Cyber-Harassment Victimization Among South African LGBTQIA+ Youth

Abstract

Cyber-harassment victimization is one of today’s major problems affecting the wellbeing of youth, particularly those that identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, asexual and gender non-conforming (LGBTQIA+). This exploratory study aims to determine the nature of cyber-harassment victimization, its enablers, and the coping mechanisms that online platforms provide to prevent or stop cyber-harassment. An online survey of ninety (n = 90) LGBTQIA+ young adults of ages between 18 and 34 from South Africa reveals a high incidence of exclusion, outing and harassment, covering a wide variety of types, duration and experienced severity, taking place through text messaging and social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Most LGBTQIA+ youth resort to measures such as blocking, deleting offensive content and adjusting privacy settings to cope with cyber-victimization. Worryingly, the most severe effects of harassment such as depression, drug abuse, self-harm and suicide contemplation, have significant correlations with the harassment type used, harassment duration and harassment frequency. The paper discusses the implications for educational and social practice and future studies.