WHEN MEN TURN VICTIMS AND WOMEN THE OFFENDERS

http://www.cybervictims.edu.tf/

Many times I get to see women complaining about harassments in the cyber space where the main offender is generally a man/group of men. How about thinking it in the opposite way?  Surprising? Well, not always… women too play parts of offenders to tease and harass men; however, the impact may not be that deeper like in cases of men harassing women, but it is neither “never happened before” case. While I was going through some newsletters, I came across several cases where women are booked for harassing men. Men also fall victims of cyber stalking or defamation or even bullying, hacking and economic crimes and the offender may not be men always.  But probably men do not care to report such incidences unless it is becoming “too much”. For example, women fans often become obsessed with male cine stars /tv actors/players and the truth “pen is mightier than the sword” still plays good when an obsessed female fan tries to reach her hero by hook or crook. Well, I pick up celebs just to give an example. I know many of you male readers are giving mischievous grins as you read this, but this is also a hard truth that cyber behaviors such as being an obsessive stalker or bully or using harsh language/ false statements  in the internet for defaming  some one is very much common for both men and women. Well, the law remains the same when the victim cries for justice and blind towards pleas like “I am woman, spare with me” while awarding the sentence. Hence men and women both should be careful for using internet. Gentlemen, do not always get carried  away by ladies, better have a safe distance ……..Ladies, do not push yourselves towards the extreme steps of becoming ‘accused’….remember you set an example to others.

A Note to readers: Please do not violate the copyright issues  of this blog .If you would like to use informations provided in this blog for your own assignment/writeup/project/blog/article, please cite it as “Halder D. (March 2010), “When men turn victims  and women the offenders”, March 2010, published in http://cybervictims.blogspot.com

WHAT IS CYBER BULLYING

http://www.cybervictims.edu.tf/

No no, I am not going into typical definitions created by stalwarts. Rather I would like my readers to understand in a very simple manner…….. This is actually filthy verbal fights by a single individual or groups of individuals, targeting one or many, which is expressed in a written manner and posted either by emails, blogs or in the message boards , personal scrap books or even in the community walls. But remember, to get framed as “cyber bullying” , the online “fights” must be showing individual’s names, name callings and they must be with such *impact* that the targeted person feels irritated, embarrassed ,ashamed of himself and even traumatized. The bully some times even uses “smilies” showing teasing faces, grumpy faces or even angry faces to decorate his “speech”. Contrary to the old ideas , cyber bullying is done to the adult as well as young victims as well. Readers must be remembering the famous Bombay Scottish school kids who used internet perfectly to let teachers know that they are no more traditional docile students who would take strict disciplines like their fathers and forefathers. This was the shocking example of how kids use the technology to express their hidden anger. This happened couple of years back and now this has become a very common phenomena to use the emails, social sites and blogs to bully people. Using of harsh, teasing words , mocking at people and even inviting others to comment on one’s own ideas about the victim are all component parts of bully. As a researcher, I found most of the online bullying behavior starts with some sorts of discussions with heated debates. Then the angered person starts bombarding the victim with abusive words. If these people do not know each other “so well” but are just “group mates”, the bullying becomes confined only within the community wall and personal message board. How ever, in exceptional cases, the angered person has also taken the extreme step to humiliate his victim by mailing him personally with bullying words or even opening a separate blog to bully him in front of wider audience. Hugh……..man, you must know, by the time you are three or “posts” old, like minded people do not only hate your target, but even you are being projected as a hate monger. Many watch these online fights with great amusement. Those with mischievous plans, even start planning for bigger crimes like blackmailing the victim with informations that are being constantly published in the internet. I know an incidence where the bully first took part in discussions as to how to carry on social services by individuals (the “target” gave a little amount from her pocket money to a young boy who was an ailing patient of genetic disorders but wanted to carry on his studies), and finally decided to take the case as high as to the level of disproportionate wealth cases. Several people were supporting the HUMAN BEING who wanted to help the child ; some were of the opinion that such helps must be done through proper organizations. Ultimately it turned out to be an ugly verbal (written) exchange of words.

Isn’t it “funny” watching adults fighting like kids? While children are constantly told to not to use internet for fighting purpose, who will tie the bell to the grown ups?