







































Asian Themes in Social Sciences Research 
ISSN: 2578-5516 

Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 34-43 
2018 

DOI: 10.33094/journal.139.2018.12.34.43 
© 2018 by the authors; licensee Online Academic Press, USA 

34 
© 2018 by the authors; licensee Online Academic Press, USA 

  

 
 
 
 

Mitigating Cyber Sexual Harassment: An Insight from India 
 
 
 

Deepa Sethi1* --- Sanchita Ghatak2 

 

*1Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, India 

 
2Assistant Professor, Jaipuria Institute of Management, Lucknow, India 

 
 

 
 

Abstract 

Cyber Sexual Harassment (CSH) can be defined as the use of the internet to make uninvited 
advances, communications or interactions with another person or entity. This can be in 
various forms like unsolicited posts and comments on social media sites, emails, texts, graphic 
images and posts directed at the victim, instant messaging etc. This study mainly focuses on 
finding out the awareness about gender based cyber sexual harassment so that the perception 

of women on cyber-crime with reference to Indian psyche and their awareness level can be 
understood. It tries to find gaps between the perception and reality of these incidents and 
finally develop a preliminary self-help model to follow before pursuing legal action. The 
findings of the research will draw a path for women to understand that they should not 
ignore the harasser if they fall a prey to CSH and be sensitized with the action to be taken in 
such cases. 
 
 

Keywords: Cyber sexual harassment, Internet, Victim. 
Licensed:  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.  

 
1. Introduction 

Staying connected with geographically distant friends and relatives had never been so easy. The advent of 
internet as a technology to enable easy and quick communication, has brought in big snags along with it. 
While we are happy to find our lost friend after 2-3 decades, communication with some new ones, we 
sometimes fall prey to some strangers who by their obnoxious online behavior tend to seize our mental peace, 
self-esteem and even leave us wondering if the incident that happened was really worth it. It gets us to a 
feeling of embarrassment and humiliation. 

This has become a very common problem all the more with coming up of web 2.0 technology which 
basically promotes synchronous communication and interactivity. Web 2.0 platform has given rise to very 
important advances in communication these days, the social media sites and apps like Facebook, twitter, 
WhatsApp etc. which if used in a constructive way improve efficiency and effectiveness but have a deleterious 
side too. These promotes sexual harassment on the internet which is predominantly called Cyber Sexual 
Harassment (hereinafter to be mentioned as CSH). 

CSH can be defined as the use of the internet to make uninvited advances, communications or interactions 
with another person or entity. This can be in various forms like unsolicited posts and comments on social  
media sites, emails, texts, graphic images and posts directed at the victim, instant messaging etc.  

This has been identified to be of the following types:- 
1. Gender Harassment: it can be of verbal and graphic types. It is described unsolicited verbal and 

visual comments and remarks that abuse individuals because of their gender or is a stimuli to invoke 
negative sentiments. 

https://www.doi.org/10.33094/journal.139.2018.12.34.43


Asian Themes in Social Sciences Research 2018, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 34-43 

 

35 
© 2018 by the authors; licensee Online Academic Press, USA 

2. Unwanted Sexual Attention: it happens when the harasser uses personal communication for 
conveying sexually inclined messages like: 

• victim’s sex organs 

• victim’s sex life 

• intimate subjects 

• sex-related images or sounds  

• hint upon or offer sex-related activities. 
Further, a harasser who uses unwanted sexual attention to harass a victim online, intends to solicit sexual 
support from his/her victim either on the internet or in person.  

3. Sexual Coercion: This is a very common form of sexual harassment on internet. In this, the victim is 
forced or pressurized to provide sexual cooperation. This is done by various means like putting 
threats on family members, of victim’s social status etc. 

 

2. Literature Review 
Some different form of sexual harassment on net are Virtual Rape via Cyberspace, Cyber Morphing, Cyber 

Pornography, Cyber Defamation (HalDer and JaishanKar, 2009; Calvete, Orue,Estévez, Villardón and Padilla, 
2010; Agarwal 2013; Beckman, Hagquist, and Hellström, 2013; Bastiaensens et al., 2014; Citron, 2014; 
Fenaughty and Harré, 2013).It has been found that violence against women specifically sexual abuse on 
women are becoming grave day by day. Internet adds up to this form of crime against women. United nation 
describes sexual harassment as "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, 
physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary 
deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life (Empowering women against cyber-
violence 2011). 

