Self-concept of Victims of Cybersexual Harassment on Instagram

Abstract

Cybersexual harassment is a form of harassment in online media due to the technology, internet, and social media advancement. The global use of social media and networks has risen the forms of harassment on social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Some forms of harassment that often occur on Instagram are posting content containing sexual subjects, inappropriate images or videos, and giving sexual comments, either in the comment columns or direct messages. This study aims to investigate the self-concept of victims of cybersexual harassment on Instagram. The method employed descriptive qualitative to understand the phenomenon of cybersexual harassment from the victim's perspective. Researchers applied the purposive sampling technique to determine subjects who met the set criteria as samples in this study. The data collection technique is in-depth interviews with 4 informants who have fulfilled the criteria and documentation to obtain data according to the research objectives. The results of this study indicate that victims of cybersexual harassment perceived negative self-concepts and positive as well in a portion. Those with negative self-concept had low self-confidence, felt unaccepted by their community, considered others better, preferred left alone, and found it difficult to express their feelings after encountering sexual harassment on Instagram. Meanwhile, those with positive self-concept felt that others had a good view of them, rarely compared themselves and perceived the strengths of others as motivation, obtained values to build a positive view of themselves, and had a positive attitude in interpreting and evaluating actions about the harassment they experienced.