarded)? Why didn't the student approach the professor about any concerns regarding the course or content - oh wait, the professor is female too. Hmm. Instead, this male undergraduate student chose to attack and harass the lead female teaching assistant, to put her in her place - to impose his male power upon her.

I am sure that this is happening in many other universities. If this happens to you, or someone you know, here is what to do:

*First of all, try not take the insults personally - the intent is to make you feel less than worthy. Don't give them the satisfaction.
*Don't ignore the assault. Don't delete the email from your Inbox and make sure you print it off. If the email address comes from a Hotmail or Yahoo account, your IT services can use a "Stop It" and locate the IP address that the email came from.
*Call your Sexual Harassment or Equity Issues office immediately to report the incident
*Call your IT services department
*Contact the department chair and the Dean - and the course instructor if you are a TA
*Contact Campus Police to document the incident. You should especially do this if you are concerned for your safety
*Contact your local police authorities if you feel threatened or afraid for your safety
*If the email has been forged - It is also a violation of the Canadian Criminal Code to use someone else's name or computer userid to impersonate them in sending e-mail. Students should be aware that the Canadian Criminal Code applies to e-mail, and that violations can be turned over to the local police for investigation.
*Stay calm, get your support network and talk about the incident. You are not alone.

Don't question your initial reaction to the post - if you are upset or scared, there is probably good reason. You are probably asking yourself - IS IT HARASSMENT? Yes!
Harrassment is defined as vexatious conduct or comment that is known or ought reasonably to be known as unwelcome.
Ask yourself these questions:
1. Did the incident cause stress that affected your ability, or the ability of others, to work or study?
2. Was it unwelcome behavior?
3. Would a reasonable person of your gender/race/religion/sexual orientation subjected to this behavior find it unacceptable?

These students need to understand that this behaviour is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Internet communication is not to be used to intimidate and harass women, and that there are sanctions for these actions.

posted by Netwoman @ 11:31 PM