2-04: Infiltrating Manosphere Telegram, Digital Sociology, and Inequalities in Tech & Crypto with Silvia Semenzin

This week's guest, Silvia Semezin, is an Italian researcher, activist, and writer living in Spain – yes, she's incredibly smart. First, in the intro, Norma discusses Wired article "Sex Workers Took Refuge In Crypto. Now It's Failing Them" and financial discrimination, and then shares some of her personal journey with PTSD and antidepressants and where she's at now. Then, we get to the interview. Silvia breaks down what digital sociology is and how she tries to keep up with the ever-changing tech landscape. Then she tells about her personal experience with image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) and writing, advocating, and passing a law criminalizing the nonconsensual distribution of intimate images – the first law in Italy with consent at its center. She explains how her own experience influenced her research and writing, including her own book co-written with Lucia Bainotti, Donne tutte puttane, which translates to "Women are Whores" (she explains the meaning in the episode) about IBSA. She tells us about infiltrating Telegram groups, finding hundreds of thousands of men sharing intimate images of women without their consent, and the media scandal that broke out when the research was published. Finally, she gets into her research on blockchain and her findings and concerns surrounding discrimination and inequalities in web3.

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https://www.silviasemenzin.it/

Her research – "The Use of Telegram for Non-Consensual Dissemination of Intimate Images: Gendered Affordances and the Construction of Masculinities":

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2056305120984453?fbclid=IwAR2dXakxqnNpHl0teIP1kv-aqgOlKA20KX-mqKCHf8BAApiBds8vDJ-nu-c

Silvia's other publications:

https://www.silviasemenzin.it/publications

Follow Norma Buster:

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Twitter @normabuster

OnlyFans https://onlyfans.com/normabuster

https://www.normabuster.com/

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Article Mentioned:

https://www.wired.com/story/sex-workers-crypto-failing-them/