Further to this, Majumdar (2003) suggested that violence against women is neither cultural nor region 
specific, rather it spreads across all class and community. It has also been observed that women as compared to 
men face more of online sexual harassment simply because of gender issue (Nussbaum, 2010; Citron, 2014; 
Cross, 2014). According to Halder et al (2010), it has been observed that many such crimes are the result of 
women sharing their personal details, passwords etc. sometimes due to less awareness of such crimes or due to 
pressure from family (spouse) or friends(specially boyfriends or ex- mates). Such cases are increasing all the 
more because people are aware that there is no clear law against such crime as compared to law against rape or 
physical violence (Walia 2013). In a very interesting study by Meyer and Cukier (2006) with some fake male 
and fake female ids of Facebook, it was found that female ids get more sexually explicit and offensive 
comments as compared to male, which shows that it’s because of the gender issues that such crimes are getting 
patronage. So gender becomes an important aspect to consider while studying cyber sexual harassment (Chen, 
Zhou, Zhu, and Xu, 2012; Yang, Kiang, Chen, and Li, 2012; Dadvar and de Jong, 2012; Dinakar, Reichart, and 
Lieberman, 2011; Dinakar, Jones, Havasi, Lieberman, and Picard, 2012; Ptaszynski et al., 2010; Reynolds, 
Kontostathis, and Edwards,2011; Dadvar,Jong de, Ordelman, and Trieschnigg, 2012) because in any case 
maximum victimization has been on women only. 

Some studies have recently reported that these are some common crimes women face on internet 
specifically on social media sites flaming(displaying hostility by insulting, swearing or using otherwise 
offensive language) on YouTube (Moor, Heuvelman, and Verleur,2010) , less accountability by means of 
anonymity ((Lapidot-Lefler and Barak, 2012; Rowe, 2014; Santana, 2014), discourteous comments 
(Hmielowski, Hutchens, and Cicchirillo, 2014). 
Apart from these mentioned above some major researches on technology based sexual harassment are listed in 
Table 1. 

Thus it becomes all the more important for the women to know what are the do’s and don’ts while 
interacting on internet, which will help them to protect themselves from such incidents.  Not much research 
has been done on the field of CSH more specifically in the Indian context. In fact, there is a dearth of l iterature 
on measurement of magnitude of harassment and also type of harassment and the initial strategy of tackling 
the issues. 

This study mainly focuses on finding out the awareness about gender based cyber sexual harassment so 
that the perception of women on cyber-crime with reference to Indian psyche and their awareness level can be 
understood. It tries to find gaps between the perception and reality of these incidents and finally develop an 
action plan to follow before pursuing legal action. The findings of the research will draw a path for women to 
understand that they should not ignore the harasser if they fall a prey to CSH and be sensitized with the action 
to be taken in such cases. 
 
 
 
 
 

 



Asian Themes in Social Sciences Research 2018, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 34-43 

 

36 
© 2018 by the authors; licensee Online Academic Press, USA 

Table-1. Related studies. 

Technology-Facilitated Sexual 

Violence Victimization 
 Dimensions 

Studies Identified 

Online sexual harassment Ballard and Welch ;Baumgartner, Valkenburg, and Peter (2010), 
Burke, Wallen, Vail-Smith, and Knox (2011), Dreßing, Bailer, Anders, 
Wagner, and Gallas (2014), and Staude-Mu¨ller, Hansen, and Voss 
(2012) 

Gender- and sexuality-based 
harassment 

Ballard and Welch  

Cyber-obsessive pursuit Ballard and Welch , Burke et al. (2011), Dreßing et al. (2014), and 
Thompson and Morrison (2013) 

Image-based sexual exploitation Burke et al. (2011), Dreßing et al. (2014), Drouin and Tobin (2014), 
Drouin, Ross, and Tobin (2015), Ga´mez-Guadix, Almendros, Borrajo, 
and Calvete (2015), and Thompson and Morrison (2013) 

The use of a carriage service to 

perpetrate a sexual assault or coerce 
an unwanted sexual experience 

Baumgartner, Valkenburg, and Peter (2010), Ga´mez-Guadix et al. 

(2015), and Thompson and Morrison (2013) 

       Adopted from: Henry and Powell 2016. 
 

3. Research Methodology 
Qualitative methods are useful to investigate little known facts and cognize peoples’ complex existence 

(Morrow, 2007). With this view, we employed an inductive and exploratory qualitative approach, grounded in 
the experiences of women, to obtain initial insights as to how women can proceed when handling cyber sexual 
harassment. Researchers using quantitative value studies, that apply random and statistically representative 
sampling so that results can be generalized to populations. However, researchers doing qualitative analysis 
value the complexity of meaning provided by smaller, information-rich samples (Morrow, 2007; Sandelowski, 
1995). Consequently, qualitative research is carried out with smaller sample sizes and relies on purposeful 
sampling methods. The number of a qualitative sample size is less important than the quality of the data 
gathered in connection with the aim of the research. Thus, the sample size of the present work was fitting 
because of the exploratory nature of the study, the limited focus of the study, the information rich nature of the 
sampled individuals, the in-depth nature of the interviews, and the triangulation of the data sources and 
analytic approaches (Sandelowski, 1995). Therefore, data collection concluded when it reached a level of 
saturation and started creating redundancy (Corbin and Strauss, 2014). 

Thirty-two persons were identified for the study based on purposeful sampling. Each participant was 
asked if he/she was aware of cyber sexual harassment. Twenty persons agreed and hence they were chosen for 
further probing. Among the participants, ten were professionals from the age group 30-50 while ten were 
students from the age group 20-30. Having done so, an attempt was made to explore the responses to CSH by 
females and to find if there was any difference in the way the working-women responded as compared to those 
by female students. For this, 2 structured questions were asked to each participant.  
Participants were asked the following 2 main questions.  

