Violence against Women in the Age of Digital Reproduction

The new phenomena of online violence against women - made possible by new technologies and social media (revenge-porn, sexting, doxxing, sextortion, etc.) - are not only a new piece of the already diversified VAW (Violence Against Women) puzzle, but also a challenge in view of a more accurate understanding of these phenomena and more effective policies and interventions (legal, social and educational) in post-democratic societies. Particularly in contexts characterized by a strong reduction of the gender gap and a high level of technological advancement, VAW takes forms so "original" that legislation (law) and policies are unprepared to deal with them. One of the reasons of this difficulty is also that often the theoretical models developed by scholars (sociologists, criminologists, psychologists) find it hard to conceptualize "new" phenomena in the framework of a hypothetical overcoming of an "ancient" problem (such as that of VAW) which is supposed to be outdated in post-traditional societies. This paper intends to offer a VAW analysis focused on new forms of online violence (including cyber-bullying with a sexual background) in order to grasp elements of continuity and discontinuity with traditional forms, investigating both their specific phenomenology and the crucial nexus between technology, violence and the imaginary, with its particular implications in terms of socialization.