Andrea Slane

Democracy, Social Space and the Internet

The article is a critical book review of Diana Sacos Cybering Democracy: Public Space and the Internet (2002). The author reviews the book as a springboard for exploring how public space has been discussed and contested in case law dealing with the Internet.

Economies of reputation: the case of revenge porn

ABSTRACT Revenge porn involves publicly releasing pictures of a person’s sexual activity, along with the means to contact that person, to provoke widespread shaming. This paper analyzes the US-based revenge porn website MyEx.com through discourse, legal, and information network analyses. The paper explores how revenge porn is not only an instance of online sexual violence rooted in abjection but also symptomatic of a new political economy of subjectivity, where both the human-based and the automated, algorithm-based circulation of personal information are at the center of processes through which the self is seen and valued, both socially and economically, by others.

Child Sexual Abuse Images Online: Confronting the Problem

This Special Issue stems from the international symposium, “Child Sexual Abuse Images Online: Confronting the Problem—Research, Policy, Practice,” which was held at Ryerson University in June 2014 with funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). The collection of papers in the Issue focus on child sexual abuse images online from the perspectives of childrens mental health, child protection, and law enforcement. The symposium brought together local and international academics, policymakers, child advocates, practitioners, law enforcement officers, child welfare workers, and other key stakeholders who assume various roles and responsibilities in responding to child sexual abuse. Over two days we shared knowledge, experiences, and insights related to the role of technology in child sexual abuse; specifically the implications of child sexual abuse images online. Through presentations, panel discussions, and round-table working group discussions, participants examined and shared current knowledge about child sexual abuse images online, identified key priorities, and determined critical strategies and vital next steps. The five articles in this Special Issue represent those cross-sectoral contributions. We thank the Editors of Child & Youth Services, Dr. Kiaras Gharabaghi and Dr. Ben Anderson-Nathe, for inviting us to develop a Special Issue for this journal based on the presentations made at the 2014 CSAIO Symposium. We also thank our external reviewers through whom all articles in this Issue were subjected to a rigorous blind peer review.

Legal Conceptions of Harm Related to Sexual Images Online in the United States and Canada

This article examines the history of legal discussion of the harms of child pornography possession and viewing in the United States and Canada, with special attention to the evolving conception of direct harms to children and youth pictured in these images. The article further addresses ongoing uncertainty about harms associated with images that do not record an instance of sexual abuse, but where the harm arises solely from non-consensual distribution of nude and/or sexual images. Achieving greater understanding and recognition of both the similarities and differences between the harms that arise from the “permanent record of abuse” and from ongoing circulation and use of images beyond the subjects control are necessary in order to equip both clinical and legal practitioners with the knowledge they need in order to provide appropriate support for victims of the varied forms of sexual abuse related to sexual image online.

Luring Lolita: The Age of Consent and the Burden of Responsibility for Online Luring

This article argues that sexual exploitation is the underlying harm that online luring offences should address, but that social anxieties about youth online sexuality have obscured this underlying harm. Through analyzing North American Internet safety materials and Canadian luring case law, the author finds that on the one hand risks of luring are generalized and on the other limited only to victims under the age of consent. The result is that very often older youth are made responsible for their own victimization, while younger ones are assumed to be victimized and hence denied avenues to sexual expression. By neglecting to analyze online interactions for the dynamics of exploitation, we do a disservice to older youths who are exploited while denying sexual autonomy to youth under the age of consent.