1. What is cyber sexual harassment according to you? 
2. Have you faced cyber sexual harassment? If yes, what was your reaction? If no, how would you 

react if you ever face it? 
The participants were also asked to explain the effects of CSH on the victims. 
 

4. Data Collection, Analysis, and Writing   
In qualitative studies, the major concerns are: adequacy of data, including sufficient time in the field, in 

addition to sufficient volume and variety of evidence used as data, to substantiate the explanations made in 
analysis (Morrow, 2005). The data were composed of over 7 hours of individual interviews collected over a 1-
month period. We transcribed the interview verbatim. At first, interviews were analyzed using McLeod’s 
(2014) five-stage method. Stage one: immersion required reading and listening to interviews, to be sensitized 
to the respondents’ covert meanings and overt meanings. The next stage: categorization comprised coding 
sections of the transcripts that highlighted meaning relevant to the study. Further the stage: 
phenomenological reduction consisted of reducing meaning units into important the mes. Stage four: 
triangulation involved comparison of themes with one another and to raw data to isolate the more important 
themes from the less important ones. In stage five: interpretation, themes were compared with existing 
literature.  

The investigation began with immersion, probing each detail of the data to develop a strong foundation in 
the data (Corbin and Strauss, 2014). Next, in open coding, raw data were broken down into convenient 
analytical fragments to enable the identification of basic concepts (Corbin and Strauss, 2014).Codes were 
developed on the basis of words used by the participants. Thereafter, axial coding was done and the data were 
put back together again by linking the codes to one another and forming categories. To understand the 



Asian Themes in Social Sciences Research 2018, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 34-43 

 

37 
© 2018 by the authors; licensee Online Academic Press, USA 

categories better, data and codes were systematically compared. Lastly, selective coding was carried out, in 
which a core category was selected and its relationship with the major categories was extrapolated. Core 
category related to all other categories, it occurred frequently in the data, it related to other categories, and it 
was generalizable to other phenomena. Thus it was done as per suggested by Corbin and Strauss (2014).  

A visual model of the plan of action was developed to represent the participants’  responses to CSH. As is 
typical of grounded-theory methods (Glaser and Strauss, 1967), the authors searched for disconfirming 
evidence within the data for the analytical framework and evolving model.  
 

5. Findings 
Participants’ responses were mainly focused on CSH faced by them or known to them on social 

networking sites. The responses were studied for common word usage, similar ideas, and shared meanings to 
discern emerging themes.  

When enquired what cyber sexual harassment is according to them, 75% of the respondents stated that 
posting of lewd comments, obscene photographs, images and videos without permission in order to cause 
mental abuse referred to cyber sexual harassment. Table 2 highlights a few indicative statements by the 
respondents: 
 

Table-2. Responses. 

R3 Corporate HR Another form of this can be imposing sexual images, referring private body 
parts or sex organs, sending indecent images etc. 

R4 Doctor Offensive and bad posts and photographs. 
R8 Corporate Trainer In my view, cyber sexual harassment is targeting an individual and exerting 

abusive comments in the form of voice or video. 
R11 Student As much as I know, there have been instances of men passing lewd comments 

in a chat and of them sending vulgar messages, pictures and videos through 
social media sites. 

R14 Student Posting obscene-morphed pictures of people. People who perpetrate this act, 
steal photographs of victims from social media websites, edit it and circulate it 
online. 

R20 Student Cyber Sexual Harassment, for me, means for example someone uploading 
someone’s nude pictures without permission. 

  Source: Responses from Respondents. 

 
The remaining 25% believed that cyber sexual harassment is every activity which is sexual in nature see Table 
3. 
 

Table-3. Responses. 

R10 Freelancer According to me, if any gender makes any unwanted sexual advance 
towards the opposite gender on net like chat rooms, Facebook or 
WhatsApp, it is Cyber Sexual Harassment. 

R19 Student According to me it's unwelcome use of information technology for 
sexual violence and cyber stalking which is sexual in nature. 

     Source: Responses from Respondents. 

 
They were further asked if they have ever faced CSH, what their reaction was or if not, how they would 

react. To this it was found majorly the following three actions are generally taken or thought about as a step 
see Table 4. 
 

Table-4. Actions taken by respondents. 

1. Blocked the person 38%  
2. Reportedabuse/ReportedtoCyber Cell Or Police 52% 
3. Too legal action 10%  

      Source: Responses from Respondents. 

 

6. Discussion 
The study clearly indicates that most of the participants understood CSH as an act of posting comments, 

pictures and videos, lewd and offensive in nature; while a few others also stated that Cyber Sexual 
Harassments was any kind of sexual advance online. Experts in the field were consulted and their 
understanding of CSH was made note of. 

