Online gender-based violence

Online gender-based violence is targeted harassment and prejudice through technology against people, disproportionately women, based on their gender. The term is also similar to technology facilitated gender based violence, digital violence, online harassment, cyberbullying and cybersexism, but the latter terms are not gender-specific. Gender-based violence differs from these because of the attention it draws to discrimination and online violence targeted specifically because of their gender, most frequently those who identify as female. The media tends to overlook online harassment and misogynistic abuse, which are rooted in long-standing systems of patriarchal power and exclusion of marginalized people from public spaces. Emma Jane’s "Misogyny Online: A Short (and Brutish) History" demonstrates that online abuse is not new but a continuation of longstanding gendered hierarchies (Jane, 2017). She states that features like self-publishing, sharing, and participatory culture mean that men who demean women can reach large audiences of like-minded supporters. Under certain conditions, these groups can coordinate harassment, sending repeated, near-identical attacks on women. This way, the internet magnifies existing patterns of sexism, enabling the scale and intensity of online abuse (Jane, 2017). Additionally, Dr. Rajeev Yadav’s “Gender and its Digital Discontents: Decolonial Perspectives from the Global South” highlights how digital media in the Global South reinforce historical hierarchies and colonial ideals (Yadav, 2025). He states women, queer individuals, and other marginalized gender identities in the Global South, online engagement carries both heightened risks and opportunities for resistance. Many face hyper-visibility, systemic erasure, and coordinated harassment, as seen in India with feminist journalists targeted for their gender and religious identities, or in Africa where LGBTQ+ activists navigate state censorship and platform invisibility (Yadav, 2025). Digital spaces also enable collective action and solidarity: movements like #PinjraTod and #MeTooIndia, Latin American cyberfeminist initiatives, and African LGBTQ+ networks use social media, encryption, and participatory storytelling to challenge oppression, build community, and document injustice (Yadav, 2025). Algorithmic systems, like search engines, often reproduce social biases that can demean or harm marginalized groups (Jonker & Rogers, 2024). For instance, Google search results may sexualize or misrepresent women of color. By prioritizing Western norms of beauty, gender, and authority, these algorithms influence how users perceive race and gender (Jonker & Rogers, 2024). This is harmful because it reinforces stereotypes, contributes to the objectification of vulnerable groups, and limits their visibility and representation in online spaces.