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Stop Cyberbullying
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Preface ...7
Introduction ...9
are becoming more relevant day by day and new disciplines emerge as a
result of it. Since then the cyber world has penetrated ever more deeply
into our consciousness, being, and social fabric that it requires a re-thinking
and re-assessment of our evolving reality. In attempts to capture this
phenomenon concisely, people have now started the conversation on the
resort to suicide due to the weight of the bullying and the foreboding pain.
The perpetrators would carry on with their lives regardless.
making it very easy for them to cyberbully someone time and time again
while also not seeing any true consequence to their actions.
There are many ways that cyberbullying can manifest. The most
common form of cyberbullying would be sending someone a message
nature. For example, with just a number unknown to the receiver, you
could send a WhatsApp or SMS message to anyone, saying any number
of unpleasant things, as long as you have their number. Or if anonymity
is not a factor to the cyberbully, it can be just as easy for any cyberbully
to use his/her real account to send angry or hurtful messages over
Facebook or Twitter via private messaging and direct messaging. With
the internet or even mobile phones, it can be very easy to write something
nasty about someone for a wide audience, for instance, posting rumours,
insults, threats or embarrassing information on social media sites such
as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram etc. A lot of times, the cyberbully
would even be using a decoy or fake account to do the deed, which makes
The most they can reliably do is report the post in question to social media
moderators in hopes of getting it taken down but by then, many other
people might have already seen or maybe even taken a screenshot of it.
that someone else has assumed control of their social media account
and is using it to post sexual, vulgar or other inappropriate things that
before it is taken, not to mention the uploader may just re-upload it again
anyway.
Bidayuh, Kadazan etc. The study utilises response sheet and interview
sessions to allow subjects free articulations of their thoughts and
experiences. It is worth mentioning that the study found that the majority
of female subjects (65%) reported never being embarrassed, harassed or
threatened online which is the opposite of male subjects (58%) where
the majority have reported encountering abuse online at least once. This
is in contrast with a report by Mesch (2009) and may open new avenues
of study which may ascertain the sociological differences which results
The next chapter brings into our discourse the problem of identity
Instagram
Language of Body Shaming Cyberbullies in Instagram” by Bahiyah
Abdul Hamid, Habibah Ismail &and Chairozila Mohd. Focusing on this
subset of Instagram users and their preoccupation of conforming to the
Malaysian ideals of body size and appearance, this chapter discusses what
non-dismissible to life, but also at the same time encapsulating itself and
forming a distinct universe apart of its own. Understanding this virtual
world requires a different paradigm to make sense of its mechanisms and
operations which, even though based on real life, goes through a long
funnel of amendments so that the same logic is no longer applicable to
both worlds. Undoubtedly, it now pertains to everything human including
bullying, a notion now aptly termed as cyberbullying. It assumes not
only a different format than its predecessors but it also assumes deep
conceptual differences which necessitates the more perplexing nature of
Introduction
The advent of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the late 1980s has
brought a lot of disruption to how we perceive the world. It changed,
among other things, the extent and forms of communication, the
boundaries of education, the future of jobs, as well as power relations. In
essence, the underlying social fabric as we have understood it undergoes
constant evolution, if not revolution and to keep pace with it requires
incisive analysis and scholarly inquiry. The question of bullying, like
everything else, is under the purview of a growing social phenomenon
and we therefore cannot equate cyberbullying with face-to-face bullying.
(2011) cover similar media with different grouping schemes ending with
9-item and 5-item scale respectively. It is important to note however, that
aside from the studies listed above, a study by Tippet and Kwak (2012)
shows that cyberbullying is found to be very common in online games
in South Korea. However, at the risk of being pedantic, this can safely
be subsumed under the rubric ‘chatrooms’ for that is principally how
gamers could get harassed through the medium.
is emotional, to say the very least. Thus, the study suggests that when
facing emotionally burdening events, adolescents are just not equipped to
handle the situation in a mature manner. This coupled with the fact that
cyber perpetrators often are out of touch with the effect of their bullying
in terms of the distress and pain caused onto the victims leaves a very
showed that when the three are taken into consideration, detection rate
arguably more important for it measures the rate of subjects that properly
by the formula:
R=tp/(tp+fn)
where tp is true positive and fn is false negative. In the context of this
study, the apparently emotion-neutral comments can easily be detected as
cyberbullying due to the consideration made on the user’s background,
making the rate of false negative, fn, lower and concurrently improving
the recall of the method used. The caveat, however, being that to boost
the value of recall experimenter could easily label all subjects of study
R=tp/(tp+fp)
where fp is false positive. In the context of interest, a friendly tease would
offer 100% rate in both precision and recall but most of the time there
are some trade-off between the two which can be calculated in terms of
F-measure:
F=2PR/(P+R)
Dadvar (2014) later came up with the suggestion of Hybrid Approach
et al. (2006) and Willard (2005) which classify the roles as Targets of
entitlement bullies, Retaliators (individuals who have been bullied by
others and are using the Internet to strike back), Victims of retaliators
(Individuals who have been bullying others, and they are now being
et al. 2015). It goes without saying that this group of individuals would
endure much more bullying and cyberbullying to the extent of more than
a half times the rate of their physically unchallenged peers.
disapproval with the aim of securing public goods (Rost et al. 2016).
The norm must necessarily be enforced to maintain its sustainability. As
noted by Olson’s Zero Contribution theory (1965):
...that if all rational and self-interested individuals in a large group would gain
as a group if they acted to achieve their common interest or objective, they will
still not voluntarily act to achieve that common or group interest.