When a practicing advocate was requested to opine on her views on what CSH is, she stated, “The 
recently enacted "The Sexual harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) 
Act, 2013 defines “sexual harassment” (Section 2 (n) as it includes any one or more of the following 
unwelcome acts or behaviour (whether directly or by implication) namely:- {i) physical contact and advances; 



Asian Themes in Social Sciences Research 2018, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 34-43 

 

38 
© 2018 by the authors; licensee Online Academic Press, USA 

or (ii) a demand or request for sexual favours; or (iii) making sexually coloured remarks; or (iv) showing 
pornography; or (v) any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature; Therefore, 
any such act when committed with the help of computer or technology could be cyber sexual harassment. 
Further, the Information Technology Act, 2000 (amended in 2008) also relates to cyber offences. Cybercrimes 
relating to women includes: harassment via emails, cyber-stalking, cyber pornography, defamation, morphing, 
email spoofing. We had Section 66A of this Act recently being struck down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in 
Shreya Singhal’s case.”If somebody is booked under Section 66A, the person can face up to 3 years of 
imprisonment along with a fine. 

But Section 66A has some problems.   
Section 66A is unclear and has some undefined terminology. The definition of   

• What is ‘insulting’ or ‘injurious’ is not clearly defined.  

• Is a rape threat a comment about physical appearance or maligning of public op inions? 

• Is ‘annoyance’ the same as ‘criminal intimidation’ or ‘enmity’?  

• Under whose purview does the defining of these ambiguous terms fall?  
Thus Internet advocates along with others who talk about freedom of expression as a human right find 

Section 66A directly contradiction these rights. 
In such a case the following sections can be used. 
Section 509: Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman. 
Section 499: Defamation: Harming the reputation of a person through words, signs, or visible 
representations. Many women bloggers and Tweeters say that the violent sexist slander they receive goes on 
to create an irrecoverably negative message for them within their communities, societies, etc.  
Section 503: Criminal Intimidation: One of the most widespread incitements to violence against women on 
the Internet is through the form of rape threats. 
Section 507: Criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication : Rape threats – and other threats of 
violence – where the harasser is unknown (useful in a cyber world of ‘trolls’ and fluid identities) can be 
addressed under this section. 
Section 228a: Disclosure of the identity of victims of certain offences: Disclosure of the identities of rape 
victims is prohibited by law. Images of rape victims as well as images and videos of rape are sometimes 
published on the Internet to silence victims and intimidate other women – this is not legal. 

Another advocate described CSH as, “According to me any sexual advances through cyberspace are 
sexual advances through online chatting, recording online audio/video or chatting history of private 
conversation between the parties, and later on using the same for any kind of emotional torture, blackmail, 
etc. Even now a day’s one, hacking of social media accounts and sending morphed pics, video and sexual 
contents are different kind of sexual harassment incidences. Many times when the any individual by using fake 
identity on social media, develops intimacy and thereafter start blackmailing or sending sexually coloured 
communications is also covered under cyber sexual harassment.” He shared his experience related to CSH in 
the words, “One of my clients faced such a harassment from his own husband with whom he was having very 
strained relationship and were fighting criminal cases against each other. And the husband started sending 
the video clips and pics which they shares online or online video chatting between them during courtship, 
which was nothing but private moments between the engaged couple. We had very hard time to get th e 
criminal case registered but in vain even the so called cyber cell of the Police was also of no help. Finally we 
could not register any FIR for cyber sexual harassment and under I.T. Act. In between however when we 
started pursuing the matter, few times police personal had called the husband to ask his version, which put 
him under pressure and finally the matter was mutually settled and the divorce was done. The young girl, 
decided not to pursue the matter. That was the only experience I have, which I encountered with the 
administration and the experience was very bad. If at all I face such an act, I will definitely take the issue to its 
conclusion, by moving to court by filing criminal complaint, and would not prefer FIR.”  

The District Child Protection Officer of a state shared, “When any words, pictures, movies or something 
disturb/harass mentally or psychologically through the content of any cyber media including WhatsApp, mail 
or any other digital media - considered as CSH. The help of Cyber Cell is taken in cases of CSH.” 

The study also found that each participant, irrespective of whether she is a working woman or a student 
would respond to Cyber Sexual Harassment in a no-nonsensical manner.  

Following major themes emerged from the participants’ responses on what they do in cases of CSH: 
 
6.1. Identifying the Act of CSH 

Most of the participants (90%) stated that it is necessary to understand the undesirable advances of an 
individual right in the beginning. The moment the initial “innocent” compliments on  one’s beauty turn into 
comments related to one’s physical stats, one should beware and strictly communicate one’s discomfort to the 
sender. This has also been identified in studies by Harriot 2010, Shaw 1990. 
 
 
 



Asian Themes in Social Sciences Research 2018, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 34-43 

 

39 
© 2018 by the authors; licensee Online Academic Press, USA 

6.2. Blocking the Person 
Participants opined that if it is found that merely communicating discomfort is not working, the contact 

can very well be blocked to avoid further annoyance. Blocking the contact gives an opportunity to the sender 
to own up for one’s mistake (if it is) and apologize. Moreover, it is also an attempt of a female to follow a 
procedure to escalate the matter in future, if need arises. Thesis a reiteration of what Simons, R.N. (2015) in 
his study said. 
 

