“Imagine making a post on social media and suddenly you find your timeline or feed or personal messages full of hatred and abusive comments. It would leave you feeling exposed, vulnerable, hurt, scared or worse, feeling like you are not worth being around anymore.” Mandy Marshall.
Since the dawn of time, women have lived with violence and abuse in their homes and communities just because they are women. But now a new space and breeding ground for abuse has opened up – the digital space of social media and other online platforms.
The statistics are truly appalling: Between 16 and 58% of women and girls face digital violence which feeds into the global statistic of 1 in 3 women being abused in her lifetime (UN Women).
This year, the focus of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, which run from 25 November to 10 December, is on violence against women which is facilitated by technology. In this piece, Mandy Marshall, Director for Gender Justice, explains what Technology Facilitated Gender Based Violence is, how it impacts women and, vitally, what we can all do to limit it. You can also watch Mandy’s video for the 16 Days below.
Technology Facilitated Gender Based Violence (TFGBV)
‘Digital abuse or digital violence refers to any act that is committed, assisted, aggravated or amplified by the use of information communication technologies or other digital tools, that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, psychological, social, political or economic harm, or other infringements of rights and freedoms’, says UN Women. This is also known as “technology-facilitated violence against women” – a term that better reflects how technology can enable harm against women, both online and offline. With almost 5.5 billion people online and nearly as many on social media, it is important to know what Technology Facilitated Gender Based Violence is. It includes, but not limited to, online harassment, cyber stalking, cyber flashing, surveillance, deep fakes, revenge porn, violent pornography, trolling, threats, blackmail, doxxing*, online grooming, identity theft, sexist or misogynistic messages, sharing of intimate photos or messages, threats of rape, violence and death.
Online abuse is made possible via a variety of platforms, chats, social media and comment sections on websites and news articles. It also comes in the form of the production of deep fakes, most of which are women, in order to shame, coerce or blackmail them into doing something they wouldn’t otherwise do, or to ask for a ransom in return for not publishing the material. It can lead to offline abuse where stalking, threats to violence and rape become a reality. Women and girls also remove or restrict their presence online and their voices are minimised or lost.
TFGBV can be a sinister and dark place where abuse can pop up anywhere and shock you. Imagine making a post on social media and suddenly you find your timeline or feed or personal messages full of hatred and abusive comments. It would leave you feeling exposed, vulnerable, hurt, scared or worse, feeling like you are not worth being around anymore. It can be relentless and many countries around the world are struggling to keep up with legislation to prevent and stop online abuse.
According to UN Women, 90-95% of deep fakes are sexual images of women. Deep fakes cause considerable distress because of the similarity to the real person who suddenly find that they have to defend themselves over something that is not real. It can have severe consequences mentally, socially, physically and economically. Between 16 and 58% of women and girls face digital violence which feeds into the global statistic of 1 in 3 women being abused in her lifetime (UN Women).
This all comes into the global context of inequalities between women and men, boys and girls which exacerbate and fuel online inequality, sexism and violence and threats of violence. Some female journalists have had their voices silenced for fear of retribution.
Tech companies also need to take action and do more to protect everyone online. They need to remove harmful content sooner, respond rapidly when abuse is reported and have greater consequences for those who choose to abuse. The algorithms that promote sexist and misogynistic content need to be stopped. Tech companies need to put their values above the profit margins they make from adverts of viral videos/films and clips.
What can I do?
We all need to play our part in reducing TFGBV. So here are a few ideas of what action you can take.
1. Report abusive, sexist and misogynistic and misandrist posts. We need to reduce the permission space for sexism, abuse and misogyny online. This means if you see a sexist, abusive and/or misogynistic comment about a woman, then challenge it. This is especially true if you are a man. Challenging relentless posts is tiring and time consuming. Yes, we all need to pick our battles and decide what to engage with or not, but reporting a post takes seconds. If we all did this then tech companies and people being abusive would have that space reduced.
2. Ask Tech Companies to make online spaces safer for women. At the moment, tech companies’ responses are too slow, and a post can be viral in minutes. Tech companies hosting platforms need a faster response time, severe consequences for those who choose to abuse online and hold abusers to account. Ensuring the voices of women are heard in the safety procedures is important, and so hiring more women would be a move towards reaching this goal.
3. Support survivors who have been abused through technology. Don’t dismiss, minimise or reduce the impact of online abuse simply because it occurred online Take it seriously. Listen and report it with the agreement of the survivor. Signpost the survivor to services that can support them and help with what is needed.
4. Write to your politician or representative. If your country is still catching up with legislating against online abuse, then please write to your politician or representative about the issue, to ensure it is clear that online abuse is not tolerated anywhere.
5. Familiarise yourself with the signs of TFGBV. For example, is someone coercing you or someone you know to share images you don’t feel comfortable with? Is someone sending inappropriate messages? Is someone constantly asking you where you are and what you are doing? Does someone insist you have the locator on your phone so they know exactly where you are all the time? Are you being DM’d even though you’ve blocked the person? Is someone smearing you online? All of these are signs of technology facilitated GBV and they are not ok.
6. Teach children and adults about keeping themselves safe online and having zero tolerance for abuse. Teach about the warning signs of abuse, familiarity with reporting procedures, how to block people and validating a person’s identity before disclosing too much information about yourself online, not sharing bank account details, etc. to people you have only met online.
Online spaces should be a safe space for everyone. We can play our part in making and keeping that space safe by calling out abuse when we see it, reporting it, holding tech companies to account and making sure we are safe people ourselves. Together we can make a difference. We can reclaim the digital space.
Will you take action when you next see online abuse?
Need Help?
- If you have been a victim of online abuse, please speak out and get the help and support you need.
- The No More Global Directory is a directory of sexual and domestic abuse helplines and specialist services around the world. NO MORE Global Directory • NOMORE Global Directory.
- Take it Down assists with removing online nudes https://takeitdown.ncmec.org/.
- The https://www.chayn.co/global-directory offers a list of organisations globally working with survivors of GBV online and offline.
*Doxxing is publishing private or identifying information about an individual on the internet usually with malicious intent.
Feature image credit: UN Women
