Understanding and Identifying Online
Gender-Based Violence

hvale vale

what are we doing today

Round of introduction: name, pronouns, one thing we would like to learn | understand more
Spectrogram exercise
Unpacking genders, intersectionality and symbolic violence
Types of online gender-based violence
Response to OGBV as individuals, collectives, network
Final reflection: FPIs

Spectrogram

We will stand up and move to the other side of the room
There is an imaginary line (spectrum) and at its two end there are two signs: "Strongly Agree" and "Strongly Disagree"
I will read one by one a series of statements and ask you to "take position" regarding the statement
We will than hear form few of us why you stand where you stand
once you listen to other you can decide if you wan to stay or to move along the spectrum
there is not right or wrong

Spectrogram

There is no good reason for anyone to share their email/social networks password.
Sometimes it is necessary for us as women and gender diverse individuals to avoid sharing certain opinions online.
Women, gender diverse individuals and men face the same type of violence and threats online.
My work becomes impossible without safe access to online spaces.
To protect children and minors from OGBV parents need to have access and monitor their accounts and devices

Spectrogram

Current digital infrastructure is a threat to gender equality and online safety
Anytime a media publish anything related to gender issues or women and gender divers individual rights the one who speak out face online attacks
Disinformation, online hate speech, sharing of intimate images is meant to silence women and is a winning strategy
AI bias drives new waves of digital abuse against women and gender divers individuals
To stop OGBV we need stronger sanctions

A framework to understand genders, intersectionality and embodiment

genders, intersectionality and matrix of domination

We are all gendered bodies but some bodies are more gendered and policed than others
Patriarchy, white dominance and prevailing interpretations of moral norms, culture and religion situate women and gender divers individuals as the primary bearers of honour and tradition.
the intersections of multiple "positionalities and identities" contributes to increase harm
Systemic and Structural inherent to our "culture"
ICT and now AI provides a fertile terrain that amplifies reach of transmission
It is our representation and understanding of genders that "presents specific challenges" in gauging which data or images are violence.

Symbolic Violence

Symbolic violence is inflicted through impositions of gendered cultural norms and behaviors. Women and gender diverse individuals are taught that “something” might happen to them if they decide to walk alone at night, dress a certain way, or act carelessly: fear becomes a normalized and accepted mental state.

Symbolic violence creates prohibited spaces and situations for women and gender diverse individuals denying fundamental right to security and free movement. As result impunity is often granted to aggressors which are not questioned but rather pathologized as “crazy” or inherently unable to take control of or responsibility for their actions.

Symbolic Violence

Appropriation of the Female Body: the female body is still seen as an object for male enjoyment, bring about a lack of security or confidence in the body’s own resources and capacities.

Guilt and Shame: these are both seen as permanent, unshakeable elements that facilitate the perception of perpetrated gender-based violence as deserved or somehow acceptable.

“Learned Helplessness”: this is a psychological state that occurs frequently when events are seen to be uncontrollable – when the perception is that there is nothing that can be done to change the outcome of an action, the mental state adjusts accordingly by sacrificing its agency to assert any control over that outcome (instead, accepting and normalizing it).

How to recognize OGBV attacks

Actionable violence is gauged by intent to harm, content, imminence of harm (credibility), extent of the harm and context:

misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic
attack women and gender diverse individuals and communities for their actions
name or target specific women or gender diverse individual in the message / meme
are overtly-violent and / or calls for gender-based violence
represent women and queer bodies as sex objects
show offline actions against women or gender diverse individuals put online
attack women and gender diverse individuals on the basis of their social class

Some common forms of OGBV

Cyberbullying | cyber harassment — bullying, harrassment with the use of digital technologies..
Doxxing — revealing or publishing private information about a person online.
Cyberstalking — the use of the internet to stalk or harass another person.
Video and image-based abuse: non-consensual intimate images sharing — distribution of sexually graphic images, unwanted images or sexually explicit content
Trolling — deliberately upsetting other people by posting inflammatory content
Impersonation
Hacking

Some common forms of OGBV

Misinformation and disinformation - a subset of online gendered abuse that uses false or misleading gender and sex-based narratives aimed at deterring participation in the public sphere. It combines falsity, malign intent, and coordination.
Hate speech
Astroturfing (a coordinated effort to concurrently share damaging content across platforms
Violent threats
Artificial Intelligence (AI) spread and reinforce harmful gender stereotypes, societal biases linked to gender roles and identities ingrained in social programmes and services through automated decision-making

how can we respond?

Type of response

Individual response
Community response
Movement response
Digital security response
Physical security response
Well-being response
Advocacy actions

Time of response

Immediately after
One week since happening
One month since happening
six (6) months since happening

seven axioms and a cross-cut principle

Knowledge is contextual, located comes from the most affected the one who are | have experienced hurt, harm, violence. Knowledge is trans-generational, embodied, rooted and continuous
Naming and defining, there is privilege and power in naming and defining (survivor | victim | violence). There are fora and center of power and privilege where definition are shared and than disseminated. This make them feel they had arrived first. Wrong! we all arrived second see the 1st axiom

seven axioms and a cross-cut principle

3. Role of Research and researchers as movement building, as acknowledgement of own involvement, possible biases, who and how research questions are identified, how researchers interpret data, how is data is analyzed, who have access to data set ... Data interpretation is equal to the depth of quantum

4. Type and modes of OGBV: their systemic and intertwined nature with platforms' vision, design and purpose; how they evolve, change and connect in the continuum of digital and real

5. The left our project: transgender people and non-binary experience, understanding and knowledge of OGBV matter!

seven axioms and a cross-cut principle

6. Responses: from prevention to redress, policy and legislation. Silence as well as by-standers is complicity. We need to address the root of OGBV to change and transform the current matrix of domination

7. Access to support has to be unfettered, easy, immediate. We talk of economic and financial structural support to survivors and victims

Power and Matrix of domination Cross-cut

Racism, Colonialism, Imperialism and Settler ideologies and practices; White dominance, Patriarchy, Misoginy, Homophobia, Transphobia, 1% Capitalism

The embodiment Cluster

Online violence

feminist principles of the internet

We call on all internet stakeholders, including internet users, policy makers and the private sector, to address the issue of online harassment and technology-related violence. The attacks, threats, intimidation and policing experienced by women and queers are real, harmful and alarming, and are part of the broader issue of gender-based violence. It is our collective responsibility to address and end this.

Consent

feminist principles of the internet

We call on the need to build an ethics and politics of consent into the culture, design, policies and terms of service of internet platforms. Women’s agency lies in their ability to make informed decisions on what aspects of their public or private lives to share online.

Privacy & Data

feminist principles of the internet

We support the right to privacy and to full control over personal data and information online at all levels. We reject practices by states and private companies to use data for profit and to manipulate behaviour online. Surveillance is the historical tool of patriarchy, used to control and restrict women’s bodies, speech and activism. We pay equal attention to surveillance practices by individuals, the private sector, the state and non-state actors.

Children

feminist principles of the internet

We call for the inclusion of the voices and experiences of young people in the decisions made about safety and security online and promote their safety, privacy, and access to information. We recognise children’s right to healthy emotional and sexual development, which includes the right to privacy and access to positive information about sex, gender and sexuality at critical times in their lives.