Digital platforms have often been celebrated for allowing equal opportunities for public self-expression, regardless of one’s identity and status. Yet, not everyone is welcome in the cyberspace.

The digital arena has become a breeding ground for a range of exclusionary and violent discourses and beliefs, expressed and disseminated in a context of anonymity and impunity. Both women and men can be victims of cyber violence.

However, evidence shows that women and girls are highly exposed to it. Not only are they more likely to be targeted by cyber violence, but they can suffer from serious consequences, resulting in physical, sexual, psychological, or economic harm and suffering.

Cyber violence against women and girls (CVAWG) is often dismissed as an insignificant and virtual phenomenon. However, CVAWG does not exist in a vacuum: it is an act of gender-based violence that is perpetrated through new technologies, but is deeply rooted in the inequality between women and men that still persists in our societies.

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