1. That the public view of good does not automatically mean that social
This can ultimately be disastrous to the cause for if the critical mass
needed for an Internet Firestorm or any second-order public good to
achieve its purpose is not met due to immobilised free riders, the whole
endeavor will be naught and null.
However, the phenomenon under discussion, as obviously
manifested, disagrees with the dilemma. Diekmann (1992) and Rauhut
(2008) has shown that the dilemma is solved if the enforcement is cheap,
individual votes but vote nonetheless as they have very little to nothing
Conclusion
Bullying is essentially the power relation between the strong and the
weak. As long as both ends exist, bullying will persist and manifest in
varying gradations throughout the power spectrum. It is the appropriation
of technology for abusive purposes and thus is continually varying
itself in terms of its operational nature as technology changes. It must
therefore be understood, discussed, and tackled through new paradigms
and approaches. Cyberbullying might be the latest installment in this
speculation. Researches should probe into the inquiry and foresee the
direction of its trajectory. Such an endeavor in future studies of bullying
would aptly equip the stakeholders to tackle the issue when it appears
and/or to prevent its occurrences altogether. It is a given that phenomena
do not emerge out of nothing but they emerge as logical consequences
of material conditions and sociological changes.
The previous section has offered a discussion in regard to the key
might as well be the reverse of, the relationship between being a victim of
bullying and psychological disturbances. Further research to look into the
validity of this hypothesis should be encouraged and properly supported.
Bullying as a research interest has virtually non-exhaustive areas
to be invested in. It is an important subject of study due to its ever-
changing nature, pervasiveness, and universality. Its adversity is
undoubted for it pertains mostly to the junior citizens of any particular
society and its impact is maximal onto this subject group as well. Thus,
serious consideration must be taken to cater to the need of keeping it at
manageable levels.
References
2009. Students with exceptionalities and the peer group context of bullying
and victimization in late elementary school. Journal of Child Family Studies
18(2): 136-150.
Farah, M. & Vanderpooten, D. 2006. “A multiple criteria approach for
information retrieval.” International Symposium on String Processing and
Information Retrieval, hlm. 242-254.
Vocabulary Consistency.
Raskauskas, J. 2009. Text-bullying: Associations with traditional bullying and
depression among New Zealand adolescents. Journal of School Violence
9(1): 74-97.
Raskauskas, J. & Stoltz, A. D. 2007. Involvement in traditional and electronic
bullying among adolescents. Developmental Psychology 43(3): 564-575.
Rauhut, H. & Krumpal, I. 2008. Die Durchsetzung Sozialer Normen in Low-Cost
Und High-Cost Situationen / Enforcement of Social Norms in Low-Cost and
High-Cost Situations. Zeitschrift für Soziologie 37: 380.
Introduction
“You have such a pretty face. It’s such a pity you’re so fat. No man will ever
marry you.” My Mother to me circa age 12.” (Elise Hines@geekspertise in
Chastain 2017:1).
“When walking into a store, immediately accosted by sales person, ‘We don’t
carry plus sizes here.’ Literally no one asked for this.” feature.@adviceChicken
in Bahadur 2013:3).
“#TheySaid “You should stop eating”, “Being slim is the best body type” “No
one likes fat girls” “My mom and my grandma say this a lot.” (Queenwinters@
Queenwinters in Chastain 2017:1).
We are all familiar with the above scenarios. They are tangible and need
no explanations. We may have encountered one or more of the scenarios
ourselves or have heard of friends and family members who have gone
through these experiences themselves.
The scenarios above are familiar to us regardless of our culture,
religion, age, social status, ethnicity, gender and geography. Fat shaming
in these kinds of scenarios often come unsolicited. Some may even come
under the guise of advice in order to convince their targets to lose weight
not just for health reasons, but also for success in looking for a lifelong
partner, for success in gaining employment and for social mobility and
judgments about the body and the attributes of the body but more so on
the judgement of character. More often than not, we have become numb
to these kinds of body shaming instances because of their prevalence
and power; it is clear that body shaming has become part and parcel of
our lives and of our culture.
We are now living in a heavily connected society, in the age of social
media where for many of us, what we do in private are gladly swapped
for public consumption. Many of us share ourselves completely with the
gossip and advertising. Where fat shaming before the advent of computers
and networks were the province of face-to-face interactions, it is now very
prevalent and prominent in cyberspace.
indicate that the target in mad or crazy (Samarin 1996). Mann (2016: 2)
like Samarin (1996) observes that insults “just don’t “mean” but also “do”,
and have real-world impact. Insults, to Mann, are akin to speech acts, such
This is very different from the association of status many decades ago
when a privileged lifestyle meant simply being able to afford food and
being able to consume foods not found in our immediate environment.
Therefore, shaming, silencing and dehumanising, all different parts of
bullying, are more often than not what many fat/overweight people
While sizeism values thinness, the body ideals of this day and age also
vilify those who are “too thin” in what is termed as thin/skinny shaming.
Thin/skinny shaming may come in the guise of concern, such as “Are
you sure you ate anything today. When did you last eat? Last week?”
Here are some stereotypical notions on social media (especially on
Twitter) about those who are fat/ overweight:
“Fat people are not “really people,” they don’t deserve to be treated like people.”
