Consequences of Digital Harassment
Online harassment is no less dangerous than physical harassment outside the digital platforms, as victims of online harassment are exposed to multiple physical and psychological damage, such as fear, anger, and confusion, in addition to other health and psychological problems.
Electronic harassment may affect the social life of the victims in general, as they often suffer from anxiety, disorder, and depression that may lead to suicidal thoughts.
Many users of social networking sites and devices connected to the Internet suffer from receiving messages, pictures, and “video” clips that include sexual expressions that may often evolve into threats and blackmail, if pictures or video recordings of the victim are taken by force or other means, and the victims are threatened by publishment of these videos or images on sites of a sexual nature.
Many forms of psychological damage result from the crime of harassment via the Internet. Those who are subjected to harassment via the Internet may suffer from a lack of psychological comfort, especially young people, as boys and girls constitute the segment most vulnerable to harassment. For example, many of them believe that it is possible to fall in love through the Internet, where deception prevails. The speaker is often hidden behind a screen through which he can say anything, regardless of it being true or false,?and, then, the conversation develops into images, audio, video, or meetings, like any innocent relationship that often ends in tragedy and stories. Sadly, according to many accounts, they were cheated.
At the same time, psychologists warned of the negative damage that occurs via the Internet, as the study indicated that more than 22% are at risk of depression after being subjected to electronic harassment. We have noted on International Women's Day about the phenomenon of digital harassment conducted by "Norton", the conclusion of which is that women are more vulnerable in general among the types of electronic sexual harassment who fall because of the vulnerability of death threats and sexual violence.
With the increase in the number of women and girls using the Internet, the rate of online violence against them has not only increased, but its forms have also diversified; electronic stalking, threats and extortion, sexual harassment and cyberbullying, surveillance and spying on computers, etc. Although these risks to which women and girls are exposed have become noticeable in the current period, there is still a severe lack of knowledge by some women and girls of ways to protect themselves and deal with these matters correctly when they are in any of these situations, which makes it even worse.
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Two deaths due to electronic extortion have recently been reported. One lady committed suicide in early 2022 as a result of the severe psychological pressure she was subjected to and the fear of scandal. The blackmailer presented fabricated pictures of her to extort and expose her. While the other is the one who committed suicide because of the blackmail of one of her neighbors.
Therefore, many girls are afraid to disclose their experience with cyber violence for fear of the stigma that exposes them to psychological and social pressure. These girls are afraid of confronting the aggressor or blackmailer, their parents, social blame, and potential restrictions on them, which leads to serious psychological problems. The worrisome part is that with the increase in women's use of the Internet, we expect an increase in these crimes, so it has become necessary to educate women to take all measures to protect themselves, in parallel with providing all support to those who have been exposed to it.
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Author: Israa Abdin