Abstract:

Communication technology has brought together a number of problems in our lives, in addition to the facilities it has brought to us. Specifically with the spread of the use of social media, physical harassment has been transferred to the virtual media and has come to us as cyber harassment. The aim of this study is to reveal the social media platforms where women are exposed to cyber harassment, the causes and experiences of harassment, the emotional effects of harassment, the use of post-harassment social media and solutions for the prevention of cyber harassment. In this context, the research method has been adopted. In the study, using the patch sample method, 20 women participated in a deeply individual interview. The study applied a semi-configured conversation protocol as a data collection tool. All the talks were made face-to-face. According to the results, participants have been identified as being exposed to cyber harassment via Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. The forms of cyber harassment that participants are exposed to have been identified as capture of social media passwords, sending sexual/corruptive messages, spreading personal photos, videos and information, and continuous tracking. The reactions of participants who were exposed to cyber harassment were identified as anger, anxiety, sadness and fear. When the use of social media after cyber harassment is examined, it is determined that they have secreted/covered their social media accounts, not shared for a long time and removed their photos from their accounts. Participants also pointed out the causes of cyber harassment as the personal problems of the harassment, the problem of the former boyfriend/partner, uncertainty and unhappiness. At the end of the study, more research was proposed to increase women’s awareness of cyber harassment.