WEEK WITHOUT VIOLENCE 2022
It's Week Without Violence and YWCAs all over the world are connecting with their communities to envision and advocate for a violence-free world. YWCA Canada and YWCA Prince Albert are focusing in on tech-facilitated violence this year and centering the needs, experiences, and wisdom of survivors in our efforts to take action against online hate, abuse and harassment and its far-reaching impact on women and gender-diverse people’s safety, well-being and freedom.
There is no online world and offline world – there is one world. Violence experienced online has an impact everywhere. Women and gender-diverse people are impacted by tech-facilitated violence in unique and specific ways that require a dedicated response grounded in the needs and wisdom of those most impacted.
Systems-level changes are required to address and end this type of violence. Putting the responsibility on individual survivors to keep themselves safe is a form of victim-blaming and insufficient. Tech companies, policymakers and law enforcement need to commit to change.
Data collected by Environics Data, commissioned by YWCA Canada, draws a startling picture of online violence in Canada. You can read the full report here. We’ve included some tidbits below.
44% of women and gender-diverse individuals sixteen to thirty have experienced online hate speech.
83% have witnessed hate speech aimed at others.
The most common forms of online hate speech experienced are sexist/mysogynistic (42%), based on body type of physical characteristics (38%), racist (31%), or homophobic (26%).
If you or someone you know is experiencing violence or abuse, visit our Getting Help page for more information. If you are in immediate danger, please dial 911.
What is Gender-Based Violence?
Gender-based violence is violence directed at a person because of their gender or gender identity, or violence that disproportionately affects persons of a specific gender. Data in Canada shows that women, girls, and gender-diverse individuals are at a high risk of becoming victims of violence. Indigenous women are at an even higher risk (YWCA Canada).
What is Abuse?
Abuse is the when someone takes actions or uses words to control another person by causing negative feelings and fear. This purposeful manipulation is used to intimidate and can result in lifelong trauma, mental illness, and low self-esteem. There are a variety of different forms that abuse can take, and victims may experience some, or all of these forms.
Technological Abuse
The form most relevant to Week Without Violence 2022 is technological abuse, which can include: control or restriction of a person’s activities when using technology, or the use of technology to control or spy on someone. This can mean monitoring emails, checking browser history, installing applications on a person’s phone to monitor movement, listening into phone calls, monitoring social media, or restricting a person’s access to communication methods. Cameras and microphones could be installed to monitor a person while the abuser is away.
