Post-feminism, misogyny online, and depolitization of private

Abstract

This article problematizes the presuppositions of postfeminism in light of the observation that the opportunities for participation increasingly afforded by new technologies are not always in synchrony with the defence of democratic values. The architecture of the Net enables a certain degree of anonymity, facilitates disinhibition, the absence of civility as well as public intimacy. It thus legitimates a culture of misogyny which restages normative social structures, frequently under the guise of promoting an apparent emancipation.