HER Internet has released handbook titled Decoding Online Violence. The publication is a product of a focus group discussion that was held earlier this year; the group brought together queer women and female sex workers as they talked about what it meant to be a queer being in today’s online world.
Asked what Her Internet hopes this publication will achieve, Enid the Communications Officer shares that they hope the handbook will reach out to queer womxn about online violence and how it manifests and know how to handle the atrocities that come with these online spaces. “
We hope the handbook puts an impact on womxn's lives and make a difference on the online spaces it will as well serve as a motivation to develop Solutions for a better online space specifically for the queer womxn,” Enid discloses.
The handbook reveals that normalisation and trivialising of violence online is a major reason for why it persists. Victims and survivors of such violence have little recourse, particularly because there aren’t well established and trusted avenues for reporting of such incidents. It further tells of the deep rooted cultural misconceptions and norms about womxn, LGBTI+ persons and sex workers that are constantly transferred online and used to harm these already marginalized groups.
Decoding Online Violence delves into how this harmful behavior manifests, and at length, discusses why it continues to thrive even though its ire impacts are well known.
HER Internet chose to focus particularly on online violence because through numerous pathways, "queer womxn" are subject to strict control in our societies.
“Online violence largely manifests into denial of resources and opportunities for queer womxn. There is growing evidence of many ways queer womxn in our communities/ societies are violated and little is done to help,” Enid further shares.
To read the handbook in its entirety, click
