Instituto de Estudios Políticos y Derecho Público "Dr. Humberto J. La Roche"
de la Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas de la Universidad del Zulia
Maracaibo, Venezuela
Esta publicación cientíca en formato digital es continuidad de la revista impresa
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197402ZU34
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Vol.40 N° 72
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2022
Recibido el 08/10/2021 Abeptado el 18/12/2021
ISSN 0798- 1406 ~ De pó si to le gal pp 198502ZU132
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de Es tu dios Po lí ti cos y De re cho Pú bli co “Dr. Hum ber to J. La Ro che” (IEPDP) de la Fa-
cul tad de Cien cias Ju rí di cas y Po lí ti cas de la Uni ver si dad del Zu lia.
En tre sus ob je ti vos fi gu ran: con tri buir con el pro gre so cien tí fi co de las Cien cias
Hu ma nas y So cia les, a tra vés de la di vul ga ción de los re sul ta dos lo gra dos por sus in ves-
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ción, dis cu sión y con fron ta ción de las ideas y avan ces cien tí fi cos con com pro mi so so cial.
Cues tio nes Po lí ti cas apa re ce dos ve ces al año y pu bli ca tra ba jos ori gi na les con
avan ces o re sul ta dos de in ves ti ga ción en las áreas de Cien cia Po lí ti ca y De re cho Pú bli-
co, los cua les son so me ti dos a la con si de ra ción de ár bi tros ca li fi ca dos.
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nes Cien tí fi cas y Tec no ló gi cas Ve ne zo la nas del FO NA CIT, La tin dex.
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Vol. 40, Nº 72 (2022), 164-181
IEPDP-Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas - LUZ
Social Networks as a Means of
Combating Gender-Based Violence
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46398/cuestpol.4072.09
Svitlana A. Krylova *
Tatyana M. Malynovska **
Yuriy M. Bidzilya ***
Olesya V. Barchan ****
Hanna I. Hetsko *****
Abstract
Cyberbullying of women and girls is not just a violation of
human rights, it is a global phenomenon that is destroying the
lives of women and their families around the world. Using
a hermeneutic documentary methodology, the objective of
the study was to determine the legal mechanisms for the use
of social networks as a means of combating gender violence
and thus outline the main problems of their application of the
law. Everything indicates that social networks, as an eective means of
forming positive public opinions, can form a positive image of women and
the appropriate attitude of men towards them, and as well as contribute
to combating violence on the Internet. The system for combating gender-
based violence consists of prevention, protection, criminal responsibility,
and a comprehensive gender policy. It concludes that international gender
policy standards have been found to be based on a model of «real equality»,
which is ensured through the achievement of equal opportunities, equal
access to opportunities and equal performance.
Keywords: cyberbullying; gender-based violence; gender equality; social
networks; women.
* Doctor of Philosophy, Professor of the Department of Culturology and Philosophical Anthropology National
Pedagogical Dragomanov University. 02000, Kyiv, Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5528-7438
** PhD in Law, Leading researcher at the Kharkiv National University of Internal Aairs, 61080, Kharkiv, Ukraine.
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7713-7617
*** Doctor of Social Communication, Professor of the Department of Journalism, Faculty of Philology, Uzhhorod
National University, 88000, Uzhhorod, Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5134-3239
**** PhD in Philology, Associate Professor, Department of Journalism, Faculty of Philology in Uzhhorod National
University, 88000, Uzhhorod, Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3351-568X
***** PhD in Philology, Associate Professor, Department of Journalism, Faculty of Philology in Uzhhorod National
University, 88000, Uzhhorod, Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7684-4790
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Las Redes Sociales como Medio para Combatir la
Violencia de Género
Resumen
El acoso cibernético de mujeres y niñas no es solo una violación de los
derechos humanos, es un fenómeno global que está destruyendo la vida de
las mujeres y sus familias en todo el mundo. Mediante una metodología
documental de tipo hermenéutica, el objetivo del estudio fue determinar
los mecanismos legales para el uso de las redes sociales como medio de
lucha contra la violencia de género y esbozar así los principales problemas
de su aplicación de la ley. Todo indica que las redes sociales, como medio
ecaz para formar opiniones públicas positivas, puedan formar una imagen
positiva de las mujeres y la actitud adecuada de los hombres hacia ellas, y
así como contribuir a combatir la violencia en Internet. El sistema de lucha
contra la violencia de género consiste en la prevención, la protección, la
responsabilidad penal y una política integral de género. Se concluye que
se ha comprobado que las normas internacionales de política de género se
basan en un modelo de «igualdad real», que se garantiza mediante el logro
de la igualdad de oportunidades, la igualdad de acceso a las oportunidades
y la igualdad de resultados.
