CYBER VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS

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DEFINING THE THREAT
ENVIRONMENT: THE
‘CYBER’ NATURE OF VAWG
3.1 Terminologies, definitions and
trends
The United Nations defines violence against women
as: “Any act of gender-based violence that results in, or
is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological
harm or suffering to women, including threats of such
acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether
occurring in public or in private life.” 48 It includes forced
intimate partner violence and sexual assault, marriage,
dowry-related violence, marital rape, sexual harassment,
intimidation at work and in educational institutions,
forced pregnancy, forced abortion, forced sterilization,
trafficking and forced prostitution and gender-related
killings.
The term ‘cyber’ is used to capture the different ways
that the Internet exacerbates, magnifies or broadcasts the
abuse. The full spectrum of behaviour ranges from online
harassment to the desire to inflict physical harm including
“The widespread circulation of such content is particularly
harmful for women. The pervasive gender discrimination in
our society is further heightened since the digital medium
provides the convenient shield of anonymity and fake
identities. Errant persons become more emboldened in their
offensive behavior since it is presumed that they will not face
any consequences.”
K. G. Balakrishnan, former Chief Justice of India
sexual assaults, murders and suicides. 49 Cyber violence
takes different forms, and the kinds of behaviours it has
exhibited since its inception has changed as rapidly —
and, unchecked, will continue to evolve — as the digital
and virtual platforms and tools have spread.
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