6.3. Reporting Abuse & Seeking Assistance from Cyber Cell/Police 
Reporting abuse is the next step to ensuring virtual safety from lecherous comments. It sends an 

indication that the sender has been annoying one and that an action is needed to keep the sender’s actions in 
check. Seeking assistance from the Cyber Cell/Police facilitates in bringing the culprit to task. Ways of 
responding to such incidents also appear in a website by Robinson and Segal (2016) The study found that 
whether the female is working or studying, she agreed to involve the Cyber Cell/Police in handling matters 
related to CSH without any intimidation. A respondent – a student, said, “I have personally never faced cyber 
sexual harassment but I came pretty close to it once. My immediate reaction was to block all my data in social 
networking sites from the outside world. I researched on the dark side of internet and how the world of cyber-
crime works. I will be very upfront about it. With so much data in cloud and so many means of distorting data 
prevalent in modern times, I would certainly try to stop the crime from happening to other victims.” Her 
statement clearly indicates the courage with which she would face the situation by not only taking the right 
measures to combat it but also to make others aware by exposing such acts of lewdness.  
 
6.4. Taking Legal Action 

There were varied views related to the existing laws in India to take care of CSH. Only two participants 
(participant 6 & 8), both professionals, indicated the importance of legal action in dealing with cases of CSH. 
However, according to participant 10, a professional woman in the age group of 30-50, who had faced an act of 
CSH, “Cyber law is not as strict as we read and it has lots of loose ends.”  

The study also highlights the effects of CSH on victims. Probing into the issue of CSH and reviewing the 

literature, it was found that though there is some awareness level but often the intensity and seriousness is 

undermined (Sheryl, Michelle , Aneta and Jessica, 2014) 

Following are the two crucial effects as identified by the victims: 
 
1. Mental Torture 

When there was a probe into the effects of CSH, the experiences narrated were quite painful to make note 
of. How much mental torture can a person undergo is quite evident from what was shared by participant 1, a 
dentist by profession, now working with a multinational . She stated, “Yes. I had no time to react but undergo 
third degree torture by my extended family for all possible worst case scenarios they could imagine. I had to 
undergo dope test, gynaecological examinations, and Psychiatry trials to be certified as "GOOD". Anyway my 
body has been tough enough to take all this non sense and mentally dint break down and give up. Anyway I 
would say this has helped me develop a NEVER GIVE UP ATTITUDE. People who knew every bit of what 
I went through today think maybe they were wrong. On a lighter note I now have a FB account. But this time 
any harassment by any one in any form my family has promised me that they will definitely ensure that the 
necessary price is borne by whoever does so.” 

A review of various studies strengthened that cyber sexual harassment is always not sexual in nature. It 
creates other kind of mental and psychological trauma as well  (Blumenfeld and Cooper, 2010; Finn, 2004; 
Hinduja and Patchin, 2008; Lindsay and Krysik, 2012). 
 
2. Damage to Relationship and Trust 

CSH surely contributes in damaging relationship and trust. It has been reconfirmed in the literature Idris 
et al (2012). In the current survey one of the participants said, “Another incident that I would like to quote 
here is of a friend, a couple of years older. She had just got engaged when her ex-boyfriend hacked her FB 
account (he had the password), put up a profile pic of the girl and the guy sitting together intimately, 
messaged all her friends and relatives from her account that she was getting married forcefully. We reported 
her profile as spam and the account was blocked by FB. The girl’s family filed a complaint, and the guy was 
tracked and put behind bars. The girl’s engagement, however, fell off.” It was not the falling off of the 
engagement that tormented her and her family but the irreparable damage caused to their trust in 
relationships.  
 

7. Conclusion & Recommendations 
Based on the study, the researchers propose the following action plan as an initial strategy to combat CSH 

before taking a formal legal action see Figure 1: 



Asian Themes in Social Sciences Research 2018, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 34-43 

 

40 
© 2018 by the authors; licensee Online Academic Press, USA 

 
Figure-1. Primary Action Plan (IBR). 

                                               Source: Model Developed by researchers. 
 

Identify 
It is imperative to identify acts of CSH in the nascent stage. Women, in particular, girls, often ignore or 

delete the unwanted posts, photographs, and videos. This generally encourages the abuser and makes them 
bold enough to post more of these and with even more intensity. It is advisable not to react or respond t o any 
such material. 
 
Block 

One needs to remember that most of the social networking sites are equipped with the ‘block’ action, by 
way of which the abuser can be blocked from one’s account. “Blocking is a strategy that deals with the abuse 
on an individual basis, rather than bringing out its structural foundations” (Kovacs, Padte and Shobha 2013). 
 
Report 

There are mechanisms to report abuse on the social networking sites. To be specific, Facebook has a 
mechanism in place that permits users to report abuse, whether it is for harassment on chat or if abusive 
comments are being posted on the wall or if any content is considered inapt.  

It is further suggested that in case the victim is skeptical about reporting the abuse to legal authority as 
police due to various reasons like fear, perception that no action is taken or any other negative perception, 
saving face in society etc. the other option is to file a Public Interest Litigation ( PIL).  
PIL is a way of using the law strategically to effect social change. The benefits of PIL can be listed as: 
 
1. Provide Access To Justice: 

Many people are simply not in a position to take legal action themselves.  This may be due to personal, 
financial or time issues, or they may not be aware of their rights or who to take their complaint to, or they may 
not have the capacity to advocate for themselves. Such individuals can get access to justice by filing a PIL.  
 
