Sexualization and ridicule. Experiences of cyberbullying among young students through body mapping

Abstract

Introduction. The body, sensorially, and emotions are some of the analytical categories that have gained relevance in the study of gender violence, because asymmetries in power are associated with socio-emotional asymmetries that contribute to legitimizing and normalizing violence against those who embody devalued affective identities due to their gender, through emotions such as fear, sadness, shame, and guilt.

Objective. To reflect, from a gender perspective, on the relevance of body maps as a methodological tool for social research, to shed light on the ways in which students at the Colegio de Ciencias y Humanidades, Plantel Sur, experience cyberbullying.

Method. Body maps are a projective and creative technique focused on understanding the sensory, emotional, and relational mechanisms through which people express, experience, and interpret reality. In this research, 37 students designed a body map in which they illustrated a cyberbullying experience that they had personally experienced or that someone close, a family member or friend, had experienced.

Results. Some of the main findings of this research point to gender as a central variable for understanding identity and emotional norms in relationships between men and women. For their part, as a qualitative tool, body mapping offers an approach to the subjectivities of those who participated in the study regarding their ways of signifying and understanding cyberbullying on a level that transcends rational discourses surrounding this problem.

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