Palabras clave: ciberacoso; violencia de género; igualdad de género;
redes sociales; mujeres.
Introduction
According to the United Nations Telecommunication Union, the
number of Internet users is growing by an average of 10% each year. The
Internet is most used in the EU, at around 87%, with the lowest rate of 19%
in Africa. There is a gender gap between Internet users worldwide: 58% are
men and 48% are women (International Telecommunication Union, n. d.).
The spread of the Internet, the rapid popularity of mobile information and
communication technologies and the relevance of social networks opens up
new opportunities for cyberbullying, the most common victims of which are
women and girls. Violence against women and girls is a complex and global
phenomenon that knows no social, economic or national boundaries. It is
a serious violation of human rights, which goes unpunished in many cases.
Over the past seventy years, the United Nations and the Council of
Europe have adopted a number of international instruments to combat
violence against women. These are the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women and the Council of Europe Convention on the
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I. Hetsko
Social Networks as a Means of Combating Gender-Based Violence
Prevention of Violence against Women and Domestic Violence. However,
the established international legal mechanism is not always adhered to by
countries, and services for victims remain limited or underfunded. At the
same time, the norms of national legislation and the available support for
victims of violence vary greatly in each country of the world.
The research is topical because gender-based violence committed
through social networks, which have now ooded all spheres of human
life and become an integral part of it, is a global problem with serious
consequences for society and the economy around the world. Cyberbullying
of women and girls is not only a violation of human rights, but also a life-
destroying issue for women and their families around the world.
Therefore, the aim of this article is to dene the principles of gender
equality through the prism of international standards and means of
combating gender-based violence committed using information and
communication tools.
The aim involved the following research objectives:
• determine and describe the principles of protection of gender
equality and the system of counteraction to gender-based violence.
• identify the main problems of using social networks in combating
cyberbullying and suggest ways to solve them.
1. Literature Review
Many scientic papers have addressed some of the issues related to
gender-based violence committed on the Internet and the means of combating
cyberbullying. Yao et al. (2021) analysed the impact of time and trust on
the spread of false rumours on social networks. Levak (2020) revealed the
reasons for the spread of misinformation on the Internet through the prism
of European concepts of combating them. Tripathy et al. (2010; 2013)
analysed the eectiveness of the use of technical and information tools to
combat false rumours in social networks. Soares and Sousa (2020) revealed
the place and role of digital communications in changing the behaviour of
the population and established a direct dependence of human behaviour
on the inuence of information ow through communication technologies.
Gupta et al. (2018) identied the eectiveness of the use of social networks
as a police tool to combat gender-based cyberbullying.
Van Laer (2014) analysed cyberbullying in the social media and
identied the main preconditions for committing gender-based violence on
the Internet. Sarkar and Rajan (2021) considered harassment of women
on the Internet and recognized this phenomenon as a component of
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cyberbullying. Zych et al. (2021) also studied cyber-aggression in social
networks and recognized it as a component of cyberbullying. Henry et al.
(2020) studied the phenomenon of domestic and sexual violence against
adult women using digital communication technologies. Their research
identied the problems of cyberbullying related to the abuse of access to
digital content, cyberbullying by an intimate partner, sexual harassment on
the Internet using technology and images.
