‘It Feels Like a Mini Victory’: Alternative Routes to Justice in Experiences of Online Misogyny.

A developing and evolving body of academic work is examining women’s experiences of online misogyny: aggressive, threatening or offensive communications and behaviours directed at women and affecting their participation in online spaces. Responses to experiencing this abuse are varied, and categorized by Jane (2017) into ‘fight and flight’. Using and developing this taxonomical approach, this chapter will examine some of the approaches which women use to deal with online abuse. Whilst a traditional understanding of justice is one which involves engagement with formal reporting systems, such as reports to the criminal justice system and complaints to social media companies, this is not always an approach that is seen as viable for women facing online abuse. Instead, alternative routes to justice have been sought and used, and these will be the focus of this chapter. Such approaches include engagement with the perpetrators of abuse, forms of activism, and moderation of community spaces. The chapter presents an overview of the literature in this area, discussion of fight responses from the author’s own data, and examples of activism discussed online.