This article brings to attention and explores women’s use of non-traditional forms of resistance to online sexual harassment. In this piece we use Anna Gensler’s Instagram art project Instagranniepants to examine how women are appropriating the language and practices of the cyber realm to expose online sexual harassment and to engender a creative resistance which is critical, comedic and entertaining. Drawing from interdisciplinary literature on witnessing, satire and shaming, we explore the techniques Gensler uses to not only document harassment but also resist, engage and punish those who seek to perpetrate it. This article problematises the stereotype of women as passive victims of online public spaces, and is critical of popular discourses that portray online spaces as exclusively risky and that position women as the natural victims of online violence. It concludes that a more nuanced account of women’s negotiation of online spaces is necessary, particularly as an overarching narrative of risk and victimisation undermines the liberatory potential of the online realm.

During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, reports emerged that lockdowns were increasing the prevalence of domestic and family violence (DFV) in Australia and across the world. The lockdowns and restrictions were necessary to contain the pandemic. However, leaders in the domestic family violence sector expressed concerns early during 2020 that these lockdowns would lead to the escalation of domestic and family violence. Calling it a shadow pandemic, the United Nations Secretary-General urged all governments to prioritise the prevention of violence against women in their national response plan for COVID-19. To gain some insight into the Australian context, a Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Centre for Justice research team conducted a nationwide survey to assess the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on DFV services and their clients. Findings based on survey data from 362 participants from the DFV sector, including 1,507 qualitative responses, confirm the concerns raised early in the COVID-19 pandemic.This article provides an overview of the survey results,

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Technologies have transformed self-expression, interactions and relationships. Temporal and geographic boundaries have been tested and overcome by instantaneous and borderless contact, communication and monitoring. Unfortunately, this has provided new channels and opportunities to extend and exacerbate gendered violence and other forms of hate. We contend that the unique features of digital harms warrant attention, but ultimately online harms cannot be divorced from those which occur offline. Drawing on what Kelly (1987; 1988; 2012) conceptualised as a ‘continuum of violence’ (and what Stanko, 1985, refers to as climates of ‘unsafety’), digital violence is, we suggest, part of the spectrum of harm to which women are exposed throughout their life-worlds. The industries that create technologies do not exist in a vacuum, and we explore how the workforce, design and management of platforms not only reflects but reinforces ‘offline’ inequalities and facilitates violence. There are challenges in harnessing technology but, in closing, we explore ways that women can claim and create digital spaces to resist violence and seek ‘justice’.<br /><br />Key message<br /><ul><li>This paper explores digital violence against women and how women use technology to resist violence and seek ‘justice’.</li></ul>