(Melissa McEwan blogger in Bahadur 2013:1)
“Fat people have greater health risks so highlighting how fat someone is is (sic) a
way to help them realise that their size is dangerous for them.” (D’Onfro 2013: 2)
“Fat people are not disciplined enough to get a higher degree.” (Ioniemc@
Ioniemc in Bahadur 2013:3)
“To gain so much weight, they must be lazy, greedy, unmotivated, and have
poor self-discipline.” (D’Onfro 2013: 3)
“Fat people are stupid, lazy, and dirty. We (fat women) are constantly told that we
are animals (pigs, cows, heifers) while fat men are insulted as having “feminine
bodies.” (D’Onfro 2013:3)
As can be seen from the above statements, being fat/overweight is not just
an assessment of weight but rather a judgement of character. Often what
is assumed is that, it is the person’s fault if they are fat/overweight. What
is harmful and destructive is that plus size people are often stereotyped
as being lazy, dirty, unmotivated, lack self- discipline and are deemed
emotionally unstable.
The following are some personal accounts of fat-shaming written by
those who have experienced fat shaming personally:
“I am constantly underestimated. My intelligence, my strength, my talents,
my tenacity, my cleanliness, my humanity” (shakestweetz @shakestweetz in
Bahadur 2013:2).
“Being told your wife is attractive w/ the questioning voice tone clearly implying
‘how did YOU attract such a beauty’ ” (Phil Prehn@philphren in Bahadur
2013:2).
“And on that note, I’ve heard ad nauseum: ‘If you’re a vegetarian, how can you
be that size?’ ”(Quen Took @gentlemandyke in Bahadur 2013:2).
Fat shaming according to D’ Onfro (2013: 2) is “one of the last socially
acceptable forms of discrimination.” It has devastating effects on children,
youths, minority groups, and so on and are related to bullying not only in
cyberspace, but also in popular culture, in academic institutions, health
facilities, workplaces and homes.
a photo of the intended target, and then mem-fy the photo for the sake
of a fat-shaming joke. This can then be spread around in Reddit, or any
meme sites. According to D’ Onfro (2013: 2):
There are generally two kinds of online cruelty: the throw-away kind where
people might add a mean joke to a meme or Reddit comment thread and then
move on to the next distraction, and then the kind where it’s clear that there’s a
concentrated effort to effect someone’s life.
Adults can also be victims of fat shaming apart from youths,
especially women. A report by FMT reporters (2017) indicate that
online abuse is a frequent problem for Malay Muslim women who do
not conform to societal expectations. Presentation of self is the main
concern of cyberbullies and the issue of hijab, for instance, with the
target donning the hijab or not being the main source of abuse online.
The report states that “although the issue at hand may relate to religion
or social norms, the abuse received by such victims is often targeted at
seemingly irrelevant matters such as their physical appearance” (FMT
Reporters 2017: 2).
In the case of Malaysian Shida Amal, she was encouraged to kill
herself by fat-shamers. It all started in 2015 when she started being
harassed by a group of people on Twitter, calling her “fat” and “stupid.”
According to Shida, a pattern soon emerged – each time the bullying
will start with one person tweeting an insult and the others would chime
in. She could not escape the tauntings and insults hurled at her as they
tagged her in their tweets. She managed to block the hateful tweets
but each time, someone else who was not blocked will attack her. The
site Ask.fm hauled insults at her, calling her “fat,” a “slut” and tormented
her over her looks and her love life. Comments by users such as, “Can
you kill yourself already?” and “Nobody cares about you” further added
fuel to Jessica’s abuse. Ask.fm was a website where netizens could ask
anonymous questions to anyone they want. This was how Jessica was
constantly put down and bullied. According to the newspaper report, the
website, a Latvian-based site targets 13 to 18 year old youths and it was
reported to have more than 20 million members. Jessica’s friends and
family have rallied for the website to be shut down.
In Malaysia, while such cases of cyberbullying leading to death
way to improve health. Much research has shown that weight is not the
only predictor of illness. Such aspects as genetics, diet, stress and poverty
are other aspects that also play a role in predicting illness (Urbanski
2017). Chrisler, a Connecticut psychology professor aptly points out the
backlash effect of the weight centric model. She says that:
...ironically, it appears that health care professionals’ attempts to shame their
patients into losing weight to improve their health might actually result in
weight gain and declines in health status due to inactivity or delay in seeking
health care (Ruiz 2017).
Chrisler and McHugh (in Urbanski 2017) both iterate the pervasive,
painful and harmful outcome of fat shaming. Chrisler points out to the
fact that there is a growing number of health professionals who are
guilty of “microaggressions” and “sizeism” when undertaking medical
tasks especially towards their obese/plus size patients. She pointed out
that studies show that patients’ psychological stress can be linked to
how doctors interact with them, especially in a negative way. Chrisler
states that:
Implicit attitudes might be experienced by patients as microaggresions- for
example, a health provider’s apparent reluctance to touch an obese/plus size
patient, or a headshake, wince or ‘tsk’ while noting the patient’s weight in the
chart. Microaggressions are stressful over time and can contribute to the felt
experience of stigmatisation (Urbanski 2017:1).
In the same news report, psychologist McHugh, states that “stigmatization
of obese individuals pose serious risks to their psychological health.
