Opciónate warns of the growth of gender-based cyber-violence and urges public authorities to update the regulations
The feminist organization, specialized in digital gender violence, calls for a specific and official registry to better measure the scope of the problem.
It proposes increasing specialized care resources to repair the damage to the comprehensive health of the increasingly younger victims.
November 25, 2024
‘Violence against women remains one of the most serious violations of human rights globally. Despite advances in legislation and social awareness, millions of women and girls continue to be victims of physical, psychological, sexual and economic violence, often within their own homes, in the workplace, and increasingly, also in the digital realm, where it is perpetuated through harassment on social networks, non-consensual dissemination of intimate images and other forms of online abuse. A phenomenon that demands an urgent and adequate response from public authorities and digital platforms. Legislation must adapt to the new virtual realities to ensure the protection of women, adolescents and girls in all the spaces in which they develop their lives’.
With this forcefulness, the feminist association specialized in cyber-violence Opciónate urges to update the current regulations, recalling that already in 2022, in its proposal for a Directive on Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, the EU itself pointed out that the regulation is very fragmented and that ‘significant legal gaps have been detected both at EU and Member State level’. And that just a few days ago, this same month, with 170 votes in favor, 13 abstentions and Argentina voting against, the UN approved the resolution ‘Intensification of efforts to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls in the digital environment’, which condemns male chauvinist cyber-violence. The document is binding and urges states to take measures to prevent this type of aggression.
In addition, the entity considers it impossible to provide victims with the attention they require if there is no research and current data to address the phenomenon in all its magnitude. For this reason, it reiterates its proposal for the creation of an official and specific registry of this type of aggression in order to measure more accurately the scope of the problem, as well as its impact on the health of those who suffer it, whose number is growing and whose age is getting younger and younger. In this sense, male cyber-violence should be incorporated into other official records as specific data for statistics and research to find out what factors drive violence and the profiles of the aggressors.
Likewise, Opciónate advocates maintaining the existing prevention, awareness and care services, also creating in each autonomous community the necessary resources to attend, accompany and repair the damage that these aggressions generate in the integral health and lives of girls, adolescents and women.
Personal involvement and commitment, key to the end of violence
In its Institutional Statement on the occasion of November 25, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Opciónate stresses that eradicating violence and sexist cyber-violence would be possible if everyone is actively involved, committing ‘firmly and decisively in a task in which we cannot be spectators and watch passively’. Opciónate calls for ‘solidarity and collective awareness, because we have a role to play in creating a society in which all women live free of violence. Education, awareness-raising and the promotion of gender equality are fundamental to transforming social attitudes and behaviors that perpetuate gender-based violence. Ultimately, this is a struggle for the dignity, freedom and human rights of all women. A social transformation in which the involvement of men is key,’ the Manifesto continues.
The State, institutions, civil society and each one of us must act jointly to protect the victims, punish the aggressors and prevent future acts of violence. In this sense, we urge the strengthening of public policies for prevention, protection and comprehensive assistance to victims, with an inclusive and cross-cutting approach, which contemplates the intersection of gender-based violence with other forms of discrimination, such as that suffered, to a greater extent, by migrant women, indigenous women, women with disabilities and those who are part of the LGBTIQ+ community,’ she says.
‘This is a crucial date to remember that the struggle for equality, justice and dignity of women has no rest. A day that invites us to reflect on the magnitude of the problem, which is rooted in the structural gender inequality that persists in our societies, fueled by stereotypes, discrimination and the normalization of violent behavior. Today we unite in a collective cry that demands an end to gender-based violence, respect for human rights and the construction of a more just and equitable world. Today we reaffirm our commitment to the eradication of gender violence, in all its forms, and to the construction of a society in which women can live in full freedom and security’, concludes the text.
Reflection of families
Opciónate invites to reflect especially parents, who so often put in the hands of their children a tool that can be a weapon of mass destruction, without questioning what a child can do or receive through their cell phone with internet connection. In this sense, from the entity Y they are invited to visit the materials for families available in the section Resources of the Insular Service of Prevention and Attention to the Ciberviolencias Machistas (SIPACM): https://serviciociberviolenciamachista.opcionate.com/recursos/.
And they are reminded of some keys to be and act in cyberspace in a safe and healthy way; also to prevent and adequately address cyber-violence:
– Promote education in digital ethics, cybersecurity, online self-defense, co-education and self-awareness of our participation in the digital environment among families, teachers, key professionals and children and youth.
– Block and denounce all online content, including video games, that promote hate crimes and discrimination against women and girls, as well as showing children and adolescents content that promotes positive values and behaviors.
– Make known the serious psycho-emotional, corporal and social impacts of sexist cyber-violence through data and testimonies to show that behind a screen, a like or an insult there are human beings with feelings.
– Guarantee sexual and affective education in childhood with special emphasis on gender socialization and toxic masculinity to disarticulate the new anti-feminist discourses that are being promoted in the manosphere.
– Incorporate the types of online gender-based violence (macho cyber-violence) in the analysis, research, as well as the development of specific plans, protocols and legislation and disseminate updated data that allow the definition of key actions.
– To achieve an approach of accompaniment and closeness to children and youth, which favors trust and listening for the detection and appropriate approach to cases in the family, educational and professional environments that work with minors.
– Create networks and alliances among professionals, as well as support groups.
– To denormalize male chauvinist cyber-violence by making it visible.
– Increase collective rejection and put an end to impunity by publicly supporting the women, adolescents and girls affected.
– To have specialized services for prevention, care and support.
