The Independent (Banjul)
Fatou Badjie-Ceesay
21 November 2005
analysis
Banjul — The use of the Internet to perpetuate violence against women is of increasing concern at global, regional and national levels. The Internet is utilized to normalize and accelerate the sexual exploitation of women and children. According to recent research, the Internet increased the comodification of women and sexualized violence through broadcasting sexual abuse in real time.
Competition among sites has increased the percentage of violent and misogynistic images. A recent comprehensive paper has outlined the various forms of new technologies that have been used to sexually exploit women.
They include digital video disk that enable greater interactivity between users and images, news groups for the exchange of information on how to locate and sexually exploit women, websites as a popular medium of distribution and marketing of pornographic materials and prostitution, chat rooms as spaces for child sexual abuse, file transfer protocol [FTP] as a technological application for exchanging materials on child pornography, and live video chats which can facilitate human trafficking for sexual purposes.
According to a leading advocate on ICT and domestic violence in the United States, "technology is becoming an integral part of battering tactics." Some of the documented dangers experienced by survivors include surveillance of Internet activity through soft and tracking of movement through global positioning of soft ware.
The sex industry has used the anonymity provided by the Internet to violate laws prohibiting sexual exploitation and violence with impunity, particularly in countries with strong non-regulation policies. By locating their servers in host countries with less restrictive laws, creator of pornographic websites can avoid regulation while still accessing global markets. The new technologies have thus enabled the creation of online communities, free from community interference or standards, where any and every type of sexual violence is possible and misogyny is the norm. The average person with a computer, modem and search engine can now find more violent, degrading images in several minutes than they have found in a life time 15 years ago.
The growing presence of sexually exploitative content and use of the Internet for the exploitation of women and violence against women has been used to argue the enforcement of policies that will control the content that can be published on the Internet. For example, there has been a call for technology that will not only filter content but will track down creators and clients of pornographic websites. ICT can be effectively used to foster awareness of many forms that violence against women can take on the Internet and to develop a community that can both respond to these issues and take action.
The women's movement has begun to address the enabling role of ICT in combating violence against women. The Internet has been used effectively to mobilize activists against pornography.
Women's groups must participate in the development of policies, legislation and other actions to combat the exploitation of women and girls. One critical approach is to increase women's use of the space provided by ICT to discuss and debate violence against women on the Internet.
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