Technology-Facilitated Sexual Violence: A Literature Review of Empirical Research

Abstract

Technology-facilitated sexual violence (TFSV) refers to a range of behaviors where digital technologies are used to facilitate both virtual and face-to-face sexually based harms. Such behaviors include online sexual harassment, gender- and sexuality-based harassment, cyberstalking, image-based sexual exploitation, and the use of a carriage service to coerce a victim into an unwanted sexual act. This article reviews the current state of knowledge on these different dimensions, drawing on existing empirical studies. While there is a growing body of research into technology-facilitated harms perpetrated against children and adolescents, there is a dearth of qualitative and quantitative research on TFSV against adults. Moreover, few of the existing studies provide reliable data on the nature, scope, and impacts of TFSV. Preliminary studies, however, indicate that some harms, much like sexual violence more broadly, may be predominantly gender-, sexuality-, and age-based, with young women being overrepresented as victims in some categories. This review collects the empirical evidence to date regarding the prevalence and gender-based nature of TFSV against adults and discusses the implications for policy and programs, as well as suggestions for future research.

The experience of interactional justice for victims of ‘honour’-based violence and abuse reporting to the police in England and Wales

“…Consistent with developments in gender-based violence generally (see Henry and Powell 2016), victims are also reporting abuse mediated online. Perpetrators include intimate partners, parents, siblings, relations, in-laws and other non-family members of the community.…”

Investigating sexual harassment in online video games: How personality and context factors are related to toxic sexual behaviors against fellow players

“…Examples of sexual harassment in online video games include sexist jokes, sexist insults, unwanted sexual advances, rape jokes, and comments about female players’ appearances (Fox & Tang, ). Sexual harassment is perpetrated most often by men targeting women in both offline and online contexts (Henry & Powell, ; Pina et al, ). Field experiments in online video games where researchers interacted with other anonymous players using prerecorded neutral messages revealed that these players reacted depending on the voice's gender.…”

“…However, this study is not without limitations: Tang and Fox () relied on a self‐selected sample, a specific game of choice and the US‐context. Also, the study was limited to men's perpetration in video games as past studies indicate that men perpetuate more sexual harassment than women across contexts; henceforth it is not known how often women perpetuate these behaviors (Henry & Powell, ; Pina, Gannon, & Saunders, ).…”

Towards a Holistic ICT Platform for Protecting Intimate Partner Violence Survivors Based on the IoT Paradigm

“…In this sense, human interaction in a virtual environment resembles relationships in the real world, and old forms of harassment, including sexual harassment and harassment on the grounds of sex, have adapted to this new habitat, in the form of new violence [9,10]. As a result, we are now getting used to concepts such as cyberstalking, doxing, phishing, grooming, or sextortion.…”

“…In the early 1990s, Haraway [7] anticipated the social changes and the effect, especially in gender issues, that would accompany ICT. It is important to bear in mind that ICT has changed the way we interact socially in issues as important as job seeking, health promotion, commerce, work, and every kind of human relations [8].In this sense, human interaction in a virtual environment resembles relationships in the real world, and old forms of harassment, including sexual harassment and harassment on the grounds of sex, have adapted to this new habitat, in the form of new violence [9,10]. As a result, we are now getting used to concepts such as cyberstalking, doxing, phishing, grooming, or sextortion.…”