Chan et al. (2021) studied cyberbullying on social networks and
identied the preconditions for its commission against minors. Marín-
Cortés and Linne (2020) considered the classication of cyberbullying
among young people, where they included: data theft, online defamation,
digital information theft, cyberbullying, sexual harassment, and revenge.
Salih et al. (2019) studied the factors of cyberterrorism, as well as means
of counteraction, and found that the precondition for the cyberterrorism is
the inconsistency of criminal, constitutional, private, and civil law.
Analysing the support centres for victims of cyberbullying, Zou et al.
(2021) and MacLure and Jones (2021) recognize the eectiveness of the
computer security support service in helping victims who have experienced
violence from an intimate partner. Fiolet et al. (2021), Rocha-Silva et al.
(2021) Yardley (2021) considered the causes of domestic and intimate
violence committed through information technology and determined
that the anonymity generated by electronic communication technologies
contributes to the cruelty of domestic violence.
The victimization of gender-based violence on social media was analysed
by Caridade et al. (2019) through the prism of cyber dating abuse among
minors in the United States; Mahoney et al. (2021) and Mikkola et al.
(2020), which they associate with the dependence of daily use of digital
technologies, relationship disorders and jealousy. Gender abuse in digital
relationships among young people was studied by Brown et al. (2021),
who identied a gender dierence in cyberbullying committed by men and
women. The activities of feminist organizations in the ght against online
gender-based violence were considered. Kurasawa et al. (2021) found that
feminist ideology contributes to the establishment of cultural and social
values among young people.
Despite a rather wide range of research on this issue, the means of
combating gender-based violence on social networks, as well as the causes
of gender-based violence on social networks and ways to overcome them
are poorly studied, which determines the research topicality.
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Social Networks as a Means of Combating Gender-Based Violence
2. Methods and Materials
The research of the chosen topic was carried out in three stages. At the
rst initial stage, the research topic was formulated by reviewing the current
state of the problem of cyberbullying against women. Besides, the aim and
objectives of the study were set based on the analysis of the scientic legal
literature, legal framework on gender equality and the works of scientists
on combating gender-based violence by comparing and criticizing problem
information, generalization, and coverage of the issue.
The second stage involved the scientic research itself conducted
through the fullment of the research objectives set at the beginning. The
study of the topic was carried out through theoretical and experimental
research. Theoretical research allowed determining the content of gender
equality through the prism of international law, the principles of gender
equality and the system of means to combat cyberbullying revealed through
the prism of their practical application. An experimental study based on
UN statistics and the Broadband Commission for Digital Development, the
case law of the European Court of Human Rights, generalizing the practical
application of international law in the eld of gender equality helped
identify models of gender equality and combating gender-based violence.
The third stage provided for the analysis and presentation of the results
of scientic research. The general analysis of theoretical and experimental
research, comparison of their results, and the analysis of dierences
identied the main problems of using social networks as an eective means
of combating gender-based violence on the Internet.
The research of the chosen topic was carried out using empirical and
theoretical methods of scientic knowledge. From the perspective of external
relations (regulatory and legal support, legal relations), empirical knowledge
reects the object of study (gender-based violence committed through
social networks). Using the methods of analysis and a logical approach, we
consider scientic, legal, and practical information on gender equality and
violence, and reveal the content of cyberbullying against women and girls,
its causes, principles and means of counteraction. Theoretical knowledge
of cyberbullying reects this subject of research from the perspective of
universal internal, essential connections and regularities which are covered
by rational processing of empirical data. The combination of these two
methods of scientic knowledge generates an empirical interpretation
of the theory and theoretical interpretation of empirical data, as well as
provides a comprehensive coverage of cyberbullying against women and
means of counteracting it.
The sample included the following objects of the research: the legal
nature of gender equality, its principles, as well as the preconditions for the
cyberbullying against women and girls, as well as the means of counteracting
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it. The combination of these objects helped to reveal the content of the problem
of using social networks as a means of combating gender-based violence. The
research was carried out on the basis of information retrieval using a computer,
the global computer network — Internet — and scientometric databases.
