Gender-based cybercrime: Main challenges faced by professionals who care for victims through a qualitative study in Catalonia

• In Event: Gender, Crime and Justice Working Group Panel 4: Online violence and abuse

Abstract

The digital sphere is no stranger to the different forms of violence against women. Given characteristics such as anonymity, it reproduces or creates new models of domination that are rooted in gender inequality, stereotypes, and socially imposed gender roles.

Cyberviolence is a growing problem worldwide that has a disproportionately negative impact on women and girls, especially in the most serious cases of cyberviolence and those of a sexual nature, such as the digital distribution of images without consent or by any other means of sexual digital gender violence.

There is quantitative research into cybercrime both nationally and internationally. However, there are few qualitative research on cybercrime related to gender-based violence and the few that exist are about women who have been victims of this type of crime, and who often underscore the lack of confidence in professionals to report or not knowing how to do it. There is no research on how the other crucial part, such as the professionals who care for women victims or are in contact with them, are responding to this type of violence, what challenges they encounter, what needs they present and what proposals for improvement they make.

For this reason, 22 in-depth interviews have been carried out with Catalan professionals who have had direct contact with victims of gender-based cyberviolence in both the social, police, judicial and community spheres. The results presented are based on the analysis from a gender perspective of the attention to victims by these professionals, the main challenges they encounter and the proposals for improvement they make.

Author

• Cristina Vasilescu, University of Girona