ABSTRACT

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the issue of growing importance, technologically facilitated intimate partner violence. It explores how technology extends the reach of violence by intensifying the potential for surveillance and control within women's social and work lives. The book also explores the ways in which these behaviours are now becoming more common and severe, as they are being perpetuated through mob attacks and sustained and repeated attacks. It examines how the use of social media to threaten, demean, sexualise and trivialise women in politics draws upon pre-existing tropes and disadvantages women face within the political sphere in ways that further entrench barriers to women's political participation. The book provides critiques that serve as a counterpoint to dominant narratives and, in various ways, offer a critical feminist account of how we can move forward.