Islamic vigilantism and women in social media

Authors

Md. Sayeed Al Zaman, Department of Journalism and Media Studies, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Keywords

Islam, vigilantism, women, social media, Bangladesh

Document Type

Article

Abstract

In Bangladesh, the number of cyber-citizens has been skyrocketing since the 2010s. Violence against women is also proliferating along with the presence of Islam in public spheres and discourses. Using thematic analysis, this study analyzes the discourse data collected from Facebook, the dominant social media of Bangladesh. The key aim of the research is to find out the bedrock of Islamic vigilantism and verbal aggressiveness against women in social media. Subsequently, three interlinked themes have been explored: women's religiosity, women's attire, and women's virtue. The findings have shown that men mainly capitalize on these three conventional and stereotyped ideas of popular Islam to conduct vigilantism against women in social media, which is most often accompanied by different types of verbal aggressiveness. Further, this study considering deep-rooted misogyny and patriarchy in Bangladesh society argues that these factors might have contributed to directing online vigilantism against women. As little research has been done in this area, this research study would lead to further researches in this area.

First Page

65

Last Page

92

Page Range

65-92

Issue

1

Volume

51

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.21831/informasi.v51i1.38170

Source

38170

Recommended Citation

Zaman, M. S. (2021). Islamic vigilantism and women in social media. Informasi, 51(1), 65-92. https://doi.org/10.21831/informasi.v51i1.38170

References

Ahmad, M. (2005, August 31). "Veiled" moral policing in J&K. Rediff. https://www.rediff.com/news/2005/aug/30veil.htm

Aichner, T., & Jacob, F. (2015). Measuring the degree of corporate social media use. International Journal of Market Research, 57(2), 257-276. https://doi.org/10.2501/IJMR-2015-018

Al-Saggaf, Y. (2006). The online public sphere in the Arab world: The war in Iraq on the Al Arabiya website. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(1), 311-334. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2006.00327.x

Al-Zaman, Md. S. (2019). Digital disinformation and communalism in Bangladesh. China Media Research, 15(2), 68-76.

Anderson, C. M., & Martin, M. M. (1999). The relationship of argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness to cohesion, consensus, and satisfaction in small groups. Communication Reports, 12(1), 21-31. https://doi.org/10.1080/08934219909367705

Anderson, C. M., & Rancer, A. S. (2007). The relationship between argumentativeness, verbal aggressiveness, and communication satisfaction in incarcerated male youth. The Prison Journal, 87(3), 328-343. https://doi.org/10.1177/0032885507304433

Ayres, L. (2008). Thematic coding and analysis. In The SAGE Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods (pp. 868-868). SAGE Publications, Inc. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412963909

Azad, H. (2004). Women (3rd ed.). Agamee Prakashani.

Baldauf, H., Develotte, C., & Ollagnier-Beldame, M. (2017). The effects of social media on the dynamics of identity: Discourse, interaction and digital traces. Alsic. Apprentissage Des Langues et Systèmes d'Information et de Communication, Vol. 20, n° 1. http://journals.openedition.org/alsic/3004

Banerjee, T. (2019, August 19). Kolkata: Moral policing victim records statement before women's commission. The Times of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/kolkata-moral-policing-victim-records-statement-before-womens-commission/articleshow/70610921.cms

Barkat, A. (2018). Fundamentalism in Bangladesh: External and internal dimensions of the political economy of militancy. Muktobuddhi Publisher.

Barlas, A. (2019). Believing women in Islam: Unreading patriarchal interpretations of the Qur'an. University of Texas Press.

BBC News. (2019, April 7). Story of "Ga gheshe daraben na." BBC News Bangla. https://www.bbc.com/bengali/news-47843402

Bekiari, A., & Pachi, V. (2017). Insights into bullying and verbal aggressiveness through social network analysis. Journal of Computer and Communications, 5(9), 79-101. https://doi.org/10.4236/jcc.2017.59006

Bordens, K. S., & Abbott, B. B. (2017). Research design and methods: A process approach (10th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.

