Digital Violence Against Women

How many times did you hear on the news that a girl killed herself because of a stranger that has been "harassing" her or manipulating her, ruining her life?

Well, I heard about this many times, and even my textbook talked about these utterly disgusting things.

So, in today's post, we'll talk about digital harassment (or violence, choose whatever term you want), what it is, what it causes, how to prevent it and what to do if you or someone else experience/experienced this.

«What's Digital Violence?»

Well, digital violence is when a person, regardless their gender, suffer due to people characterised by aggressive or harmful behaviour towards them, throughout internet and social media.

It can manifest in many forms, which now I'll list and explain to you.

1. Cyberbullying - This term literally means electronic bullying, and this type of digital violence includes: on-line threats, hate speeches about the victim, negative comments under the victim's posts, and abusive, offensive messages about the victim made in an individual group, like a WhatsApp one, where (for example) some of the victim's classmates talk ill about him/her;

2. On-line Harassment - On-line harassment includes stalking, doxxing (sharing personal information without the victim's consent) and sending threatening messages to the victim (privately);

3. Hate Speech - Hate speech is the use of social media to promote discrimination, hate or violence against a specific group based on race, religion, gender... (many victims of hate speeches are principally that identify as another gender than their own one);

4. Revenge Porn - It's the sharing of explicit videos/images without the consent of the person who's in the specific video as a form of humiliation. For example, if a woman (who's used to sending nudes to her boyfriend) suddenly refuses to send them, he shares them on-line, and people start to insult her and humiliate her, ruining her life. So that's why it's important to not share these kind of pics, even though is someone you trust and love deeply;

5. Trolling - Trolling happens when you purposely provoke a person, to upset him/her;

6. Digital Manipulation or Coercion - This happens when someone manipulates the victim to share with him/her personal information and to do unwanted things (from the victim) with him/her, like sending pics, telling the girl to do it since he loves her. But, remember, DO NOT DO IT (as I said).

«What Does All This Cause?»

Well, dear, digital violence very often causes self-hatred, self-harm or, in extreme cases, suicide.

«How Do I Prevent It?»

To prevent digital violence to happen to you, follow these steps:

1. Use strong credentials such as a strong password (possibly a random mix of letter, number and special characters), and put all your own social media in a private mode, so that cyberbullies can't take screenshots of your posts or of your profile photo. If possible, don't give your phone number/email account/passwords/ID card's pics to strangers, since you don't know what they could do with them;

2. If a stranger contacts you throughout WhatsApp/Telegram/Instagram/TikTok etc., threatening you and insulting you, block and report them immediately, don't even respond to them, since they may be professional hackers;

3. Don't accept on Instagram/Pinterest/TikTok starnger friends' requests, since you don't know them, and can probably use your username/profile picture to pretend to be you.

«What Do I Do If This Happens To Me Or To Someone Else?»

Darling, I'm sorry you or someone are digital violence victims, and I guess you're feeling terrible about this.

But don't worry, help is always available!

I highly recommend you to talk about this to a trusted adult (family, teachers), to a therapist, or to a dear friend, who'll surely support you and help you get out of all this mess.

I was almost forgetting this part: REPORT YOUR DIGITAL BULLY.

Remember, you're not alone, okay?

There are a lot of people who I'm sure care enough about you to help you through this, so, don't worry.

You're safe.

That's all I had to say for today's post.

Have a good day/afternoon/evening/night!

-Rose❤️