Cyber abuse forces women and LGBTQIA+ to remain silent and ultimately offline: New study on TFGBV
“Available from 9XXXXXXXX. They wrote it in all the public toilets. Wherever they could, they wrote it down. I was getting 2,000 to 3,000 calls a day. Day and night.”
The horrifying words came from Supriya, a Kochi-based journalist who endured cyber abuse in a state considered the most “educated” in India and by far the most “developed” state in the Indian subcontinent. No, geography doesn’t matter. The development of non-digital places also plays no role. A middle-aged journalist who survived cyber violence in Kochi, Kerala, narrated her disturbing experience and said her number was circulated not only in digital spaces but also in non-digital places like public toilets.
Supriya was one of the survivors who recalled her traumatic experiences of online abuse and the eventual silencing of her voice online as a media person. The survivor spoke about extended justice and gender-based violence online in a report titled “Experiencing Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence in India: Survivor Narratives and Legal Responses” by global human rights organizations Equality Now and Breakthrough Trust.
The report, “Experiencing Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence in India,” interviewed not only Supriya, but several other survivors aged 13 to 40, with the aim of focusing on specific regions in India to highlight and reflect on general patterns of digital gender-based violence. It illustrated the growth of Digital violence The use of digital technologies is being promoted and is particularly aimed at women and LGBTQIA+ people from different backgrounds.
The survivors were young Dalit girls, tribal mothers, journalists, activists and LGBTQIA+ students from Kochi, Delhi, Patna, Hyderabad and other cities who were subjected to violations such as cyber abuse, trolling, cyberbullying, cyberstalking, morphing, identity theft exploiting anonymity, doxing, non-consensual intimate image distribution and dissemination of private or identifying information in various digital spaces. Survivors told harrowing stories of complete humiliation, barriers to career advancement, silenced voices, psychological impact and the pitfalls of a failed system that fails to protect women and marginalized people.
The Internet knows no borders
The beginnings of technology-induced gender-based violence research began with the idea of uncovering specific regions in India to identify patterns of cyber violence against women and queer people. The results showed that modern telecommunications networks or online platforms (chat rooms, emails and groups) and mobile phone providers (SMS/MMS) can be accessed anywhere and everywhere. The Internet knows no borders. So geography doesn’t really matter. Everyone has access to everything. The perpetrators escalate the abuse to the point where anyone located anywhere in the world can access information in different locations/geographical regions.
The beginning of technology-induced gender violence research began with the idea of uncovering specific regions in India to identify patterns of cyber violence against women and queer people.
The finding also found that location or geographical location had largely no influence on the nature of the crime/violence, its duration or the handling of legal cases. Let us consider the case of a survivor (woman) from Bihar, Patna (North Indian state). According to the research report, the cyber abuse occurred while the survivor was vacationing in Delhi (the national capital of India). Her case was registered in the state capital. However, she received a discontinuance notice from the Mumbai Police in Maharashtra (a western state of India) stating that the case had been officially closed. The investigative report revealed no further details about the conspiracy, leaving the survivor and her legal defense attorney in the dark as to why the case was dropped without anyone pleading guilty.
Source: FII
The second key finding of the geographically bound research study diagnosed two types of states: one in the high-level diapason and the other in the lower classes, in order to understand how the culture of an online world differs, potentially leading to diverse forms of technology-driven gender-based violence. The result was interesting, but also sad. Why? Because the development or lack thereof doesn’t matter. Similar types of technology-driven gender abuse have been reported in different regions, such as doxxing, digital stalking and harassment, non-consensual sharing of private images, and online image morphing.
So basically, a state that generates higher literacy and economic growth, like Kerala, is no different from a less educated and economically weaker state like Bihar. In both countries, online gender-based violence has the same patterns and effects. Women and people of oppressed genders in the digital world are similarly targeted by online trolls, harassment and bullying from former partners, former husbands, relatives, in-laws and colleagues. Therefore, there is no safe blueprint for the Internet, even though the state outperforms other Indian states in education and economics.
The Withdrawal Symptom: How Violence Silences Voices
Supriya, the senior journalist in Kochi, immediately withdrew from the internet after her number was circulated on social media and non-digital spaces in connection with the referred cyber violence case. She said: “I stopped this discussion because one word or another is being misinterpreted and I have to relive the trauma.” This was the response of most survivors interviewed for the report.
In the research study, Rama, a survivor, recalled how she was denied her social media rights by the cyber police when she confronted the police about the slow processing of her registered cyber crime case.
For some, the withdrawal was self-imposed, while others were indirectly forced to quit social media altogether and thereby lose their digital rights. In the research study, Rama, a survivor, recalled how she was ousted from her social media accounts by the cyber police when they confronted them about the slow progress of her registered cybercrime case. Rama said: “The police always said, why can’t you withdraw from Facebook?”
Source: FII
Diana, an online gaming enthusiast from Hyderabad, had her own experiences with online harassment, which led her to withdraw from her gaming interests. As a result, she lost trust in people after the mishap and began to fear strangers. In her words: “After this incident, it is better not to contact anyone online until you actually know them.” It was an ugly feeling. I was afraid to open my microphone later. It’s always like they can do anything to you. I just got tired of interacting with random people, even though I really enjoyed the game. It scared me.’
The report highlighted another survivor, a male student from a tribal and LGBTQIA+ community who is pursuing a master’s degree in Kerala. The individual was subjected to cyberbullying, unidentified calls/threats, doxxing and morphing. He eventually withdrew from any legal action due to fear of stigmatization, lack of time and lack of financial support. “I couldn’t pursue litigation. I was in my third year of graduation. “I didn’t have the time or money,” said the survivor from the LGBTQIA+ community.
Psychosocial impact on survivors
Survivors in the research report spoke vividly about mental exhaustion, community and family shame, career losses and a failed justice system. But the implications go beyond that. It is psychosocial in nature. Many survivors suffered from stigma and shame and feared being outed and ultimately excluded by their families, at work, in public administration and in society in general. Some of them did not want their family members to know about the harassment, abuse and eventual violence for fear that they would be shamed, blamed, judged and prevented from achieving their dreams/life, while others found “safety” by completely abolishing their own digital rights. How? By simply being offline.
Source: FII
Access to technology, its understanding and usage as well as the prerequisite for technical perfection are indeed the needs of the hour. Nowadays the digital world is a crucial part of our lives. However, no one discusses the extent of gender-based violence that this creates and is gradually increasing, affecting many women and LGBTQIA+ people. Online platforms and services are used to abuse, manipulate, doxx, bully or stalk women and vulnerable groups and force them into silence.
reference
- Experiencing technology-enabled gender-based violence in India: survivor narratives and legal responses from global human rights firms Equality Now and Breakthrough Trust