Bowman, N. D. (2013). Media as a reflection of society. In Encyclopedia of Media Violence (pp. 234-235). SAGE Publications, Inc. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452299655

Boyatzis, R. E. (1998). Transforming qualitative information: Thematic analysis and code development. Sage Publications, Inc.

Braun, V. (2013). Successful qualitative research: A practical guide for beginners. Sage Publications.

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

Brown, W. R. (1978). Ideology as communication process. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 64(2), 123-140. https://doi.org/10.1080/00335637809383420

BTRC. (2019). Internet subscribers in Bangladesh [Statistics]. Government of the people's Republic of Bangladesh. http://www.btrc.gov.bd/content/internet-subscribers-bangladesh-june-2019

Carey, J. W. (2008). Communication as culture, revised edition: Essays on Media and Society. Routledge.

Chaity, A. J. (2017, November 8). Is Bangladesh really closing gender gap? Dhaka Tribune. https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2017/11/08/bangladesh-really-closing-gender-gap

Chaity, A. J. (2018, July 11). Women empowerment: Bangladesh sets example for the world. Dhaka Tribune. https://www.dhakatribune.com/opinion/special/2018/07/12/women-empowerment-bangladesh-sets-example-for-the-world

Chang, L. Y. C., & Poon, R. (2017). Internet vigilantism: Attitudes and experiences of university students toward cyber crowdsourcing in Hong Kong. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 61(16), 1912-1932. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X16639037

Chowdhury, F. D. (2009). Theorising patriarchy: The Bangladesh context. Asian Journal of Social Science, 37(4), 599-622. https://doi.org/10.1163/156853109X460200

Cops didn't trip, lovers were target"”Operation Majnu: Crackdown on couples, not eve-teasers. (2005, December 21). The Telegraph. https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/cops-didn-t-trip-lovers-were-target-operation-majnu-crackdown-on-couples-not-eve-teasers/cid/831756

Dahlberg, L. (2001). Computer-mediated communication and the public sphere: A critical analysis. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2001.tb00137.x

Devine, J., & White, S. C. (2013). Religion, politics and the everyday moral order in Bangladesh. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 43(1), 127-147. https://doi.org/10.1080/00472336.2012.735544

Douki, S., Nacef, F., Belhadj, A., Bouasker, A., & Ghachem, R. (2003). Violence against women in Arab and Islamic countries. Archives of Women's Mental Health, 6(3), 165-171. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-003-0170-x

Esfandiari, H. (1997). Reconstructed lives: Women and Iran's Islamic Revolution. Woodrow Wilson Center Press.

Foucault, B., & Melican, J. (2007). The digital and the divine: Taking a ritual view of communication and ICT interaction. In N. Aykin (Ed.), Usability and Internationalization. HCI and Culture (pp. 74-82). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

Frey, B. B. (2018). Johari Window. In The SAGE Encyclopedia of Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation. SAGE Publications, Inc. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781506326139.n363

Gaffney, P. D. (1992). Popular Islam. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 524(1), 38-51. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716292524001004

Ging, D., & Siapera, E. (2018). Special issue on online misogyny. Feminist Media Studies, 18(4), 515-524. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2018.1447345

Hasan, M. M. (2012). Feminism as Islamophobia: A review of misogyny charges against Islam. Intellectual Discourse, 20(1). https://journals.iium.edu.my/intdiscourse/index.php/islam/article/view/192

Hashmi, T. (2000). Women and Islam in Bangladesh: Beyond subjection and tyranny. Palgrave Macmillan. https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9780333749593

Herold, D. K. (2008). Development of a civic society online? : Internet vigilantism and state control in Chinese cyberspace. http://ira.lib.polyu.edu.hk/handle/10397/4434

Hodkinson, P. (2010). Media, culture and society: An introduction. Sage Publications.

