The Rise of GBV in the digital age

Jun 15

Once again, women and girls are a target of gender based violence.

We are living in times where technology has become an extremely powerfulsource of abuse and a huge risk for spurting violence. Digital crimes such asdeep fake p0rn are on the rise, cases such as in Germany regarding Coline Fernandes, who has been a victim of deep fake p0rn by her own husband, are not the sheer exception but one of the many surfacing cases. As for now, justice has not been served yet, Coline is still fighting for having her now ex-husband held accountable, nonetheless be believed!

Just a few months ago, a group chat from a political party inGermany surfaced, where generated videos of their female co-worker dancing in aBikini were shared. The only material needed to generate the deepfake video was an image of the co-worker’s on the party’s website. The abuse of public images is not only done behind encrypted chats, but Elons Musk’s platform Grok has also repeatedly been accused of allowing users undress women and even children with it’s AItool xAI. Teenage victims are now suing him - Underaged girls.

Furthermore, a CNN investigation has revealed a whole network of men whodiscuss tactics to drug and r4pe their wives, without leaving any traces nor accidentally overdosing them.

The website that media outlets call a “r4pe academy”, has reached over 62 millions viewsin February, and over 80 million in March. The website, called motherless, claims that itis not responsible for the actions of its viewers, but at the same time allegedly links selling pages of substances that these men use to drug their wives.

Another extremely dangerous trend surfaced on social media, where users of platforms such as TikTok are sharing ways to attack a girl, if they get turned down. The current case of 20-year old Alana Anisio Rosa, a victim from Brazil, has shocked people around the world.Her attacker kept talking to her at the gym, trying to get her on a date. Alana would turn him down politely, but he would continue by sending letters and chocolates, until eventually breaking into her home and stabbing her 50 times with a pocket knife. Her mother, who found them while the attack was happening, was able to pull him down from her daughter. She later stated, that her daughter's attacker "followed this specific type of content," on social media, internationally found as “Red Pill” content.

Especially on TikTok, videos went viral of men beating and stabbing mannequins with the slogan: "Training in case she says 'no.”

After being put into an artificial coma and undergoing many operations, she has fortunately survived. The many scars from this attack are visible on her whole body, which doesn’t stop her from the immense bravery to attend trials in public against the attacker. Simply saying “No” has changed her life forever, it almost got taken away from her.

Attackers of all ages should be held accountable for their inhumane actions with reasonable punishment. The named cases are just some of an enormous spread of gender based violence, most cases don’t make it into the media. Most survivors are fighting to even just be believed. Justice must be brought to the survivors of such attacks - the system must protect them at all costs. We have to advocate for a peaceful co-existence and respectful treatment of one another regardless of their gender. We have to condemn violence and act up where we can, because it is only together that we will be able to create lasting and meaningful change.

As Giséle Pélicot, the incredibly strong woman who survived year long abuse of her husband and organized strangers from her neighbourhood, said herself, “Shame must change sides!”.