Male Violence,Male Fantasy and the Commodification of Women through the Internet

Abstract

This article considers the construction of particular forms of masculinity and femininity in the context of a new global market for sex and marital trade via the Internet. The work arose from research conducted on disproportionate levels of violence against Filipino women in Australia; in particular, high victimisation rates in cases of spousal homicides compared to other Australian women. The research led to a consideration of the intersection between gender, ethnicity and first world/third world relations. Violence against Filipino women in Australia is examined with reference to the material and symbolic dimensions which shaped their experiences as immigrants and their postcolonial identities. The gendered and racialised nature of the movement of women across national boundaries, and their subsequent exposure to more extreme levels of violence, gives the research a broader focus than simply the experiences of Filipino women in Australia.

We pay particular attention to the Internet as a site for the representation of Filipino women and as a marketplace for buying and selling women. The Internet now represents a significant international site through which Filipino women are represented as partners for sex or marriage. The Internet also exemplifies the manner in which economic privilege and access to technological knowledge and resources reinforce hierarchies based in ‘race’ and gender and reproduce inequality within and through cyberspace.