Research demonstrates that weight stigma leads to psychological stress,
which can lead to poor physical and psychological health outcomes for
obese people.” In the end, many overweight people are less likely to trust
the advice of their health care providers, they may even shy away from
tactics by telling her that before he can marry her, he needs to “kira bajet”
(calculate the budget), he needs to calculate his budget as it will be double
the cost if she is this big in size. In the video, he is heard to be telling her
that “belum kahwin, awak macam beruang bunting. Lepas kahwin, awak
jadi gajah bunting (Before marriage you are like a pregnant bear. After
marriage you will be a pregnant elephant.)” The boyfriend then tells her
that she has to lose 45 kilos so that his budget can be maximised in order
to support her as his wife. This angers the girlfriend who gives in to her
boyfriend’s demands. She takes up the challenge. She is seen to resort to
C-Trimax, a slimming product to lose weight. The video concludes with
the girlfriend losing weight in a matter of a month and how after losing
weight, the boyfriend agrees to marry her right away. This example
contains language use familiar to us. The plus size girlfriend is compared
to a pregnant bear and a pregnant elephant via the use of simile and animal
metaphors. In the Malay language, the lexical item “bunting” (pregnant)
is an archaic colloquial word and it is now deemed impolite to use this
word especially when it is used to describe a woman’s condition. Here,
the choice of animal metaphors, beruang/bear and gajah/elephant used are
order to lose weight which may not be a product that is health regulated
and safe. Lastly, and more insidiously, the video shows us that the blame
is always on women. In this video, initially there was no marriage proposal
because there is not enough budget for living expenses after marriage as
the girlfriend’s body size demands that the food budget goes to feeding
her twice as much as her boyfriend. Therefore, it not just the girlfriend’s
body size that is the problem, the source of the problem is actually the
girlfriend because she did not take good care of herself and that she let her
Example 2
Nur Fazura, a Malaysian actress was reported to be disappointed at remarks
made when her representative, a fan of hers, went up on stage to receive
a trophy on Fazura’s behalf after she won the 2018 Telenovela Awards.
The emcee, actress Faezah Elan, was reported to have said in the Malay
language something in line with the following translation; “ Actress Fazura
when presenting the trophy, a remark seen as directed at the fan’s body
shape and body weight. In Malaysia and in many countries of the world,
women are fat shamed before and after pregnancy. Body shamers do not
understand that gaining weight is needed for a healthy pregnancy and that
the extra pounds will come off after delivery. In Malaysia, women when
they are married and have had children, are often taunted and ridiculed
point to the physical changes of women before and after child bearing as
natural processes dictated by hormones and genetics.
Example 3
Fashion style critic, Zaihani Mohd. Zain, vented on her personal Twitter
account that people who weigh over 60 kg should not attend fashion shows
because they disturb the people sitting next to them because of their body
size. Her Twitter message in Malay went viral – “Kalau berat badan
melebihi 60 kg, tak payah lah datang. Sebabnya peha awak tu melimpah
kat kerusi sebelah kiri dan kanan awak. It’s so awkward and uncomfortable
for persons seated next to you”(translation: If you weigh more than 60 kg,
please don’t attend fashion events, as your thighs would spread on the chair
on your left and on your right... It’s so awkward and uncomfortable for the
person seated next to you.). The use of the Malay phrase peha melimpah
evokes visualisation of an overweight person’s thighs that seem to spread
or ooze over the chair, taking much room and causing people sitting beside
that person to be most uncomfortable as the thighs would touch those sitting
on both sides of that person. Zaihani is no stranger to controversy for her
public display of fatphobia and sizeism. In 2016, in an interview published
in Malaysia Tatler, she said, “If you love fashion and enjoy dressing up,
doesn’t matter but who are we kidding? It does. Why do you think the big
fashion houses do not cater to plus sized women?”
the target using harsh words in retaliation will only worsen the situation
and trying to justify oneself only encourages the bully to keep going
because the strategy to get the target out of balance is working. Secondly,
Tracy suggests: use the silent treatment. Here, he states that the target,
by being silent, will reveal that the bully has nothing to attack and the
silence will eventually make the bully feel uncomfortable which often
results in the bully being more reasonable. Ignoring the bully’s post and
statement is a similar strategy that we could use. Tracy strongly agrees
that ignoring a personal attack for example, can lead the bully to refocus
on the real discussion. Finally, Tracy advocates for the target to call a
spade, a spade. According to Tracy, the target should identify the bully’s
behavior, “get their attention by confronting them and then explaining to
them that their behavior will get them nowhere can often lead to change
in the bully’s behavior” (Tracy 2007, in Holmberg 2008: 10).
Conclusion
A healthy body does not mean a thin body. Most of us suffer a genetic
predisposition that leads to the variety of body shapes and form that
human beings come in. We must encourage people to strive to be healthier
versions of themselves instead of caving in to the pressure to conform
to what society believes should be the ideal body type and size. “The
opposition to our ability to love our bodies, no matter what size, shape
or form they come in” (Goerke 2013). Body positivity is the way to go
and we must inculcate in our children, youths and adults this positive
and excluded have not been full proof to curb this scourge. In the end,
it is not the tool that needs tending to but the attitudes and changes in
mindsets that need our outmost attention. How do we dismantle sizeism
and end fatphobia? How do we respect the experiences of fat people, their
stories and their knowledge? We must stand in solidarity with activists,
parents, teachers and politicians who have these on their agenda. But
most of all, we must be more tolerant of all kinds of body size and shapes
especially in this age of embracing diversity and be more tactful and
polite in communicating with each other.
References
Introduction
In line with a prevailing social emphasis on digital technologies, the
use of social networking sites, internet and smart phones is increasing.
