The United Nations have issued a damning statement about the problem of online abuse faced by women across the globe.
The BBC reports that The UN estimates 95% of all aggressive and denigrating behaviour in online spaces is aimed at women.
UN Women’s Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka says: “Online violence has subverted the original positive promise of the internet’s freedoms and in too many circumstances has made it a chilling space that permits anonymous cruelty and facilitates harmful acts towards women and girls.”
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngucka:(Source – UN)
A survey by the Washington-based National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) found 89% of victims in domestic violence programs reported some form of abuse through technologies, often across multiple platforms.
This news comes the week that marked International Day Opposing Violence Against Women, when charity Women’s Aid issued a call to change Irish law to protect women from digital abuse more effectively.
The charity made a statement to RTÉ:
“There is a growing awareness in policy circles of the need to address cyber-harassment and related harmful internet content and of its damaging impact on young people who are active users of social media.”
Anita Sarkeesian (Source: Bloomberg)
The problem of abuse against women online has been gaining more and more media publicity in the last few years, with feminist blogger Anita Sarkeesian receiving threats for criticising video games that represented women in a sexist way. She spoke to The Guardian about ‘thousands of rape and death threats, a bomb scare and an email threatening to carry out a shooting at one of her speaking events’. She’s not the only one either.
Main Image Source: The Guardian
