Perceptions of online harassment: ethnographical research of Myanmar university students

The rapid expansion of digital technology and internet connectivity in Myanmar over the past years has immensely transformed how people live, work, and interact, bringing various benefits to society. Despite these benefits, online harassment remains a severe and pervasive problem in the digital age. A few existing literature and studies on the Myanmar context suggest that young people, particularly young women, are subjected to online harassment. There is currently a lack of literature in Myanmar that investigates online harassment against young women through a gender lens. This study aims to fill this literature gap and examine the prevalence of online harassment experienced by young women in Myanmar and its impacts on their emotional well-being and online participation. Drawing on feminist theory and intersectionality, this study investigates how gendered power dynamics have influence on online harassment encounters of young women from diverse ethnicities and religions. The study employs a qualitative approach, conducting semi-structured, in-depth interviews with nine young women attending a private university in Myanmar to get unique insights into their experiences with online harassment. By using thematic analysis on the data, the findings reveal that young women faced various forms of online harassment, including online sexual harassment, receiving negative or offensive comments, and online impersonation. The results also show negative impacts on young women’s emotional well-being and online participation, resulting in severe emotional distress, feeling scared, helpless, and frustrated, leading to decreased online participation and self-censorship in digital spaces. Young women in the study experienced online harassment in a more gendered way, and these experiences are exacerbated by cultural and gender norms in Myanmar society, which reflect broader patterns of gender inequality and systemic sexism. By addressing the gap in existing literature and offering a comprehensive analysis of online harassment through a gender lens, this study contributes valuable insights to the existing body of literature on gender, digital technology, and development in the Myanmar context by offering evidence-based findings on how young women in Myanmar encountered various forms of online harassment and how it has adverse impacts on their emotional well-being and online participation. The potential measures suggested by the participants are crucial for policymakers, social media platforms, development practitioners and other relevant organizations to develop gender-sensitive approaches to policy interventions to effectively address the issue. The study highlights the urgent need to address and tackle the online harassment issue to create a safe and inclusive digital environment for all individuals.