2. Hold Government To Account: 

PIL can be used to challenge government policies and procedures that violate human rights or equality 
standards and to provoke the political system into responding to a problem it has hitherto ignored.  In doing 
so, it can help provide a check on government, statutory and public bodies, holding them to account for 
failures to uphold domestic and international human rights and equality standards to which they are bound.  
 
3. Raise Awareness: 

As well as providing legal redress, PIL is a useful way of raising awareness of issues.  A high profile case 
can prompt public debate and bring about pressure for social and legislative change outside the court room.  
 
4. Save Costs:  

Costs are a major factor for most people considering litigation. By taking strategic cases, PIL can create a 
positive impact for a wide group of people without each of them having to go before the courts themselves, 
thus saving time and money for both victims and the courts 

Though filing PIL can also be matters of public importance but as mentioned in literature The matters of 
private nature: may include: 

• Threat to or harassment of the petitioner by private persons, 

• Seeking enquiry by an agency other than local police,  

• Seeking police protection, 

• Early hearing of matters pending in High Court and subordinate courts and are not considered 
matters of public interest. 



Asian Themes in Social Sciences Research 2018, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 34-43 

 

41 
© 2018 by the authors; licensee Online Academic Press, USA 

Although it is convenient for women to ignore the abuse and the abuser, and further to shy away from the 
social networking sites to be safe from CSH, it is far from being advisable. One needs to understand one’s 
rights and act accordingly. Some non-legal actions have also been identified in a study by Phadke, 2010. 
 

8. Limitations and Implications 
Justlike the other qualitative studies, the conceptual action planresulting from this study is not proposed 

to generalize to large populations of persons. In fact, the conceptual action p lan is a unique combination of the 
participants, investigators, and the research context. Readers need to examine critically the evolving 
conceptual action plan proposed here in the context of their distinctive settings to decide if it transfers to their 
specific circumstances. The most obvious limitation of this study is the narrow geographic diversity of the 
participants. Accordingly, future research should include diverse expressions and which might address specific 
CSH perspectives to gain deeper insights into the topic. The researchers feel that variety of respondents based 
on culture will enhance the understanding of the issue. The study could provide holistic global insights if the 
respondents are from diverse backgrounds and different countries. The study records the responses of only 
female participants. The responses from males and the other gender may further add inputs to the current 
research. 

Despite the limitations of the present study, many implications exist for future research, practice, and 
training. Most of the past scholarly work related to CSH has been conceptual rather than empirical. Future 
studies may contribute to a growing knowledge base by providing women with empirically based guidelines 
for combating CSH. Moreover, a strong qualitative groundworkaims at providing a foundation for mixed 
methods research and quantitative-outcome research. This study addressed a question that had yet to be 
examined in the current literature on CSH: How do victims of CSH integrate the action plan proposed in the 
study. The conclusion and recommendations have valuable implications for research and training.  
 

References 
Agarwal, R. (2013). Cyber crime against women and regulations in India. Available from: 

http://www.tmu.ac.in/gallery/viewpointsdcip2013/pdf/track4/t -403.pdf.    
Barak, A. (2005). Sexual harassment on the internet. Social Science Computer Review, 23(1): 77–92. 
Bastiaensens, S., Vandebosch, H., Poels, K., Van Cleemput, K., DeSmet, A. & DeBourdeaudhuij, I. 

(2014). Cyberbullying on social network sites. An experimental study into bystanders' behavioural 
intentions to help the victim or reinforce the bully. Computers in Human Behavior, 31: 259-271. 

Baumgartner, S. E., Valkenburg, P.M. & Peter, J. (2010). Unwanted online sexual solicitation and risky sexual 
online behaviour across the lifespan. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 31: 439-447. 

Beckman, L., Hagquist, C. & Hellström, L. (2013). Discrepant gender patterns for cyberbullying and 
traditional bullying: An analysis of Swedish adolescent data. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(5): 
1896–1903. 

Blumenfeld, W. J. & Cooper, R. M. (2010). LGBT and allied youth responses to cyberbullying: Policy 
implications. International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, 3: 114–133. 

Burke, S.C., Wallen, M., Vail-Smith, K. & Knox, D. (2011). Using technology to control intimate partners: 
An exploratory study of college undergraduates. Computers in Human Behavior, 27: 1162-1167. 

Calvete, E., Orue, I., Estévez, A., Villardón, L. & Padilla, P. (2010). Cyberbullying in adolescents: Modalities 
and aggressors’ profile. Computers in Human Behavior, 26(5): 1128–1135. 

Chen, Y., Zhou, Y., Zhu, S. & Xu, H. (2012). Detecting offensive language in social media to protect adolescent 
online safety. In Privacy, Security, Risk and Trust (PASSAT), International Conference on Social 
Computing (SocialCom). pp: 71–80. 