Holliday, A. (2010). Intercultural communication & ideology: SAGE Publications. SAGE.

Houser, M. L. (2005). Are we violating their expectations? Instructor communication expectations of traditional and nontraditional students. Communication Quarterly, 53(2), 213-228. https://doi.org/10.1080/01463370500090332

Huntington, S. P. (2007). The clash of civilizations and the remaking of world order. Simon and Schuster.

India's moral police declare war on decadence. (2006, November 11). The Age. https://www.theage.com.au/world/indias-moral-police-declare-war-on-decadence-20061111-ge3jot.html

Infante, D. A. (1987). Aggressiveness. In McCroskey, J. C. & Daly, J. A. (Eds.), Personality and interpersonal communication (pp. 157-192). SAGE Publications.

Infante, D. A., & Rancer, A. S. (1996). Argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness: A review of recent theory and research. Annals of the International Communication Association, 19(1), 319-352. https://doi.org/10.1080/23808985.1996.11678934

Infante, D. A., Riddle, B. L., Horvath, C. L., & Tumlin, S. A. (1992). Verbal aggressiveness: Messages and reasons. Communication Quarterly, 40(2), 116-126. https://doi.org/10.1080/01463379209369827

Infante, D. A., & Wigley, C. J. (1986). Verbal aggressiveness: An interpersonal model and measure. Communication Monographs, 53(1), 61-69. https://doi.org/10.1080/03637758609376126

Islam, Md. N., & Islam, Md. S. (2018). Politics and Islamic revivalism in Bangladesh: The role of state and non-state actors. Politics, Religion and Ideology. https://doi.org/10.1080/21567689.2018.1493382

Jane, E. A. (2014a). "˜Back to the kitchen, cunt': Speaking the unspeakable about online misogyny. Continuum, 28(4), 558-570. https://doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2014.924479

Jane, E. A. (2014b). "You're a Ugly, Whorish, Slut." Feminist Media Studies, 14(4), 531-546. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2012.741073

Jane, E. A. (2016). Online misogyny and feminist digilantism. Continuum, 30(3), 284-297. https://doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2016.1166560

Jane, E. A. (2017a). Misogyny online: A short (and Brutish) history. Sage Publications.

Jane, E. A. (2017b). Feminist digilante responses to a slut-shaming on Facebook. Social Media + Society, 3(2), 2056305117705996. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305117705996

Johnston, L. (1996). What is vigilantism? The British Journal of Criminology, 36(2), 220-236. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.bjc.a014083

Klang, M. (2015). On the internet nobody can see your cape: The ethics of online vigilantism. AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research, 5. https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/spir/article/view/8766

Kosseff, J. (2016). The hazards of cyber-vigilantism. Computer Law & Security Review, 32(4), 642-649. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clsr.2016.05.008

Lewis, D. (2011). Bangladesh: Politics, economy and civil society. Cambridge University Press.

Littlejohn, S. W., & Foss, K. A. (2009). Encyclopedia of communication theory. SAGE Publications.

Mannan, P. Md. A. (2011). Grameen Nari (Rural Women). Abosar Prokashoni.

Manne, K. (2018). Down girl: The logic of misogyny. Oxford University Press.

Marlow, I. (2019, February 20). Cow vigilantes in India killed at least 44 People, report finds. Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-20/cow-vigilantes-in-india-killed-at-least-44-people-report-finds

Martin, M. M., & Anderson, C. M. (2007). Argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 11(3), 547-554.

Moloney, M. E., & Love, T. P. (2018). Assessing online misogyny: Perspectives from sociology and feminist media studies. Sociology Compass, 12(5), e12577. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12577

Momin, S. M. (2019, April 12). Making public transport safe for women. The Independent. http://www.theindependentbd.com/printversion/details/195442

Monitoring, B. B. C. (2016, April 22). Who are Islamic "morality police"? BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36101150

Moral police runs riot in capital. (2010, February 15). The Telegraph. https://www.telegraphindia.com/states/jharkhand/moral-police-runs-riot-in-capital/cid/548965

Mudhai, O., Tettey, W., & Banda, F. (2009). African media and the digital public sphere. Springer.