The main materials for the study are international legal acts: the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Charter and the Statute of
the International Court of Justice, the United Nations Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Council of
Europe Convention on Prevention of Violence against Women and Domestic
Violence.
3. Results
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations, 1948)
establishes the principle of non-discrimination and proclaims that: all
human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights (Article 1);
everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms proclaimed in it, without
distinction of any kind, including sex (Articles 2, 5); everyone has the right
to equal protection against any discrimination and against any incitement
to such discrimination (art. 7). In addition, the Declaration sets out anti-
violence rules. Article 5 stipulates that no one shall be subject to torture or
to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
The principle of equality between men and women and non-
discrimination is enshrined in both the UN Charter and the Statute of the
International Court of Justice. Its preamble contains a call: “to rearm
faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human
person, in the equal rights of men and women” (United Nations, 1945: n/p).
The main provisions of modern policies to promote gender equality in
the world are set out in the United Nations Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (United Nations, 1979). The
main theme of the Convention reected in the preamble and articles is the
formulation of calls for practical action by States to eliminate discrimination
against women. They are provided in the rst sixteen articles, while the
remaining twelve provide reporting requirements and administrative
mechanisms for implementing the provisions of the Convention. At
the international level, this international document emphasizes the
responsibility of governments for discrimination against women, not only
in the public but also in the private sphere, that is for discrimination in
the family. The structure of the Convention is based on the model of “real
equality” (Figure 1).
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Social Networks as a Means of Combating Gender-Based Violence
Figure 1: Gender equality model
Source: authors based on United Nations (1979).
Equality of opportunities is guaranteed by the commitment of state
parties to take in all areas, including political, social, economic, and cultural,
all relevant measures, including legislation, to ensure the full development
and progress of women in order to ensure enjoyment of human rights and
fundamental freedoms on a basis of equality with men (United Nations,
1979: Article 3). That is, such equal access of women to all resources of
the country should be guaranteed by the legislation, policy of the state and
executive bodies.
Equality of access to opportunities is guaranteed by committing States
to take appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women,
and to ensure women’s rights on an equal footing with men in political and
social life, education, employment, health, economic and social spheres.
Besides, states take measures to eliminate discrimination against women
in relation to representing their governments at the international level
and participating in the work of international organizations, as well as the
acquisition, change and preservation of their citizenship and their children
(United Nations, 1979: Articles 7-14). Such equality is guaranteed by the
state’s obligation to remove obstacles to the exercise of women’s rights.
Equality of the results is guaranteed by the obligation of states to
recognize women as equal with men before the law (United Nations, 1979:
Article 15). Therefore, the states undertake not only to take appropriate
measures to protect the rights of men and women, but also to ensure that
their equivalent results are recognized.
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The principle of equality between women and men is established by the
Convention on the Prevention of Violence against Women and Domestic
Violence (Council of Europe, 2011). The provisions of the Concept
oblige states to: take measures to ensure women’s rights and eliminate
discrimination against women; create a system of competent bodies to
combat gender-based violence; identify stalking, forced abortions, forced
sterilization, female genital mutilation and forced marriages as criminal
acts. The Convention on the Prevention of Violence against Women and
Domestic Violence reveals the content of important concepts on gender-
based violence. Article 3 denes violence against women as a violation of
human rights and a form of discrimination against women and means all
acts of gender-based violence that cause or may cause physical, sexual,
psychological or economic harm or suering to women, including threats
of coercion, or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public
or private life (Council of Europe, 2011: Article 3).
States are obliged to comply with the provisions of this Convention
by taking measures to protect the rights of women victims of violence
without any discriminatory grounds, including gender (Council of Europe,
2011: Article 4). The Convention applies to all forms of violence against
women, including violence committed on the Internet. The structure of
this Convention is based on a model of four basic principles: prevention,
protection, criminal liability, and a comprehensive national gender policy
(Figure 2).