Despite the key importance of these technologies as a tool of social
communication, they are used as a medium by people with an intent to
harass each other. This negative phenomenon is known as cyberbullying.
On Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying is the behaviour performed by college students that
conveys hostile messages through electronic venues to harm other
students (Tokunaga 2010). Unlike the general aggressive behaviour of
traditional bullying, cyberbullying is a new mode of bullying. Through
the new means of electronic technologies, cyberbullying has the trait of
anonymity, which is the inability to see perpetrator or victim (Dehue,
Bolman & Völlink 2008). The use of the Internet, mobile phones and
social media sites has led cyberbullying to become widespread across the
globe. According to the World Health Organisation (2002), cyberbullying
is perceived as a prevailing issue for a high 20% of the students. As
Hanewald (2008) pointed out that cyberbullying does not only happen
in school but also outside school hours. This phenomenon has received
intense attention especially in recent years after reports of several suicides
related to cyberbullying (Aboujaoude et al. 2015). Cyberbullying is
mostly bullying through the Internet (Vandebosch & Van Cleemput 2008).
There is a variety of ways of cyberbullying (Reynolds 2012, summarised
call and text message are the most prevalent forms of cyberbullying.
Percentage
Female
Clear understanding of cyberbullying 30
Vague understanding of cyberbullying
Male
Clear understanding of cyberbullying 13
Vague understanding of cyberbullying 21
Total 100
is in line with Smith et al.’s study (2008), which reported that girls are
more likely to be victims of cyberbullying. The following present some
responses of the participants who showed a clearer understanding of
what constitutes cyberbullying.
Example 1
A form of harassment using social media such as Instagram or Twitter
such as writing negative comments, sharing negative photos or videos
of someone over the Internet.
Abuse that takes place over cyber through electronic computer, cell phone
or tables, through posting negative comments, rumours, or gossips to
embarrass others deliberately.
An act of discriminating someone based on who the person is, how the
person acts, talks, or dress through any social media such as Facebook,
Twitter or Instagram.
An act of threatening, harassing or shaming others through social
media that can affect other peoples’ physical and mental health due to
unnecessary, mean and embarrassing comments pointed towards them
directly.
Bullying that takes place using digital devices like cell phones, computers
and tablets through the use of SMS, text and apps on social media or
forum by sending, posting or sharing negative or private contents or
information about someone.
Bullying state where people use digital devices like smartphones or
computers to embarrass or threaten people through writing negative
comments on Facebook and Twitter as well as sharing negative videos
or photos of someone over the Internet.
that some students are aware of what constitutes cyberbullying and some
of them could even demonstrate more a comprehensive understanding of
Fraser (2013), clearly it shows that students do not only know about the
tools (digital devices) that are used to bully other people online, they also
demonstrate an understanding of the venue (social media) people use to
intimidate the victims as well as the contents (comments, photos, videos)
that could affect the victims’ physical and mental health. The results of
analysis indicate the prevalent use of social media as the common venue
for harassing, embarrassing or intimidating others.
Nevertheless, there are more than half (57%) of the participants who
only provided simple explanations of cyberbullying terminology such as
bullying on the Internet; use of electronic devices to bully a person; virtual
version of bullying; bullying that involves the devices such as telephones
and computers and bullying that happens through social media. This result
indicates that some Malaysian undergraduates might not realise that they
were cyberbullied before as they were not aware of the different ways
that some participants did not realise they were being cyberbullied until
they had completed the interview.
Percentage
Female
Yes 23
No 43
Male
Yes 20
No 14
Total 100
The analysis shows that most participants (57%) thought that they
had not encountered any cyberbullying attacks in the past, while the
rest claimed that they were only victims of cyberbullying once. In
terms of gender distribution, it is interesting to learn that most female
shows contrast to the one reported by Mesch (2009) in which most of his
Example 2
I am an Indian Muslim, when I was little, I used to receive racist messages
on my Facebook.
It happened to me back in my high school where kids are pretty much
love to pick on others. They would text me some harsh words such
study indicate that most of the participants never had any experiences
of getting cyberbullied in the past, it still warrants our concern as it is
possible that those participants who feel that they are not cyberbullied
before actually do not realise the various ways cyberbullying can occur
prior to the interviews. With regard to learning more about the students’
experiences in encountering cyberbullying, future research is needed to
shed more light on this by interpreting the various ways cyberbullying
could happen to the participants before carrying out the survey, as
suggested by Whittaker and Kowalski (2015).
Percentage
Female
Serious 35
Under control 31
Male
Serious 23
Under control 11
Total 100
The results indicate that more than half of the participants (58%) felt
that cyberbullying is a serious issue in Malaysia while the rest (42%) did
becoming more rampant nowadays. The analysis results also show that
more females (47%) than males (33%) believed that the phenomenon of
cyberbullying is under control in Malaysia. Example 3 presents some of
the views about the uprising trend of cyberbullying in Malaysia while
Example 4 shows some opposing views about the trend.
Example 3
Cyberbullying in the Malaysian context is serious these days and I think
it’s increased over the time as people increasingly use social media
nowadays.
Cyberbullying in Malaysia seems to have no end as kids tend to do it
by violent games.
I think cyberbullying being an isolated case is far from true because the
issue of cyberbullying is much worst now.
I think it’s getting serious because some people can easily say nasty things
over social media than saying it face to face and apparently getting more
entertained by their actions.
Example 4
I think this case is still under control. However, caution and prevention
is needed to make sure this case is not getting serious.