Citron, D. K. (2014). Hate crimes in cyberspace. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 
Corbin, J. & Strauss, A. (2014). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing 

grounded theory. 4th Edn., Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 
Cross, K. A. (2014). Ethics for cyborgs: On real harassment in an “unreal” place. Loading..., 8(13). Available 

from: http://journals.sfu.ca/loading/index.php/loading/article/view/140 . 
Dadvar, M. & de Jong, F. (2012). Cyberbullying detection: A step toward a  safer internet yard. In Proceedings 

of the 21st International Conference Companion on World Wide Web. pp: 121–126. 
Dadvar, M., Jong de F., Ordelman, R. & Trieschnigg, D. (2012). Improved cyberbullying detection using 

gender information. In Proceedings of the Twelfth Dutch-Belgian Information Retrieval Workshop, 
pp. 23–25. 

Dinakar, K., Reichart, R. & Lieberman, H. (2011). Modeling the detection of textual cyberbullying. In The 
Social Mobile Web. Available from: 
http://www.aaai.org/ocs/index.php/ICWSM/ICWSM11/paper/download/3841/4384  

Dinakar, K., Jones, B., Havasi, C., Lieberman, H. & Picard, R. (2012). Common sense reasoning for detection, 
prevention, and mitigation of cyberbullying. ACM Transactions on Interactive Intelligent Systems, 
2(3): 18:1–18:30. 

http://www.tmu.ac.in/gallery/viewpointsdcip2013/pdf/track4/t-403.pdf
http://journals.sfu.ca/loading/index.php/loading/article/view/140
http://www.aaai.org/ocs/index.php/ICWSM/ICWSM11/paper/download/3841/4384


Asian Themes in Social Sciences Research 2018, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 34-43 

 

42 
© 2018 by the authors; licensee Online Academic Press, USA 

Doll, J. & Giumetti, G.W. (2015). Cyber-sexual harassment: Effects on affect, engagement, and performance. 
Academy of Management Journal, 20(1): 79–98. 

Dreßing, H., Bailer, J., Anders, A., Wagner, H. & Gallas, C. (2014). Cyberstalking in a large sample of social 
network users: Prevalence, characteristics, and impact upon victims. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, 
and Social Networking, 17: 61-67. Available at:10.1089/cyber.2012.0231.  

Drouin, M. & Tobin, E. (2014). Unwanted but consensual sexting among young adults. Computers in Human 
Behavior, 31: 412–418. 

Drouin, M., Ross, J. & Tobin, E. (2015). Sexting: A new digital vehicle for intimate partner aggression? 
Computers in Human Behavior, 50: 197–204. 

Fenaughty, J. & Harré, N. (2013). Factors associated with distressing electronic harassment and 
cyberbullying. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(3): 803–811. 

Finn, J. (2004). A survey of online harassment at a university campus. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 
19(4):468-83 

Gamez-Gaudix, M. Almendrios, C. & Borrajo, E.C. (2015). Prevalence and association of sexting and online 

sexual victimization among Spanish adults. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 12(2): 145–154. 

Glaser, B. G. & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. 
Chicago, IL: Aldine. 

Halder, D. & Karuppannan, J. (2009). Cyber socializing and victimization of women, 5-26. Available from: 
http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/1450-6637/2009/1450-66370903005H.pdf. 

Halder, D & K. J. (2010). Cyber victimization in India. A Baseline Survey Report. Tamil Nadu: Centre for 
Cyber Victim Counselling, 1-22. Accessed on: 17 July 2014. Available from: 
http://www.cybervictims.org/CCVCresearchreport2010.pdf .  

Harriot v. National Money Mart Co, (2010). supra, note 12. Available from: 
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/so/node/10279.  

Henry, N. & Powell, A., (2016). Technology-facilitated sexual violence: A literature review of empirical 
research. Trauma Violence Abuse, 19(2): 195-208. Available at: 10.1177/1524838016650189.   

Hinduja, S. & Patchin, J. W. (2008). Cyberbullying: An exploratory analysis of factors related to offending and 
victimization. Deviant Behavior, 29(2): 129-156. 

Idris, M. A., Dollard, M. F., Coward, J. & Dormann, C. (2012). Psychosocial safety climate: Conceptual 
distinctiveness and effect on job demands and worker psychological health. Safety Science, 50(1): 19-
28. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2011.06.005.  

Kovacs, A., Padte, R.K. & Shobha, S.V. (2013). An exploratory study of women and verbal online abuse in 
India. Internet Democracy Project, New Delhi, India. 

Lapidot-Lefler, N. & Barak, A. (2012). Effects of anonymity, invisibility, and lack of eye-contact on toxic online 
disinhibition. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(2): 434–443. 

Lindsay M. & Krysik, J. (2012). Online harassment among college students: A replication incorporating new 

Internet trends. Information Communication and Society, 15(5): 703-719. 

Lindsay, M., Booth, J. M., Messing, J. T. & Thaller, J. (2015). Experiences of online harassment among 
emerging adult’s emotional reactions and the mediating role of fear. Journal of Interpersonal 
Violence, 31(19): 3174-3195. 