The European Court of Human Rights (2020) identied the gender-
based violence on social networks (that is cyber-violence) as a form of
domestic violence against women in 2020. This was done by the judgment
in Buturugă v. Romania related to cyberbullying. The case involved the
victim’s ex-husband illegally entering her web pages, including her Facebook
account, and making copies of her conversations, private documents, and
photographs. At the same time, the victim repeatedly appealed to the police,
but they rejected her complaints, arguing that her ex-husband’s behaviour
was not serious enough to qualify as a crime in terms of domestic violence.
The European Court of Human Rights (2020) has ruled that
cyberbullying is currently recognized as a form of violence against women
and girls and can take many forms, including cyber intrusion in private
life, intrusion into a victim’s computer and the seizure, dissemination and
manipulation of information or images, in particular private. Besides, the
decision emphasizes that domestic violence, although it is physical violence,
may include, but is not limited to, psychological violence or intimidation.
Therefore, the European Court of Human Rights has recognized that the
monitoring, access to or saving of spouses’ correspondence without the
right to do so must be taken into account when law enforcement agencies
investigate domestic violence. The European Court of Human Rights has
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Social Networks as a Means of Combating Gender-Based Violence
ruled that cyberbullying is not just harassment on the Internet, but can also
be a form of violence.
Figure 2: The system of counteracting gender-based violence
Source: authors based on Council of Europe (2011).
Gender-based violence is a manifestation of cyberbullying against
women and girls through electronic means of communication and the
Internet. Although cyberbullying can aect both women, girls and men,
men are less sensitive to various forms of cyberbullying. The peculiarity
of cyberbullying is that it has no boundaries and no time limits, because
information can be spread instantly around the world. This type of violence
is manifested by the manipulation of a person’s psycho-emotional state and
behaviour through the imposition of erroneous and dangerous ideas, beliefs,
worldview. Unfortunately, the most common victims of cyberbullying
are children, especially adolescents, as they spend a lot of time on virtual
communication, entertainment and learning.
Cyberbullying of women and girls can take many forms, including:
distributing pornographic material without the person’s consent;
gender-based abusive remarks; cyberstalking; messages with threats of
harassment, hatred, coercion to sex, rape and murder; human tracking
online, etc. Besides, the manifestations of cyberbullying include: sending
e-mails to intimidate and blackmail; dissemination of false information
and false rumours; hacking of social network accounts, e-mail; discussion
of people in public chats and forums in order to discredit and humiliate
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them; use other people’s passwords to change the account prole, etc. The
main gender dierences in terms of abuse on social networks are shown in
Figure 3.
Figure 3: The main gender dierences regarding abuses in the
information space
Source: authors based on Brown et al. (2020).
According to the UN, every third woman in the world has suered from
violence. Every second woman killed in the world is killed by her partner
or relative. Cyberbullying of women and girls can signicantly increase this
data, as Broadband Commission for Digital Development reports show that
almost 73% of women have suered from some form of online violence
(Broadband commission for digital development, 2015). At the same
time, some women and girls hide the fact of injuries from various forms
of cyberbullying. This situation is explained by the fact that most of the
content on the Internet and social networks is aimed at aggression against
women or is a manifestation of it, for example, almost 94% of all content in
adult lms contain scenes with aggressive actions against women.
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Social Networks as a Means of Combating Gender-Based Violence
After watching pornography, men more often: report a decrease in
empathy for rape victims; have a tendency to aggressive behaviour; believe
that women who dress freely are more likely to be raped; feel angry at
women who irt but then refuse to have sex; experience a decrease in sexual
interest in their girlfriends or wives; there is an increased interest in forcing
partners to have sex. And given that boys aged 12 to 17 are the largest group
of consumers of Internet porn, the rst pornographic images they viewed
will form their perceptions of sex and intimate relationships with violence
against women (Broadband commission for digital development, 2015).
