Serena Williams, one-half of the dominating tennis duo The Williams Sisters as well as a singles tennis phenom, has risen to the top of the athletic food chain as THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME female tennis player!! Serena is a force to be reckoned with. She has won hundreds of awards and titles including, most recently, winning her fourth singles Wimbledon title. Not only is Serena a beast on the court she has been successful in “in film, television, fashion and philanthropy” (“Serena,” n.d). She has worked hard and has risen her brand to the level of super-stardom that the mere mention of her first name, everyone knows who she is. SHE EATS, SLEEPS AND BREATHES HER BRAND, and like it or not, she is incredible!
UNFORTUNATELY, even with her level of accomplishment she is challenged, threatened, verbally attacked on a daily basis via social media. They talk about her hair, her body, HER EYEBROWS, her muscles and they even get at low as negatively commenting on her race. The more she excels, the more a subset of the public continues to bash her (Andraikos, 2015). Her every move is watched so much so that if she coughs wrong she will be attacked for it. Now is she a saint? No, but the level of cyber-bullying that occurs via social media is on the rise.
Cyber-bullying is defined as “is when a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the Internet, interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones” (Stop Cyber-bullying, n.d.). Although, we come to understand that cyber-bullying does not discriminate and anyone can be a target.
The other day I was on my phone looking at Facebook and my daughter came up and started looking over my shoulder. We came across a meme discussing Caitlyn Jenner. It is too aw
ful to repeat or repost, but my daughter was offended and said, “Mom, that is wrong and that’s cyber-bullying.” I looked at her and thought wow…this is coming from a girl who does not have any social media accounts, but she still understands what cyber-bullying is.
Social media, although with its original great intentions, has become a playground to attack any and everyone indiscriminately. The bullying comes in the form of tweets, Facebook posts/rants, memes, Celebrities are not the only ones being attacked. You hear about children and teens who are relentlessly bullied via social media. Some of these attacks have led to to attempted suicide while others have led to death.
NOW….what to do? How do we combat or stop cyber-bullying? What is the role of the host site? What is our responsibility? For celebs, unfortunately it’s par for the course of being in the public eye, BUT THERE IS A LIMIT. Those who are harassing and threatening physical harm should be reported (tagged) as an offender and reported to the web host for further action. If the attacks are persistent then there should be police involvement. In regards to our children, parental involvement is key to monitor the activities of children on social sites. The involvement needs to be on a level where it is recognized early on that inappropriate posts are taking place. Web hosts should have more parameters and embedded code that recognizes phrasing that could be considered harassing. On Instagram, as a preventative measure if you type the same phrase on several timelines within a short period of time you get placed on a “timeout” where you are given a one week recess from being able to post. This type of system needs to be in place on all social websites to track inappropriate behavior and flag abusers.
This needs to stop!! As Damali Elliott of The Huffington Post states “It’s no longer enough to shake your head or have a conversation with friends regarding recent events. Everyone who is against viral bullying of rape victims MUST take responsibility; and tweet, Instagram, blog, write letters and use every social media platform, to counteract hateful words that impact helpless teens” (2015).
References:
Andraikos, J. (2015, July 7). Serena Williams gives shout-out to her ‘haters’ and shows off bikini instagram after body-shaming controversy. People. Retrieved from http://www.people.com/article/serena-williams-instagram-body-shaming-comments
Elliott, D. (2014, July 13). #JadaCounterPose social media responsibility. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/social-media-bullying
Serena. (n.d.). Serena Williams. Retrieved from http://serenawilliams.com/
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