The International Journal of Trolling and Online Participation 2(1)

Editorial for the Special Issue on Sex and Equality

Jonathan Bishop1
Abstract: This special issue on Sex and Equality brings
together a number of papers looking at how sex and gender
interact with equality in the digital age.
Keywords: Creepshots, voyeurism, fetishism, UK Law,
Internet trolling, communications law, feminism, misandry,
Google Glass, augmented reality, virtual reality, Stella Creasy,
Caroline Criado-Perez, Gillian Douglas.

Introduction
Kristen Colbecks paper looks at the use of creepshots on the Internet,
which are photographs taken in public spaces that are intended to
humiliate the person being photographed. Colbeck looks at this from the
point of view of women, but men can equally be victims of misuse of
photographic imagery of them. The UK Government recently introduce
laws to ban porn revenge the posting of sexual images or videos to the
Internet that were intended to be private. In terms of creepshots,
however, they are taken in public places where in most jurisdictions so
long as they are not used for commercial purposes there is no need to
obtain the consent of the person in the photograph to use it on social
media, or even as part of news reporting or critical comment. Colbeck
sees creepshots as voyeurism and fetishism. Under UK law, however,
voyeurism has to include the creation of images or video using an
apparatus in a private space, whereas creepshots are made in public.
Colbeck argues that these creepshots seek to disempower women, yet
does not consider that commercial advertising also seeks to portray men
in an unfavourable light. As prosthetic technologies take off, such as
augmented reality devices akin to Google Glass and immersive reality
devices like those one can buy for ones smartphone for as little as $20

Centre for Research into Online Communities and E-Learning Systems, jonathan@jonathanbishop.com

Special Issue on Sex and Equality

(15), so the capturing to video for use that might not be acceptable to
the person being videoed will become the norm. It is no doubt under UK
law that the capturing of video through such devices in a private space
will be protected by laws on porn revenge and voyeurism, as well as laws
prohibiting the display of indecent imagery in public. However, life may
become difficult for photographers, either professionals or hobbists, if
the law is changed so they need to obtain consent for all images they
capture containing at least one person. The issues that Colbeck speaks
about perceived sexism against women will no doubt be at the front
of the minds of radical feminists like Caroline Criado-Perez and Jess
Phillips MP, who will be calling for laws to prevent any form of criticism
of men, especially if those men are in their 20s.
This takes one on to my paper in this special issue. In this article I look at
representations of trolling on third-party news websites as well as one I
created on the Crocels News website about Stella Creasy MP, who is
another radical feminist with a misandrist agenda. The third party articles
demonised young men as trolls, whereas mine presented a similar
demonization of Stella Creasy MP, conveying her as a slut. To see how
these articles were perceived in reality, I interviewed a middle aged reader
of the Daily Mail, whom I call Person R. I found that intended messages
in the news articles were picked up by the interviewee, but they did not
necessarily accept them as their version of the truth. It might therefore
been that the sexism Colbeck perceived in creepshots are there, but those
consuming them may not necessarily agree with them, even if they
understand the intention behind them.
This brings us onto Caroline Criado-Perezs book, Do It Like A
Woman, which is reviewed by Jeremy McDonagh. McDonagh points out
that in writing this book, Criado-Perez tried not to write from a firstperson perspective, which might be her way to try to portray the book as
objective, even though she appears to lack any form of rationality in her
television interviews. McDonagh points out that despite such subterfuge,
the personal experiences that led her to write that book are morphed with
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The International Journal of Trolling and Online Participation 2(1)

a collection of stories from over 25 different sources, in order it would
seem to try to persuade people that she is not a misandrist, but someone
who has legitimate concerns about how women who can be seen to be
incompetent like her, such as Jess Phillips MP, should be entitled to a
greater crack of the whip than any man in existence, even those that on
merit would far exceed the level of competence she is able to demonstrate.
In the final article in this special issue, I review a book called Bromleys
Family Law, which is edited by a feminist called Gillian Douglas. Douglas
was awarded a higher doctorate in law for a series of publications that on
the whole lacked peer review, including books she wrote and papers in
journals she edited. Douglas was criticized by her colleagues as being
unsuitable to hold a position as chair of the law panel during the United
Kingdoms research excellence framework (REF), but has gone on record
as saying this qualified her to examine doctorates in technology, even
though she has no competence in this area. This is a major concern I
highlighted in my review of her book. Douglas claims it is an updated
edition, yet there is no mention of the impact the Internet and cyberspace
has had on family law anywhere in the book. Douglas has gone on record
to say that the French concept of blessure has no place in English law
and anyone who thinks otherwise has no right to be an expert in this area,
she identifies as having competence in. However, bleasure the English
translation of blessure is an essential principle to consider in
understanding the impact of Internet trolling. Caroline Criado-Perez said
she had lasting effects from being trolled on Twitter the concept of
blessure is a perfect term to describe the long term effects trolling had on
her, as bleasure refers to a permanent injury one person (i.e. a troll) causes
to another (i.e. the person being trolled). One should therefore question
why anyone would engage Gillian Douglas to examine a doctorate in
technology, as understanding the Internet is clearly outside her comfort
zone. Douglas is a former Head of the Cardiff Law School and one might
suggest that management might be more her forte than academia. If
Douglass colleagues in law are willing to publicly question her ability to
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assess academic research in law, then it might be best she leave
understanding technology to those who are actually experts in the field.

Conclusion
This special issue makes an important contribution to the debate about
how gender, sex and equality are manifested online. The articles consider
the impacts imagery has on both sexes, whether the existence of
creepshots through or the way images are used by the media to convey a
particular point of view. The book reviews look at the adequacy of present
literature for understanding sex and equality in the digital age. Whilst some
feminists claim they are equal to men, it would appear the reason they feel
the need to identify as feminists masks their inadequacies as human
beings, and so they need to find someone to blame, and unfortunately for
men they are their targets.

Documentation
Douglas, Gillian. (2011). The relationship between family law and social
change. Higher Doctorate in Law Thesis. Online via the British Library
at: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?did=1&uin=uk.bl.ethos.675676
Douglas, Gillian (2015). Academic profile on the Cardiff University
website at: http://www.law.cf.ac.uk/contactsandpeople/douglasg
Jump, Paul (2011). Nominee: 'secret soundings' decided REF subpanel
chair. Times Higher Education Supplement. Available online at:
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/nominee-secretsoundings-decided-ref-subpanel-chair/415063.article