Will the Real Digital Girl Please Stand Up? Examining the Gap Between Policy Dialogue and Girls’ Accounts of Their Digital Existence

Greg Wise & Hille Koskela (eds.) 'New Visualities, New Technologies: The New Ecstasy of Communication' (Ashgate Publishing: 2013)

Posted: 28 Aug 2013 Last revised: 24 May 2014

See all articles by Jane Bailey

Jane Bailey

University of Ottawa - Common Law Section

Valerie Steeves

University of Ottawa - Criminology

Date Written: 2013

Abstract

Many have suggested that online media would enhance girls' agency, empowering them to redefine the meaning of "girl" through their online performances. This paper examines social science findings with respect to girls' online experiences, with particular attention to the empowering benefits that girls report. It then examines two constraints on that performativity: commercialism and surveillance on websites targeting youth, and criminal policy dialogue relating to online issues (with a focus on Canada). With respect to commercialism, the authors argue that a sexualized surveillant gaze works to limit the empowering potential of online performance for girls who have incorporated online media into their social worlds. The authors further suggest that criminal policy dialogue has largely failed to disrupt that constraining gaze, in some cases ignoring it and in others uncritically incorporating its themes into the dialogue itself. As a result, policy responses tend to reinforce paradigms of surveillance and control over individual behaviour and responsibility (including of girls themselves), while leaving intact the business logics the promote media stereotypes and the commodification of girls' sexuality.

Keywords: online media, girls, empower, online experiences, women, benefits, commercialism, surveillance, websites, youth, criminal policy dialogue, Canada, sexualized, policy, behaviour, stereotypes, commodification, girls sexuality

Suggested Citation

Bailey, Jane and Steeves, Valerie, Will the Real Digital Girl Please Stand Up? Examining the Gap Between Policy Dialogue and Girls’ Accounts of Their Digital Existence (2013). Greg Wise & Hille Koskela (eds.) 'New Visualities, New Technologies: The New Ecstasy of Communication' (Ashgate Publishing: 2013), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2316907

Jane Bailey (Contact Author)

University of Ottawa - Common Law Section ( email )

57 Louis Pasteur Street
Ottawa, K1N 6N5
Canada
613-562-5800 ext. 2364 (Phone)
613-562-5124 (Fax)

Valerie Steeves

University of Ottawa - Criminology ( email )

25 University Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5
Canada
(613) 562-5800 ext. 1793 (Phone)
(613) 562-5304 (Fax)

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