I don’t think that cyberbullying is a big issues in our country, I think it’s
still under control.
I think cyberbullying in Malaysia is isolated case.
In the context of our country, I won’t say it’s very serious.
From the analysis, it is indicative that the participants held two different
views with regard to the trend of cyberbullying in the Malaysian context.
However, there is a consensus among the participants when it comes to
suggesting the needs of precautions in order to prevent the situation from
getting more deteriorated.
Conclusion
This study is exploratory in nature and it aims to learn about the Malaysian
undergraduates’ perceptions and experiences on cyberbullying. In
identifying how university students view cyberbullying, semi-structured
interviews were carried out individually on 70 participants and it is seen
useful in providing data that contributes towards the understanding
in cyberbullying encounter, more than half of them felt that they had
never experienced cyber abuse or harassment in the past. In observing
the trend of cyberbullying in the Malaysian context, slightly more than
References
Cyberbullying among
Adolescent Bystanders: Role of the Communication Medium, Form of
Violence, and Empathy
It’s Common Sense That It’s Wrong”: Young People’s
Perceptions and Experiences of Cyberbullying
Deviant Behavior
Computers in Human
Behavior
Vandebosch, H. & Cleemput, K. V. 2008.
Research into the Perceptions of Youngsters
Whittaker, E. & Kowalski, R. M. 2015. Cyberbullying via social media. Journal
of School Violence
Online Aggressor/Targets, Aggressors,
and Targets: A Comparison of Associated Youth Characteristics
Introduction
Table
Source:
Source:
Source:
YouTube
Table
“This man has been involved in gambling business and does drugs.”
videos.”
“This bitch has a terrible face but a damn nice body. I will play
all day.”
Source:
A Victim’s Self-frame
Tweets
poor me
I am suffering
Extract 1: Twitter
Aku rasa aku kena start bagitau satu Malaysia the real sakit aku sbb semua dh salah
anggap aku ni mental illness la bipolar la & dgr eh aku ni kena buatan manusia
(DISIHIRKAN OLEH KWN SEKERJA ORNG BATU PAHAT JOHOR NAMA DIA NAIL
AWATIF BINTI OMAR) pergi cri ig & twitter dia
(Source: Twitter)
Disihirkan
pergi cri ig & twitter dia
Aku rasa aku kena start bagitau satu Malaysia the real sakit aku sbb semua dh
salah anggap aku ni mental illness
dgr eh
aku ni kena buatan manusia –
FIGURe 4.1
Source:
Conclusion
References
The
Information Society
Journal of
Politeness Research. Language, Behaviour, Culture
Psychology of Violence
Journal of Communication
American
Psychologist
Cyberbullying among Youngsters:
Introduction
The rise of social media usage has of late provided an outlet for others
to upload personal posts, photos and leave comments about each other’s
pictures and casually, insulting and degrading others. Social media
sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have been the favoured
choices for online users to use in order to express themselves while at
the same time create bonds with others of shared interests. While social
Self-deprecation Online
One trend used when denigrating is the usage of self-deprecation in
shaming online posts. These insults serve different purposes. Researchers
Archard (2014) explains that one of the features of insults, are that it is
an expressive act that is communicated in public. These acts are directed
and have propositional content, which sets insults apart from profanities
and obscenities (Archard 2014: 128). Whereas Mateo and Yus (2013)
describe these shaming acts as communicated mostly for the intention
to offend, praise, or to establish a social bond. Whereby the task of
understanding the message contained in the insult depends on the targets’
reaction or even the lack of it. One such research on the language used in
social media investigated the language used in Facebook, or ‘netspeak’
(Crystal 2001) among Puerto Ricans by Carroll and Mari (2017). They
found that authentic language or daily used language was practiced among
users. Apart from this, research on language usage in social media is still
very minimal. Research on shaming or insults on social media has not
been conducted among Malaysian users. This proves that there is a lack
of research towards investigating language of insults in body shaming
on social media, particularly on Instagram and Facebook. The task of
by other users, where other users will use the same hashtags. Zappavigna
(2015) explored the use of hashtags in linguistic contexts from Halliday
and Mathiessen’s (2004) systemic functional linguistics in social media
posts. Zappavigna adds that hashtags function as part of the linguistic
structure and also operates as metadata, information appended to some
primary form of content to assist in retrieving and understanding that
content when it is stored and published (ibid: 276).
In short, these hashtags contain information that can be found
retrieved and easily searched among users familiar with the term or word
used. This means that the hashtag used is part of the discourse among
the online community, with the metadata being ‘user-generated’ and
appearing within the community that uses this particular discourse. The
function of these hashtags depend on the # symbol and are not searchable
among the community unfamiliar with the repertoire. For example, the
hashtag #muslimcandyheartrejects was used among the Muslim diaspora
communities in 2012 (Wills & Fecteau 2016) on Twitter. The analysis
of hashtags in this study deployed humour as a method to relief stress
among Muslims in the West. Wills and Fecteau add that the combination
of social media networks such as Twitter also helped to create social
space and established social identities. One of the ways is through
customising these hashtags. With the nature of these hashtags being user
generated among online users, only like-minded individuals would be
using these hashtags in order to establish that similar identity and topic
of interest. Calvin et.al. (2015) discovered some commonalities in the
use of bullying hashtags on Twitter and found eight associated features of
tweets. These hashtags differ in the retweets, and in the conversation that
is contributed. Hashtags that are used mostly are incomplete sentences,
non-grammatical, and only serve discursive functions. At the moment,
much is unknown about how these hashtags function to communicate
and establish an online trend of verbal abuse in a range of pictures and
hashtags used among the online users. Therefore, in this chapter, the
pictures and hashtags that were associated with body shaming and any
representation of deprecation that were implied in these Instagram posts
discourse, the discursive practice and the social practice. The objective
of the three-dimensional framework is to investigate the connections of
the language used in the text, the ideas or beliefs and how Instagram
users utilise the connection between these aspects to body shame. In
this chapter, because we investigated the language features of Instagram
posts and how language is used to body shame, this framework is deemed
suitable for the research purposes.
attributes.
