We live in a digital world where we laugh, cry and share experiences with people online, considering them our family and friends. We connect more with people on chats than we do in real life. As it is said, with good exists the bad just like that in the digital world exists some people who won’t be a good experience in your life. It is important to know what is happening around you and what someone wants from you because not everyone is a saint. Harassment is not limited to women; even children and men face them periodically. Today, we will talk about types of online sexual harassment happening around us and how we can combat them.
There are several types of online sexual harassment hidden behind the screen.
Cyber Stalking: It is an act where someone uses your personal information, internet, technology, and communication to threaten, control or try to manipulate you into inappropriate situations or either steal your personal information. It can go to such an extent the victim will fall into stress and other mental problems; that is why it is necessary to take action before it gets out of hand.
Spam calls: It is an act where someone uses your number to make spam calls and constantly speaks and demands things from you. They often get abusive and start pushing you to share information. It not only disturbs the victim’s peace but also places fear in their minds. If you’re receiving these kinds of calls, the first thing you can do is block them or report them.
Negative comments: It is most common on social media where anyone for ill purpose will start posting rude, sexual, and irrelevant comments and starts harassing the victim. Rude comments and word abuse affect people’s minds. To avoid Negative and abusive comments, you can turn off the comments or filter them still if it keeps going on. Then, you can report that particular person.
Online Impersonation: Sometimes, people on social media impersonate individuals using their persona and name without their consent or knowledge to harm, intimidate or threaten a person from behind the fake appearance. If you find any account impersonating you or using your profile pictures on social media, it is advised to take action towards it immediately.
Catfishing: It is an act where someone creates a fictitious identity online with a purpose or starting a relationship or either harm, fraud, or abuse people. It is often hard to recognize them first, and they might not look much threatening, but they can leave you with worse experiences online. If you find yourself in contact with such a person, it is advised to keep your distance and stop contacting them.
Doxxing: In this act of harassment, criminals publish someone’s personal information such as name, number, bank details, address online as a call for others to harass them. To avoid such a situation, you should keep your accounts private and secured correctly, keep the two-factor authentication and get a VPN to protect your location.
Swatting: It is an act of making fake calls about dangerous scenarios to divert the police to someone’s address, causing the swat to show up. To refrain from such a situation, it is highly suggested you keep your VPN shield to protect your address and if this ever happens directly, take legal action.
Revenge porn: It is an act of distributing someone’s sexual or explicit images or videos without their consent to shame, harm or blackmail them for personal reasons or taking revenge. It is the cruellest crime to hurt someone’s identity and humiliate them in front of the world. It not only leaves the victim’s life crushed but also leads them into a dire mental state. Therefore, the most appropriate action you should take is to contact the platform administrator to remove the videos or photos and take legal action towards the criminal.
Ways to confront online harassment
Document the evidence
Yeah, you heard it right! Keep the proof of everything, be it chat record call record. Screenshot them for further action as they will be the most strong ally to prove you have faced online harassment, and it is essential to do it before the abuser might delete it later, leaving you with nothing. Be mindful and alert.
Report and block
The most accessible solution to getting rid of these kinds of harassment is to block and report the person in the first place. Nowadays, social media platforms have become more user-friendly in terms of safety. So you can easily report if someone is troubling or bullying you in any way and get their account removed immediately.
Keep your online accounts secured
It is crucial to keep your social media accounts secured, like a strong password which should be changed after a few months, keeping on the two-factor authentication and mainly keeping the VPN shield to protect your address.
Report to cyber cells
If things get out of hand and reporting, blocking is not helping. Then the most appropriate approach will be reporting the incident to the cyber cells around you. Fill them in with the whole incident and the evidence you kept. They will be taking legal action towards that cybercrime and file a report at the local police station.
Our responsibility is to be aware of these kinds of harassment, know the way out, and spread awareness over this topic. Currently, we have so many tools and laws to help us out in these situations. However, as our digital world is growing, we need to be careful and alert and check our security. Some organizations are working towards the awareness of online harassment, like Sachhi Saheli, a Delhi based NGO, which is organizing many campaigns like #haqseonline to spread awareness about online safety for women and children. They organize several talks and meet with other colleges and organizations.
Let’s walk towards the betterment of our society and create a safe world.