Mumby, D. K. (1989). Ideology & the social construction of meaning: A communication perspective. Communication Quarterly, 37(4), 291-304. https://doi.org/10.1080/01463378909385551

Murshid, G. (2006). Bengali culture of thousand years. Oboshor Publication.

Nandi, J. (2013, February 5). Art attack: Moral police threaten nudes exhibition. The Times of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Art-attack-Moral-police-threaten-nudes-exhibition/articleshow/18342297.cms

Nanjappa, V. (2009, January 26). "Moral police" attack Mangalore pub. Rediff. https://www.rediff.com/news/2009/jan/26sri-ram-sena-attacks-mangalore-pub.htm

Nhan, J., Huey, L., & Broll, R. (2017). Digilantism: An analysis of crowdsourcing and the Boston marathon bombings. The British Journal of Criminology, 57(2), 341-361. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azv118

Ovi, S. (2018, May 1). A brief history of native costume. Weekly Mohinilok, 26(1), 20-26.

Ozdalga, E. (2013). The veiling issue, official secularism and popular Islam in modern Turkey. Routledge.

Papacharissi, Z. (2002). The virtual sphere: The internet as a public sphere. New Media & Society, 4(1), 9-27. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614440222226244

Parent, M. C., Gobble, T. D., & Rochlen, A. (2019). Social media behavior, toxic masculinity, and depression. Psychology of Men & Masculinities, 20(3), 277-287. https://doi.org/10.1037/men0000156

Plant, S. (2000). On the matrix: Cyberfeminist simulations. In Kennedy, B. M. & Bell, D. (Eds.), The Cybercultures Reader (pp. 325-336). Routledge.

Poor, N. (2005). Mechanisms of an online public sphere: The website slashdot. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 10(2). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2005.tb00241.x

Prins, C. (2010). The online dimension of recognised victims' rights. Computer Law & Security Review, 26(2), 219-221. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clsr.2010.01.005

PTI. (2017, December 11). Only 29% female Internet users in India: UNICEF report. The Economic Times. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/internet/only-29-female-internet-users-in-india-unicef-report/articleshow/62027590.cms

Ramazani, N. (1993). Women in Iran: The revolutionary ebb and flow. Middle East Journal, 47(3), 409-428. JSTOR.

Riaz, A. (2016). Bangladesh: A political history since independence (Sew edition). I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd.

Riaz, A. (2017). Lived Islam and Islamism in Bangladesh. Prothoma Prokashan.

Rieder, B. (2013). Studying facebook via data extraction: The netvizz application. Proceedings of the 5th Annual ACM Web Science Conference, 346-355. https://doi.org/10.1145/2464464.2464475

Rosenbaum, H. J., & Sederberg, P. C. (1974). Vigilantism: An analysis of establishment wiolence. Comparative Politics, 6(4), 541-570. JSTOR. https://doi.org/10.2307/421337

Roulston, K. (2001). Data analysis and "˜theorizing as ideology.' Qualitative Research, 1(3), 279-302. https://doi.org/10.1177/146879410100100302

Ruiz, C., Domingo, D., Micó, J. L., Díaz-Noci, J., Meso, K., & Masip, P. (2011). Public sphere 2.0? The democratic qualities of citizen debates in online newspapers. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 16(4), 463-487. https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161211415849

Saadawi, N. E. (2015). The hidden face of eve: Women in the Arab world. Zed Books Ltd.

Saikal, A. (2000). "˜Islam and the West'? In G. Fry & J. O'Hagan (Eds.), Contending images of world politics (pp. 164-177). Macmillan Education UK. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-333-98553-3_12

Saikal, A. (2003). Islam and the West: Conflict or cooperation? Palgrave Macmillan.

