Online harm is an urgent issue for women

Three in 10 Singaporeans have been personally affected by gender-based harm online, a recent survey found. Acts of aggression and harassment are encouraged by the veil of anonymity of the online world.

- Lim Sun Sun and Chew Han Ei

Much work remains unfinished to do with women’s rights and needs, despite this week’s celebration of International Women’s Day. Take the online space. More must be done to safeguard the interests of women – urgently.

When the Internet first emerged, it was hailed for the potential to overturn existing power hierarchies by democratising online participation. It was believed that online, everyone has a pulpit, including the most oppressed and marginalised of communities.

However, over time the grim realisation has dawned that existing socio-economic inequalities around class, gender and ethnicity are reproduced, and even magnified, online.

Women, especially, have encountered online content that is grossly sexist, misogynistic and laced with toxic masculinity that they are far less likely to encounter offline.

This can appear in social media platforms such as Instagram or Snapchat, over discussion forums such as Quora or Reddit, within games such as World of Warcraft, or via video sharing apps such as YouTube or TikTok.

Behind the veil of anonymity of the online world, social norms and legal sanctions fade into the background, and perpetrators commit acts of aggression and harassment towards women. They may intimidate and threaten their victims by sharing explicit texts of a sexual nature or revenge porn images, disseminating videos of sexual brutality, engaging in online chats or producing memes denigrating women.