Technology has opened the door to new forms of sexist violence, which is why the Home Office has been focusing on identifying and investigating these digital attacks against women for several years. Through its national office against sexual violence (Onvios), Interior has identified up to 12 types of digital violence against women, including sexual trolling, revenge porn or deepfake sexual.
Sexist digital violence is that committed “in part or in its entirety” using information and communication technologies, defines the new States Pact against gender violence. Even those “aggressions directed against a woman because she is a woman, aggravated by the use of cell phones, the Internet, social networks or e-mail”.
Therefore, the manifestations of digital sexist violence identified by Onvios are: sexual cyberbullying, through the repeated sending of unwanted sexual messages; Him sexting coercive (pressure to share sexual content under duress); economic sextortion, or forcing the production of sexual content in exchange for money; Him doxing sexual (the publication of personal data with sexual content); Him grooming or the manipulation of minors to gain their trust; sexual trolling, such as mass attacks with offensive sexual comments; Him deepfake sexual (the creation of false sexual content using artificial intelligence); digital espionage; revenge porn, through the non-consensual publication of sexual content; taking intimate or personal photos or videos without consent; Sextortion and recording, as well as dissemination of sexual content to third parties.
Although they do occur onlineharassment, threats, blackmail or unauthorized dissemination of intimate images, used to harm, control or humiliate the victim, have consequences similar to non-virtual violence, warns Onvios. They thus cause fear, anxiety, increase in suicidal and self-harming behavior, feeling of loss of control over one’s image and serious social and personal consequences, influence this office, created by the ministry directed by Fernando Grande-Marlaska to promote training, awareness and sensitization on sexual violence and to establish an observatory to generate knowledge from scientific research.
Digital sexual violence is a growing trend and Spanish institutions and organizations – from the police force to the Ministry of Equal Opportunities or autonomies – consider it one of the main problems, especially among the younger population. “Technologies amplify the exposure, impact and permanence of damage, generating devastating consequences for those who suffer it,” they add from Onvios.
The State Pact against Gender Violence, approved in 2017 and renewed this year, establishes, among other measures, the creation of indicators and the compilation of statistical data on the entire range of violence against women in digital environments, as well as classifying several cases of sexist cybercrime as a crime. This agreement committed to sanctioning “whoever, without authorization from the person concerned and with the aim of compromising their moral integrity, disseminates, displays or transfers their body image or vocal audio generated, modified or recreated using automated systems, softwarealgorithms, artificial intelligence or any other technology, so that it seems real, simulating situations of sexual or severely humiliating content.
The 016 telephone line assists victims of sexist violence, their families and those around them 24 hours a day, every day of the year, in 53 different languages. The number is not recorded on the phone bill, but the call must be canceled from the device. You can also contact via email 016-online@igualdad.gob.es and via WhatsApp on 600 000 016. Minors can contact the ANAR Foundation telephone number 900 20 20 10. In case of emergency it is possible to call 112 or the telephone numbers of the State Police (091) and the Civil Guard (062). And if you can’t call you can use the ALERTCOPS application, from which an alert signal is sent to the Police with geolocation.
