Electronic Violence against Women

A relationship goes bad, and the couple breaks up; however, this is not where it ends as the woman’s ex-boyfriend uploads their intimate photos or videos on the social media sites to take revenge and humiliate the woman for leaving him. Similar issues abound with women being threatened that intimate and compromising images of them will be uploaded, shared over the office network, or circulated through mobile phones; or a woman forced to do things she does not want, or a woman being publicly humiliated.

In the past, stalking would require physically following a woman to see what she does and where she goes. Now new technologies have made stalking easier and more prevalent. Location tracking is now a basic feature in mobile phone technologies, and many telecommunication companies go as far as providing location tracking as a service.

Pornography is the most prevalent form of films and even live acts are made available through various social media. Women, mostly minors, are the usual “come-ons” for readers, viewers, and website visitors. With new ICTs (Information and Communication Technology), the increasing numbers on pornographic materials featuring women and children in sexually explicit and degrading acts is troubling. With these new technologies, pornographic images are mass produced and easily distributed beyond borders. Facebook and other information and communication technologies have made women more vulnerable to abuse.

I am sure that when Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook, he surely was not expecting that facebook, or ICTs – Internet and social media – will become new sites and tools for violence against women.

But Filipino women’s group are quick to the draw, they lobbied for laws to be created that would protect women and children from these abuses because abuse happens faster and is more damaging through electronics, because the abusers are protected by anonymity. Cases of electronic violence against women (eVAW) have ranged from harassment through text messaging to prostitution transacted online.

If social media introduce dangers and risks to women’s online security, privacy and safety, there are also ways in which it can protect and empower women as well as to promote safe spaces online and offline. Women’s groups and NGOs have implemented online reporting of cases, providing counseling and referral services to different agencies. The use of SMS hotlines for help is employed by law enforcers, allowing them to immediately and effectively respond to cases. And laws have been created to protect women from electronic violence.

For one, Senator Nancy Binay’s first Senate bill in 2013 was filed to ban online scandals by regulating social networking sites. Electronic Violence against Women (EVAW) aims to protect women from the exploitative and irresponsible use of social media. Senator Binay, herself, was a victim of cyber bullying at the height of the 2013 mid-term polls.