Majumdar, S. (2003). Sexual control and violence. The Tribune (Chandigarh) 10-Aug-2003. 
McLeod, J. (2014). Doing research in counseling and psychotherapy. 3rd Edn., London, UK: Sage. 
Meyer, R. & Cukier, M. (2006). Assessing the attack threat due to IRC channels. In Proceedings of the 

International Conference on Dependable Systems and Networks. pp: 467–472. 
Moor, P.J., Heuvelman, A. & Verleur, R. (2010). Flaming on YouTube. Computers in Human Behavior, 

26(6): 297-315. 
Morrow, S. L. (2005). Quality and trustworthiness in qualitative research in counseling psychology. Journal of 

Counseling Psychology, 52: 250–260. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.52.2.250.  
Morrow, S. L. (2007). Qualitative research in counseling psychology: Conceptual foundations. The Counseling 

Psychologist, 35: 209–235. http://dx .doi.org/10.1177/0011000006286990 
Myiah, J. H., Vincent, J. C. & Jay, D. H. (2014). How could you think that?: Understanding intentions to 

engage in political flaming. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 17(8): 1201-1219. 
Nussbaum, M. C. (2010). Objectification and internet misogyny. In S. Levmore & M.C. Nussbaum (Eds.),  The 

offensive internet: Speech, privacy, and reputation, Cambridge, M.A.: Haward University Press. pp:  
68-87. 

Phadke, S. (2010). Non-legal strategies women use to deal with online abuse. Internet Democracy Project 
Report, New Delhi, India. pp: 1-5. 

Ptaszynski, M., Dybala, P., Matsuba, T., Masui, F., Rzepka, R., Araki, K. & Momouchi, Y. (2010). In the 
service of online order: Tackling cyber-bullying with machine learning and affect analysis. 
International Journal of Computational Linguistics Research, 1(3): 135–154. 

http://www.cybervictims.org/CCVCresearchreport2010.pdf
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/so/node/10279
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2011.06.005
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.52.2.250


Asian Themes in Social Sciences Research 2018, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 34-43 

 

43 
© 2018 by the authors; licensee Online Academic Press, USA 

Reynolds, K., Kontostathis, A. & Edwards, L. (2011). Using machine learning to detect cyberbullying. In 
Machine Learning and Applications and Workshops (ICMLA), 2011 10th International Conference 
on,  2: 241–244. 

Robinson, L. & Segal, J. (2016). Dealing with cyberbullying.  Available from: 
http://www.helpguide.org/articles/abuse/cyberbullying.htm.  

Rowe, I. (2014). Civility 2.0: A comparative analysis of incivility in online political discussion. Information, 
Communication & Society, 0(0): 1–18. 

Sandelowski, M. (1995). Sample size in qualitative research. Research in Nursing & Health, 18: 17 9– 183. 
Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/nur.4770180211.  

Santana, A. D. (2014). Virtuous or vitriolic. Journalism Practice, 8(1): 18–33. 
Shaw v. Levac Supply Ltd, (1990). Supra, note 17; Fornwald v. Astrographic Industries Ltd. (1996), supra, 

note 24 at D/322. Farris v. Staubach Ontario Inc., 2011, supra, note 23. Available from: 
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/book/export/html/10245.  

Sheryl, A. H.,  Michelle, T., Aneta, K. & Jessica, A.H. (2014). Predictors of traditional and cyber-bullying 
victimization a longitudinal study of Australian secondary school students. Journal of Interpersonal 
Violence, 30(15): 2567-2590. 

Simons, R.N. (2015). Addressing gender-based harassment in social media: A Call to Action Proceedings of the 
iConference. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/73743.  

Staude-Mu¨ller, F., Hansen, B. & Voss, M. (2012). How stressful is online victimisation? Effects of victim’s 
personality and properties of the incident. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 9(5): 517 –
519. 

Sheryl, A.H., Michelle, T.,  Aneta K. & Jessica, A. H. (2014). Predictors of traditional and cyber-bullying 
victimization a longitudinal study of Australian secondary school students. Journal of Interpersonal 
Violence, 30(15): 2567-2590. 

Thompson, M. P. & Morrison, D. J. (2013). Prospective predictors of technology-based sexual coercion by 
college males. Psychology of Violence, 3(3): 233-246. 

Walia, P. (2013). Facebook abuse tops cyber-crime chart in Punjab. Hindustan Times, June 30. 
Yang, M., Melody, K., Hsinchun, C. and Yijun, L. (2012). Artificial immune system for illicit content 

identification in social media. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and 
Technology, 63(2): 265-269. 

Ballard, M. E. & Welch, K. M. (2015). Virtual warfare cyberbullying and cyber-victimization in MMOG Play. 
Games and Culture. 

Haruna, I., Adaja, J., Samson, A. & Aye, G.A. (2016). Analysis of the causes and effects of sexual harassment on 
the performance of female employees in some selected organizations in Kogi State, Nigeria.  
International Journal of Democratic and Development Studies (IJDDS), 2(2):  31 -39. 

 
 
 

 

 

 

http://www.helpguide.org/articles/abuse/cyberbullying.htm
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/nur.4770180211
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/book/export/html/10245
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/73743