However, social networks can be not only a negative side contributing
to cyberbullying of women and girls, but can also be a means of combating
gender-based violence, as social networks as a source of information have
a signicant level of trust among the audience. Their versatility, associated
with the ability to structure the communication space and objectively
contribute to the development of civil society, make them a specic source
of information. Social networks are increasingly becoming to some extent
an informational imprint of civic activity, which uses such a communication
channel to spread ideas, unite like-minded people in the community,
organize events, and so on. Currently, almost all socially signicant events
leave certain information on social networks.
Law enforcement agencies actively use social networks not only to
report the indicators of their activities, but also to form a certain awareness
and social behaviour aimed at not committing illegal acts, which in turn
will improve the crime rate. In order to combat fakes and misinformation,
the competent authorities and developers of Facebook, Twitter, Google,
YouTube, Reddit, Microsoft and LinkedIn must provide society with
adequate access to the safe use of social communication networks.
Therefore, in the ght against gender-based violence, there are eective
social networks that can form a positive image of women, girls, mothers,
wives, colleagues, girlfriends, as well as the proper attitude of men to them.
4. Discussion
Problems of using social networks as a means of combating cyberbullying
against women and girls are associated with the lack of a coherent system
of coordinated measures to combat gender-based violence and eective
action of competent bodies to combat violence, as well as support centres
for victims of domestic violence, which promote preventive and educational
activities in the eld of gender equality. Combating cyberbullying can be
implemented through social networks by forming the basic values of gender
equality through their content.
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Social networking websites provide a platform for the rapid exchange
of information, which can be a platform for spreading baseless rumours
that are potentially harmful. Yao et al. (2021) believe that rumours can
repeatedly change people’s beliefs depending on their greater plausibility.
Trust is used to spread false rumours, which allows measuring the inuence
of one person on others. People often hope to nd people who have the least
trust, but are able to achieve maximum impact. The impact of time and
trust on the spread of anti-rumours on social networks was investigated by
R.M. Tripathy, A. Bagchi, S. Mehta. According to them, time and trust are
the main indicators that contribute to the emergence of false rumours on
social networks.
An eective means of combating the spread of such rumours on social
networks is the introduction of agents on the Internet, even if they do
not transmit information (Tripathy et al., 2010). Reputable methods of
combating rumours on the social network have largely failed, because
people do not obey the same authority. Therefore, to combat rumours,
using the trust that people have in their friends is eective (Tripathy et al.,
2013). Levak proposes to apply methods of recognizing, preventing, and
combating the phenomenon of misinformation on the Internet (Levak,
2020).
Soares and Sousa argue that digital social communications with the
media have a positive impact on people’s awareness, change their behaviour
and awareness (Soares and Sousa, 2020). Their eectiveness, according
to Gupta et al. (2018), is manifested in the activities of law enforcement
agencies, which form certain content on the Internet to address the ticklish
problem of modern society — combating domestic violence. According
to Zou et al. (2021) and MacLure and Jones (2021) computer security
support services should also counteract violence committed by an intimate
partner on social networks. The competence of those services depends on
the knowledge of employees who are able to provide eective assistance
to victims and monitor the prevalence of such cases (MacLure and Jones,
2021; Zou et al., 2021). Kurasawa et al. (2021) believes that feminist
organizations, which are a model for the formation of epistemological,
cultural and socio-political values, can make the contribution to the ght
against gender-based online violence (Kurasawa et al., 2021).
Cyberbullying can have negative consequences for social media users,
in particular emotional stress, which not only leads to the refusal to use
social websites but can also lead to suicide. Marín-Cortés and Linne (2021)
singled out six main manifestations of cyberbullying: information theft,
defamation on the Internet, impersonating another person, cyberbullying,
sex harassment and porn in revenge (Marín-Cortés and Linne, 2021).
According to Van Laer (2014), countering cyberbullying on the Internet
should be realized in the form of video stories, rather than a selection of
176
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I. Hetsko
Social Networks as a Means of Combating Gender-Based Violence
analytical factors, and informing about the existing experience with which
users associate themselves (Van Laer, 2014). Chan et al. (2021) believe
that cyberbullying on social media should be counteracted by analysing the
relationship between perpetrators, victims and bystanders.