1. Self-deprecation
Pattern 1 – Deprecation of self alone
With regards to self-deprecation, the Instagram users are found to
show either direct or indirect disapproval of self. Instances of indirect
disapproval can be in the form of sarcasm. For example, a Malaysian
actress/singer wrote a caption for her own picture posted on Instagram as
“Debabnya lah!!!” which can be translated as Oh [she] is [so] fat lah!!!.
(see Figure 5.2). This is a type of sarcasm that echoes other people or is
reminiscing of what other people have responded to her and others like
way that lightens face or to water down any possible negative comments
that others might posts in response to the picture. So, we posit that this
type of self-deprecation as seen in Example 1 does not necessary have
negative connotation.
In Figure 5.5, the Instagram user implicates not only himself but
also his brother by comparing their body sizes in his post: Abang gemuk,
adik chubby which means fat big brother, chubby baby brother. This post
In contrast, the caption was followed by other verbal resources that can
be considered as carrying positive emotivity: Nice result sem 1 [EMOTIVITY:
POSITIVE], #kipidap [EMOTIVITY: POSITIVE] #dongibab [EMOTIVITY: POSITIVE] #debab
[EMOTIVITY: NEUTRAL]. Kipidap means keep it up while dongibab means do
not give up.
and answers. The question: Will I have the same body like this? (Adakah
aku akan kembali berbadan seperti ini?) denotes that the Instagram user
is afraid that she will return to her former self in body weight, one that is
not to her liking. The caption continues with the Instagram user issuing an
answer to the question she posed which is highly motivating. She says “ The
answer lies within me (Jawapannya hanya pada diriku). Most importantly
is that people around me support and give me motivation. Alhamdulillah-
(“Yang paling penting adalah orang di sekeliling aku yang menyokong dan
memberi dorongan kepada aku. Alhamdulillah”.) The Instagram user then
adds a passing note in netspeak - (p/s) time ni (this time – referring to the
picture) slalu tahan nafas n tarik perut bila nak bergambar (always hold
my breath and tuck in my stomach when taking photos). Hahh (laughter).
Lawak (Funny). This particular ending , couched in humour shows the
user’s particular feelings about her former self.
2. Other-Deprecation
Pattern 1 – Deprecation of others alone
The second type of body shaming is other -deprecation where the posts
target other people for the purpose to humiliate or insult them. Similar
with self-deprecation, Instagram users use sarcasm as one of the tools
to deprecate other people.
In the post on the left-hand side (Figure 5.8), the user congratulates
his friend on his wedding day: Tahniah pendek tralala hahaha #wedding
#ketot. Despite the well wishes, it seems that there are other implied
meanings in the post. The use of pendek/short tralala [EMOTIVITY:
NEGATIVE] is considered negative since the word pendek is paired
with tralala. While tralala does not have any meaning, it might actually
refer to the seven dwarves in the animated Disney’s Snow White movie.
The theme song the dwarfs sang in the movie include the word tralala:
“Whistle while you work, tra, la, la, la…”. This sarcasm is further
emphasised by the word hahaha (laughing) [EMOTIVITY: NEGATIVE]
and hashtag #ketot [EMOTIVITY: NEGATIVE]. While the language use
is quite indirect and the caption written as if it were a joke, it may have
been written as such to lighten the load of the insult.
Figure 10 Example 9
Junior aku sorang ni dah macam Abam Bocey pulak (translated as “this one
junior of mine looks like Abam Bocey”), followed by a laughing emoticon
[EMOTIVITY: NEGATIVE]. While this particular Instagram user seems
like he is making fun of his junior’s body, there is a twist at the end of
the post where he inserted the hashtags #GEMOKK #IS #AWESOME
[EMOTIVITY: POSITIVE].Gemok is awesome is actually a tagline made
popular in Malaysia by Abam Bocey, a famous Malaysian comedian.
In the post about the junior, there seems to be a mixture of positive and
negative emotivities. Such mixtures were also evident in several previous
posts such as the Tahniah pendek tralala where a congratulatory wish
(Tahniah/congratulation) was oddly paired with implicitly insulting words
(See Example 7). This mixture of positive and negative emotivities might
be a strategy to save face or to lighten the bite of the insult. It also serves
to lighten the mood somewhat. Some might even consider such instances
as harmless jokes between friends.
especially with children, youths and young adults. Quite rarely, due to
religious sensitivity, is babi/pig ever used by Malay Muslim Instagram
users to describe the body. However, there is an exception especially
when directly insulting someone. The use of babi/pig by Malay Muslim
Instagram users can be very offensive and humiliating as the animal’s
traits/characteristics are taken as being synonymous to the person targeted.