Samant, A. S. (2009, February 7). (Im)moral policing. Zee News. https://zeenews.india.com/exclusive/immoral-policing_2223.html

Schäfer, M. S. (2016). Digital public sphere. In The International Encyclopedia of Political Communication (pp. 1-7). American Cancer Society. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118541555.wbiepc087

Schendel, W. V. (2009). A history of Bangladesh. Cambridge University Press.

Schilder, K. (1990). Popular Islam in Tunisia: A regional cults analysis. 44. https://www.africabib.org/rec.php?RID=079961630

Schuler, S. R., Hashemi, S. M., Riley, A. P., & Akhter, S. (1996). Credit programs, patriarchy and men's violence against women in rural Bangladesh. Social Science & Medicine, 43(12), 1729-1742. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-9536(96)00068-8

Schwarz, K. C., & Richey, L. A. (2019). Humanitarian humor, digilantism, and the dilemmas of representing volunteer tourism on social media. New Media & Society, 21(9), 1928-1946. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819834509

Sculos, B. (2017). Who's Afraid of "˜Toxic Masculinity'? Class, Race and Corporate Power, 5(3). https://doi.org/10.25148/CRCP.5.3.006517

Smallridge, J., Philip, W., & Justin, N. C. (2016). Understanding cyber-vigilantism: A conceptual framework. Journal of Theoretical & Philosophical Criminology, 8(1), 57-70.

Social Media Stats Bangladesh. (2019, May). Stat Counter. http://gs.statcounter.com/social-media-stats/all/bangladesh

Social Media Stats Bangladesh. (2019, May). Stat Counter. http://gs.statcounter.com/social-media-stats/all/bangladesh

Srivastava, K., Chaudhury, S., Bhat, P. S., & Sahu, S. (2017). Misogyny, feminism, and sexual harassment. Industrial Psychiatry Journal, 26(2), 111-113. https://doi.org/10.4103/ipj.ipj_32_18

Sultana, A. (2010). Patriarchy and women's subordination: A theoretical analysis. Arts Faculty Journal, 4(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.3329/afj.v4i0.12929

Terry, G., Hayfield, N., Clarke, V., & Braun, V. (2017). Thematic analysis. In Willig, C. & Rogers, W. S. (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of qualitative research in psychology (pp. 17-36). Sage Publication. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526405555.n2

Topel, M. F. (2012). Jewish orthodoxy and its discontents: Religious dissidence in contemporary Israel. Rowman & Littlefield.

Trottier, D. (2017). Digital vigilantism as weaponisation of visibility. Philosophy & Technology, 30(1), 55-72. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-016-0216-4

Uddin, S. M. (2006). Constructing Bangladesh: Religion, ethnicity, and language in an Islamic nation. The University of North Carolina Press.

Vaismoradi, M., Turunen, H., & Bondas, T. (2013). Content analysis and thematic analysis: Implications for conducting a qualitative descriptive study. Nursing & Health Sciences, 15(3), 398-405. https://doi.org/10.1111/nhs.12048

Waardenburg, J. (1985). Islam as a vehicle of protest. In E. Gellner (Ed.), Islamic dilemmas: Reformers, nationalists, industrialization: The Southern Shore of the Mediterranean (Vol. 25). Mouton.

Wajcman, J. (2010). Feminist theories of technology. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 34(1), 143-152. https://doi.org/10.1093/cje/ben057

Why India needs women to work. (2018, July 5). The Economist. https://www.economist.com/leaders/2018/07/05/why-india-needs-women-to-work

Wilk, A. van der. (2018). Cyber violence and hate speech online against women (Research PE 604.979). European Union. https://publications.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/1ccedce6-c5ed-11e8-9424-01aa75ed71a1/language-en/format-PDF/source-77711773

Wood, J. T. (2010). Gendered lives: Communication, gender and culture. Cengage Learning.