Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence

Alright, Now What?

03-01-2024 • 16 mins

With Rhiannon Wong at Women’s Shelters Canada. The Tech Safety Canada website says technology-facilitated gender-based violence “happens when someone uses technology to harm or control you.” It can take the form of “harassing text or social media messages, restricting access to technology, non-consensually sharing intimate images, using location-tracking technology, or threatening to do any of these.”

The scope of this abuse is big because the scope of gender-based violence in Canada is big. Statistics Canada says that sixty-seven per cent of those who report online intimidation to police are women and girls, and one in five women report experiencing online harassment.

Over coming episodes, we’re delving into gendered digital hate and harassment with leading experts and content creators, releasing in-depth episodes every single week. We talk about the problem and what we can do to change it. We offer practical tips to help you in your digital life, and we talk about what it means to “take back the tech” for all of us.

Our guest Rhiannon Wong is project manager for Women’s Shelters Canada’s Technology Safety Canada project. She has researched and developed practical technology safety resources and training for anti-violence workers and women, girls, and gender-diverse people that address how technology can be used to create safety and misused by perpetrators to commit crimes of domestic violence, stalking, sexual assault, impersonation, and harassment.

A note about content: this episode addresses gender-based violence.

Relevant links: Tech Safety Canada, The Facts about Gendered Digital Hate, Harassment, and Violence

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Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠

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