Book Review -Targeted and Trolled: The Reality of Being a Woman Online

Published: October 2015

Publisher: Transworld Digital

Format: Kindle

Source: Netgalley ARC

A feminist campaigner is sent death threats online at a rate of over fifty-per-hour. A woman who shares on social media her experience of rape, so that others might feel brave enough to speak out, is bombarded with abusive messages. More than a hundred female celebrities have their personal nude photographs stolen and published by hackers. The victims of these stories of trolling and internet crimes have just one thing in common: their gender.
Most of us use the internet every day, but we rarely stop and think about the way we are received there and whether the treatment of women online differs from the treatment of men. As a Buzzfeed journalist, Rossalyn Warren has first-hand experience of the sexism and misogyny targeted at women online – the insults about their appearance, the rape threats, and in some instances even stalking.
In Targeted and Trolled, Warren exposes the true extent of the global problem. Informative, empowering and inspiring, this book is both a shocking revelation of the scale of the problem and a message of hope about how men and women are working together to fight back against the trolls.

Review:

I was a little disappointed with this book. I just expected more, a more in depth study of trolling. I would have loved to read something I could really get my teeth into. Something delving into the psyche of those who feel the need to constantly ridicule others online while hiding behind anonymous profiles.

I thought this book would get to the heart of the issue and really explore the whys. Why do men feel the need to use sexual remarks when having an argument with the opposite sex online? Why is it when a girl is raped and the images are posted on line she is a slut and the men are almost pitied because they had such "bright futures"? I felt like this book didn't really try to answer or even investigate the real issues behind such behavior.

It was a short repetitive read:

This happened. It was really bad. It shouldn't have happened.
That happened. It was really bad. It shouldn't have happened.

Rinse and repeat.

Most of the stories are ones that you'll remember from the news. It just replays what happened and leaves it at that. So yes it can be hard to be a woman online but this book doesn't really delve into why that is which led to my 2 star rating.

Rating:

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