Photo by Victoria Heath
When the internet was first born, there was a hope that the gendered differences that existed in the physical world would no longer exist in the online world. Sadly, this was not the case. In fact, offline violence against women manifested itself in the online world and it gave birth to online violence against women. According to Plan International Survey, online violence against women is increasing and this is true especially for social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, followed by messaging apps like WhatsApp.
According to a global figure, 58% of the girls and women who go online have experienced one or the other form of online violence. Many of the victims of online violence against women are teenagers and women under 26 years of age. This is especially true for countries like Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan and the US.
Platforms Where Online Violence Against Women Are Taking Place
Social media platforms that are used for connecting with each other are the platforms where women have faced the most amount of online violence. Most of the online violence has taken place on Facebook. Other platforms that have acted as a breeding ground for online violence against women include Instagram, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Twitter and TikTok.
What Is The Impact Of Online Violence Against Women?
Online violence against women is sometimes not treated with the same gravity as the violence against women in the physical world. Most often, the reason behind such a reaction is perfection is that just because it is online violence, it is virtual violence or something that is not real. However, this is not true.
The impact of online violence against women just like offline violence is real. Many victims have accepted that such violence has resulted in mental and emotional distress. In addition to creating mental suffering, it also limits the online participation of women. For instance, after facing such violence, one in five women have reduced the usage of social media after facing online violence. 12% of the women who face online violence have changed the way they express themselves on social media platforms. In addition to that, such violence also creates fear for their physical safety too. 39% of such victims suffer from low self-esteem and it can also hamper professional functioning too.
Online violence against women is a manifestation of misogyny and the patriarchal setup that exist in the physical world. Also, it is extremely easy to be anonymous on the internet and therefore, culprits often go unrecognized. However, it is possible to track such culprits through IP addresses which can be identified by using platforms like What Is My IP. It is important to create such awareness amongst the online users regarding the same to prevent online gendered violence.
The pandemic of Online Violence During Covid-19 Pandemic
During the Covid-19 pandemic, there was an increase in online violence against women. The skyrocketing of online violence can be cited to the fact that during the pandemic, people from across the world started spending more time online.
Even though online violence against women is not something new, it came into the limelight especially during the pandemic when the cases started rising. Online violence against women can take the form of online harassment, trolling, threats of rape, sexual harassment, doxing, hacking, online stalking and image-based abuse.
It is high time that social media platforms start taking online violence against women seriously and works towards providing a safe platform for women. Even though social media platforms allow the users to report for harassment, however, these handful of solutions are not enough and more needs to be done for ensuring the safety of women on the online platforms. It is important to focus on online gendered violence to take the situation under control. The effect of online violence is especially chilling when it comes to advocacy and free speech.
It further needs to be noted that most of the online violence against women go unreported. It is because in most countries online violence is not taken seriously and chances are extremely high that the culprit will go unpunished. Both the social and legal action towards such online violence can be described as insignificant that requires huge improvement. It is important to recognize such violence to ensure a safe online space for the women where they can participate freely to voice their freedom.
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