What New Risks Do Women Face in the Information Society?

Michel Foucault is undoubtedly one of the most influential surveillance theorists of the nineteenth century as he exemplified discipline through the panopticon in his publication; Discipline and Punish (1977). Although the panopticon originated from the English philosopher Jeremy Bentham, Foucault and Bauman incorporate this to understand and analyse the wider society (Farinosi, 2011). The underlying argument is the fact that panoptic principles define any realm demanding instructions, and consciously, these principles are apparent in modern society such as the closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras (Norris and Armstrong, 1999). Although we have witnessed technological innovations far superior to Bentham’s time, the principles of the panopticon are largely unchanged, this is imposed by the smartphone culture encouraging individuals, especially women, to monitor and observe the self to ‘fit in’ on social media (Mc Carthy, 1990).