It’s funny how I’ve come to think that the internet isn’t really a dangerous place anymore, I used to be scared to death of it. Fears of the internet are definitely exaggerated and the media isn’t doing anything to help ease these anxieties. When looking at what makes the internet “dangerous” it always seems to boil down to girls getting into chat rooms, chatting with strangers, meeting up with said strangers and being taken advantage of. I’m in no way saying that this doesn’t happen and that PEOPLE aren’t taken advantage of and abused in this manner, I am however saying that it is far less likely for someone to come into contact with danger via the internet than just walking around outside, let’s say at night. Most perpetrators of violence and abuse know their victims, a fact that isn’t too well known amongst our society. Everyone thinks that it’s always strangers committing these acts, when in reality, it’s mostly people we come to know and trust in our day-to-day lives. A lot of people being misinformed and thinking things like this have to do with the media. Just like Edwards discusses in Victims, Villains and Vixens, the news is something that is a daily repetition that tells people what to think about, how to think about it and ultimately how to feel about it. As Edwards discusses, the news first defines our villains (predators online) and victims (young girls), then it confers the status of the issue by making it a known presence in the news outlets ad lastly heightens anxieties by extensive coverage. An example of where my initial statement and this idea from Edwards cross is in the case of “To Catch a Predator”. This is a show where police officers set up a sting where a female officer acts as a young girl, meets men in chat rooms, gets them to come to a house for sexual acts and then the male is taken down by police officers. By doing having this show the media has clearly defined the villain (men from chat rooms) and the victim (young girl). They never portray any other type of situation with any other sexes, for example men with young boys, females with young boy, females with young girls, etc. It is very evident that they, the media, think that only girls are subject to events like this after meeting someone in a chat room. After making this definition and getting people interested in what was being presented in the show, it then became a regular staple in the weekly programming and even sometimes airing a few times a week. Because of the frequency of the show the media was able to make it a prominent issue to the consumers (society) and was able to raise the level of anxiety of both young girls and parents of young girls.
Like Edwards went into in the article, the voice of the young people is often left out of the media and isn’t represented in a fair fashion. Because of this, society doesn’t have a true understanding of what types of young kids exactly are at risk and WHY they are actually at risk on the internet. Maybe it has nothing to do with sex, or parental supervision. Maybe there is a different correlation that people have been neglecting to look at or even consider just because it’s a younger group of people that is being discussed and let’s face it, our society generally neglects issues of both the younger and older generations because they just seem “out of line” to discuss.
To me I think the internet is a very dangerous place. I am not at all in disagreement that many times it is from girls going into chat rooms and not having the right parental supervision though. You are definately right that many crimes are committed by people that they know. I am glad I read your blog because it makes me look at my beliefs and evaluate them a little more than before. Just to comment on the catch a predator, they have had a few shows that have young men as the prey and older men as the predator. But you are right, I've never seen older women and younger men on any shows. Good Post!
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