Gender-Based Cyber Violence: Forms, Impacts, and Strategies to Protect Women Victims

The rapid advancement of information and communication technology affects many aspects of women’s lives. One aspect is social media which provides freedom of expression. However, women are vulnerable to becoming victims of online crime. This study sought to reveal the forms of gender-based cyber violence experienced by Indonesian women, its impact on victims, and strategies for protecting victims of gender-based cyber violence (GBCV). This study employed qualitative research methods. Informants in this study were 98 women students who experienced gender-based cyber violence. This study found various forms of GBCV experienced by victims, including being sent pornographic videos or links, invited to chat or video chat sex, invited to engage in online prostitution (Open Booking Online), forced to engage in pornographic content, asked to post a picture of the body, and threatened that a personal video will be shared to the public. Gender-based cyber violence is often accompanied by violence that victims directly experience in the real world, since most of the perpetrators are ex-boyfriends or current boyfriends. This study found that, in addition to experiencing GBCV, victims also experienced physical and/or verbal sexual violence or harassment including whistling, groping, teasing, non-consensual caressing or hugging, rape and forced sex, hearing comments about their appearance, being sent photos of sexual body parts via social media, being told jokes with sexual overtones, engaging in video chat sex, being abused while sleeping, threatened with death, cursed at, videotaped having sex, and forced to drink alcohol. Gender-based cyber violence has a negative impact with varying degrees of severity. For this reason, efforts involving various parties are needed to eliminate GBCV and all forms of gender-based violence. The handling and prevention efforts carried out by various state institutions in Indonesia also need to be supported by other parties, for example, NGOs, schools, communities, and families. The study concludes by discussing various models of protection strategies for victims of GBCV.