Sexual Harassment in the Digital Era

In an increasingly digitalized world, where social media has encroached onto third spaces i.e. places where people can gather and interact outside of the home and workplace, and has begun shaping people’s relations with one another in a fundamental manner, perpetrators have taken to social media as well to perpetuate sexual violence. Roughly four-in-ten Americans have experienced online harassment, with growing shares facing more severe forms such as sexual harassment or stalking. Also known as technologically-facilitated sexual violence and abuse (TFSVA), it is a pervasive global phenomenon and refers to any form of sexual violence, exploitation, or harassment enacted through the misuse of digital technologies. This includes, but is not limited to, image-based sexual abuse, online sexual exploitation and harassment, sextortion, and the non-consensual sharing of sexual images. It has significant and long-lasting psychological, social, financial, and health impacts. 

As UN Women highlights, there is a distinct lack of a common, internationally agreed upon definition for TFSVA which, especially coupled with the anonymity allowed by social media, makes it harder to track and collect comparable global data for. However, country and regional studies reveal alarmingly high rates of online harassment and abuse. Social media has become a markedly unsafe space for girls and women and steps taken, if any, by government authorities are entirely inadequate. 

The impacts of such abuse are significant and include feeling sad, anxious, worried, and/or depressed, among others, as women continue to use coping mechanisms and relying on the self to shield themselves from yet another form of sexual harassment in the face of clear absence of shared accountability. 

An unfortunately frequent manner of TFSVA is non-consensual photo sharing, also known as ‘cyberflashing’. It must be understood that voluntary consent is a freely given, mutual, active, sober, enthusiastic agreement to engage in sexual activity, including sharing sexually explicit photos. 

Cyberflashing is often normalized and perceived as something to laugh off, but it is a form of gender-based sexual violence that must be taken seriously and calls for legal and societal responses to these emerging challenges. The result of cyberflashing is women engaging in “safety work,” including restricting or changing their movements and communication. Such emotional and physical labour is time-consuming and can limit women’s participation in everyday life. Cyberflashing reflects and reinforces rape culture wherein sexual violence is normalized and consent is viewed as unnecessary. 

There is an assumption in cyberflashing that the unsolicited sexual content will be positively received despite the lack of consent. When heterosexual men were asked what reaction they hoped for from the recipient when cyberflashing, the majority of them said that they were after positive reactions like sexual excitement and attraction. A significant minority of men, however, sought negative reactions like shock, disgust and fear.

Ultimately, non-consensual photo sharing is another manifestation of sexual violence, and in the digital era, it is essential to hold yourself, and those around you accountable while addressing the root causes of such a heinous crime and eventually putting an end to them.