ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the prevalence of misogyny and rape culture among university students and its increasing prevalence online. It draws attention to the blurred legal boundaries concerning online communication, and the resulting legal and public-policy dilemmas that confront university administrators and government policymakers. The chapter proposes to reduce harmful online communication among young adults, it is essential to first understand the root causes that inform such behaviors. Feminist scholarship has highlighted the contradictory messages women and girls encounter on a daily basis. The chapter concludes with recommendations for educational, legal, and policy approaches that show promise in clarifying the boundaries between free expression, safety, privacy, protection, and regulation. It shows that these approaches outlined in this chapter could offer sustained guidance to policymakers and young people in lieu of the over-reactive legal frameworks currently emerging across North America that attempt to control non-consensual distribution of intimate images and cyberbullying.