Sarkar and Rajan (2021) divide violence against women on social
networks into virtual and physical. Women who have experienced
cyberbullying overestimate the structure of disembodied and embodied
violence and are more wary of possible cases of cyberbullying in the future.
Investigating cyber-aggression in social networks, Zych et al. (2021)
consider its manifestation through interethnic relations, including the
relationship between the individual and the social network user. As Salih et
al. (2019), noted, the formation of cyberterrorism, including gender-based,
is associated with the inconsistency and ineectiveness of international
legal and national mechanisms to counter it. Such a legal vacuum leads
to large-scale uncontrolled consequences and losses around the world,
which have no principles: age, race, religion and gender (Salih et al., 2019).
Harris and Vitis (2020) argue that society should create safe content of
social networks and establish legal mechanisms for its regulation that will
guarantee women’s rights (Harris and Vitis, 2020).
Studying the phenomenon of domestic violence committed through
social networks, the media and through outsiders, Fiolet et al. (2021) and
Yardley (2021) emphasize the complexity of the abuse through the use
of technology and its integral role in domestic violence (Yardley, 2021).
According to Caridade et al. (2019) and Rocha-Silva et al. (2021) means
of counteracting intimate violence committed in social networks should
include analysis of age categories of victims and users of social networks
and cyber dating abuse (Caridade et al., 2019). As Brown et al. (2021) state,
young men are more likely to face a multifaceted model of humiliation in
social networks, and women are more likely to face a multidimensional
model of sexual coercion. And only a multidimensional model of monitoring,
control of threats demonstrates gender equality.
Mahoney et al. (2021) Mikkola et al. (2020) consider that victimization
of gender-based violence on social networks is associated with jealousy,
relationship disorders and the intensity of daily cell phone use. Henry et
al. (2020) believe that in order to solve and fully understand the problems
of gender-based violence in social networks, it is necessary to carry out a
comprehensive study of subjects — women who have experienced abuse
and violence through digital technology (Henry et al., 2020).
As a result of the doctrinal analysis of the said problems of gender-based
violence in social networks, we can note that scientists consider it reasonable
to conduct further research on gender-based violence in social networks,
provide eective recommendations for their practical implementation,
which would adjust the directions of development of legal mechanisms for
creating safe content on social networks.
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Conclusion
Cyberbullying of women and girls is violence by a person or group of
persons through information and communication tools against another
person to harass, intimidate, violate the right to safe use of the Internet
for education, communication, work, and leisure. This type of violence
is characterized by inequality of power (men are stronger than women),
systemic nature (regular sending of threats-messages), as well as asociality
and anonymity (no direct contact with the victim).
The system for combating gender-based violence should be based on
four basic principles: prevention, protection, criminal liability, and a
comprehensive national gender policy. Educational activities on forms
of violence and their consequences, training of specialists working with
victims of violence and the availability of handouts will prevent violence
against women.
The introduction of a system of support centres for victims of
violence and the creation of appropriate conditions for aiding victims in
support centres will allow protecting victims from repeated violence. The
introduction of criminal liability for violence against women and girls in
the national legal system will establish a mechanism for punishing such
illegal actions. Gender-based violence can be eectively combated by
creating a clear mechanism that will allow for the timely implementation
of comprehensive and coordinated measures to combat gender-based
violence. Social networks as an eective means of establishing positive
public views can form a positive image of women and the proper attitude
of men to them, thus will contribute to combating violence on the Internet.
The prospect of further research is to develop mechanisms to combat
cyberbullying against women and girls, aimed at ensuring gender equality
and protecting the rights of women and girls. Therefore, we consider the
empirical study, as well as theoretical and methodological justication
of eective systems for combating gender-based violence and a coherent
policy on gender equality to be prospects of further research.
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