The digital terrain does not escape the social problems that exist in real life on a daily basis. As the technology and communication tools we use with others prosper with their development and implementation, problems also arise with their use.

Digital sexist violence has been present in the new ways of communicating practically since they originated, but never before has it been so intense. Monitoring, surveillance, harassment or sexual exhibitionism never fails in many digital spaces.

Therefore, the data that analyzes the trust and safety of women online are worrying. Only 6% of them feel safe when browsing the Internet and 85% of women claim to have experienced or witnessed digital sexist violence.

For this reason, the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya presents a guide for preventing and addressing digital sexist violence in the university environment, a protection that girls will have to identify and report the abuses to which they are subjected through new technologies.

“It is essential that the university community is very informed and prepared to recognize these situations and take measures to avoid and combat them,” explains the vice-rector for Social Responsibility and Equality of the UPC, Josefina Antonijuan. Furthermore, the person in charge believes that the UPC, “as a university in the technological field, has the responsibility of raising awareness among future professionals of the importance of designing, implementing and managing safe and respectful platforms and social networks for everyone,” she adds.

The university’s objective is to allow all users of any digital element to have a completely violence-free experience and thus avoid any damage or consequence. Digital sexist violence and other crimes committed online such as identity theft, cracking, account theft or disclosure of personal data without consent can cause serious negative impacts on victims.

From the center, they intend that these acts that can cause psychological and emotional problems, as well as reputational damage, do not go unpunished. And this type of negative impacts can affect the educational and employment opportunities of many people who receive them.

With this guide, the UPC aims to respond to digital sexist violence, how it can be identified, prevented and strategies to combat it. Thus, the first part of this university tool is intended to distinguish sexist violence to learn to assume them as valid: highly sexist discourses based on sex or gender, digital sexual violence and violence with a high technical component.

Without forgetting, of course, the most common and widespread, such as sexual violence, digital control and surveillance and the violence suffered by women with public relevance (sexreading, sextortion, sexual exhibitionism or cyberflasching, sexual deepfakes). The guide also wants to warn that on some occasions all this violence can also be exerted from a nearby environment. In fact, statistics show that between 15 and 30% of young women admit to having been controlled by their partners via mobile phone. Digital control and surveillance is one of the most perpetrated forms of violence in the field of emotional sexual relationships, between a couple or ex-partner, and also one of the most recognized.

Those responsible for the work have identified a growing phenomenon that is aimed at those women who stand out on social networks due to their activity or influence due to the number of followers. It consists of a series of coordinated attacks against these profiles with the purpose of insulting, defaming and attacking women just for being women. This masculine and misogynistic digital subculture has been dubbed the manosphere.

The guide has the third block, the most important, where some strategies and tools are collected to prevent and respond to these attacks. Among the recommendations in the case of cyberbullying, it is advisable to document attacks, collect evidence, report, silence and block, as well as create a trusted support network and healing spaces are some of the recommendations included.

To prevent these attacks, it is recommended, among many others, to have strong, secure and diverse passwords, review the account configuration parameters, good management of personal digital identities and have control of the privacy configuration parameters and security.

The Guide, prepared together with the DonesTech collective, is part of the framework of the 4th Equality Plan of the UPC. And it has had funding from the Ministry of Equality through the State Secretariat for Equality, a State pact against gender violence.