Thus the person is seen as despicable, dirty, greedy and ugly. In Malay
literature, pigs are placed at the lower rung of the animal hierarchy in terms
of rank and status. In some context however, the same word when used
by non-Muslim Malaysians may have a different and sometimes positive
effect. The difference can be seen from the posts below. The posts on the
left might be written by a non-Muslim, see the post with regards to the
hashtag pig (see Figure 5.13) while the post on the right is by a Muslim
man, see the post with regards to the hashtags gajah, badak and baboon
(see Figure 5.14).
The two posts above (see Examples 12 and 13) used hashtags instead
of description/caption. It is quite interesting to see quite similar patterns
appearing from them. Moving from top to bottom, together the hashtags
seem to imply the increasing dehumanisation of the target person (either
self or other) from a #big human or #buncit human, to shape (bujur) and
Table 5.1 Lexis used for body shaming self/others (Instagram data)
Male Female
Height Pendek, ketot ketot
Weight Gemok, debab, tembam*, gedempol, Debab, tembam*
besar, gempal
Cheek/Pipi Tembam*, chubby, labuh tembam*, chubby, labuh, pau
Stomach buncit, boroi, one pack N/A
Skin colour N/A Dark (Bangla)
Shape Bulat (round), bujur (oval) N/A
Face N/A hodoh (Ugly), bulat (round)
Based on Table 5.1, we can see what parts of the body and what issues
related to physical attributes are Malaysian Malay males and females
preoccupied with in their Instagram posts: for similarities, both males
and females are preoccupied with their height, weight, and cheeks. The
difference in terms of how women are preoccupied with skin colour and
their face while men are more interested to talk about the stomachcan
be seen. There are also words like tembam which are ambiguous and
may refer to both cheeks and body/weight. For males, there seems to
stomachs, thus words like buncit, boroi and one pack (rather than six
pack) were found.
thin, normal looking girl. However, the post seems to indicate that the
user feels otherwise. The caption can be translated as: I’m tired having
an ugly face, fat like a piglet Haa damn when will I be pretty how will
my crush notice me.
This is an extreme example where curse words (sial/damn) are found
and religiously sensitive words ( pig and anak babi/baby pig/piglet) are
used in the form of animal metaphor i.e., gemok macam anak babi(fat
like a baby pig/piglet). Take note also that the user used bold words to
be more succinct – the bold words together form the following structure:
Gemuk macam babi. Such extreme self-deprecation may function to seek
approval from the follower to praise her instead. The intention might
also be to gain more likes or followers. However, this kind of posts
might not actually be perceived well by other netizens (internet citizens).
They might even gain haters instead of gaining likes or followers as the
following post attests (see Figure 5.16).
The post in Figure 5.16 can be loosely translated as: Those who are
thin like banana tree stems but say that they are fat like a pig, I’m going
to claim you all as attention seekers. This is to show that some netizens
are well aware of self-deprecation as a strategy to get attention and are
irked by such posts.
The examination of such posts for future studies is recommended.
Researchers might consider both visual and verbal texts in their future
analysis to investigate the motives of those who proclaim themselves
overweight/fat but in reality they are the direct opposite of what they
say they are. Investigations into this phenomenon might reveal issues
of self-esteem, self- worth and can even point to deep seated mental
problems. This kind of online behaviour might also display deep- rooted
issues that underlie behavioural and health problems such as anorexia
Conclusion
This chapter shows different types and different patterns of body shaming
used by Malaysian Malay youth Instagram
that Malay youth Instagram users’ posts analysed can either come in
the form of self-deprecation or other- deprecation but sometimes the
deprecation comes in a combination of both. Within these types, there
are also different patterns used which show that insults can come in a
myriad of forms accompanied by different functions. Through analysis
of emotivity, body shaming posts were distinguished from other types
of posts (self-realization) by looking at the combination of natural
words (fat) with negative (benci/hate) or positive emotive meanings
(#GemokIsAwesome). The comparison between language features used
by female and male Instagram users also show similarities and we found
focusing on the body, the physical attributes of different parts of the body
or appearance by way of language use. However, through the analysis, it
is found that a particular post might not carry only one emotive meaning
(only negative emotivity) which may directly suggest a blatant instance of
body shaming. Instead, many posts analysed show a mixture of positive
and negative emotive meanings of one target/subject. It is argued that this
may be a strategy for saving face and reducing the load of the insult and
decreasing the backlash from netizens. The misconception with regards
to insults especially those thrown at others is that they function solely
to degrade and belittle. However, this chapter shows otherwise. In our
analysis, we found much data in support of the positive rather than the
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may vary according to societal demands and needs but her inclination
Lee Siew Chin, MESL, is a senior lecturer at the Centre for Literacy and
and curriculum design. She specialises in language and media and she
Malaysia).
blackmail 24 impersonation 70
body shaming 36, 37, 42, 80, 85 insult 24, 45
bullying 19, 26, 63, 65 Internet Firestorms 28
bully persona 70
masquerading 24
Critical Discourse Analysis 83, 84
curse 24 networked individualism 80
cyberbullying 10, 12, 17-20, 23,
26, 52, 55, 64, 70, 72 power asymmetry 18
cyberharassment 19
cyberstalking 24, 70 repetition 18
defamation 24 self-deprecation 85
defence 24 self-realisation 89
deprecation 82 sexual talk 24
stalking 12
encouragement 24
trolling 71
fatphobia 38, 46
fat shaming 38-39, 41-42, 44 victim mentality 68
victim persona 67
food metaphors 93 victim’s self-frame 73