How online abuse and threats seek to silence women, and how women resist.
What is it to be a woman routinely targeted with online abuse and threats as part and parcel of her work as a journalist, politician or academic? What is it like to live surrounded by hostile surveillance and efforts to undermine your credibility, to erode your ability to carry out your work? What does it feel like when sexism, misogyny and/or racism is mobilized to intimidate, punish and silence you, to contain your ability to act, as if attempting to trap you within a glass cage?
Drawn from interviews with women in journalism, politics and academia who have first-hand experience of such issues, this exhibition explores how what happens online has many real-world effects. It invites us to consider how women may have broken through glass ceilings, but patriarchal and racist forces still seek to constrain our rights and freedoms. The strategies these women use to persist and resist in the face of such efforts offer guidance and inspiration in the ongoing struggle for women’s emancipation.
This exhibition is part of a Marsden Fund supported research project and we thank Te Apārangi The Royal Society for their assistance in making it possible to carry out this work. We acknowledge the generosity and courage of our participants in sharing their experiences with us. We use pseudonyms to protect their identity.
