Digital abuse follows women fleeing intimate-partner violence

Women who flee violence are not necessarily free from harassment and surveillance when they reach a women’s shelter, mbl.is reports. Digital abuse can follow them there and make it harder to seek refuge, Linda Dröfn Gunnarsdóttir, director of the Women’s Shelter, said on the Dagmál programme.

“Women come into the Women’s Shelter, but the violence follows them through social media and phones, and they are never completely free from it,” Gunnarsdóttir said.

She said perpetrators can track women’s movements and wait for them outside their workplaces or their children’s schools. Technology makes it easier to continue the surveillance after a relationship has ended and the victim has sought help.

Gunnarsdóttir described digital abuse as one of the biggest changes in how violence in intimate relationships is manifested. She also pointed to increased severity in sexual violence and the prevalence of sexual violence within intimate relationships.

“In the past, this was naturally not discussed as violence. You could not say that you were married to someone and that he was subjecting you to sexual violence,” she said.

“The saddest thing about all of this is naturally that the violence is not decreasing.”

Victims and perpetrators come from all levels of society, she said, with varied education and backgrounds. The number of people seeking help has increased, despite hopes that greater education and open discussion would reduce violence.

Gunnarsdóttir said the increase may be linked to greater awareness of violence and less shame around seeking help.

“We have not found any common thread, so this appears to be a social illness that lies very deep,” she said.

She said research had shown that it takes boys aged 13 to 17 who open TikTok only about 15 minutes to encounter some form of misogyny.

“It is social media, it is films, it is politics, it is the media. All of this needs to come together and send a clear message that we are not willing to accept this and that we intend to stop it,” Gunnarsdóttir said.