The Head of the Coordination Unit against Violence against Women of the Government Delegation, Laura Segura, has warned that 73% of women who use the Internet have suffered harassment, control, threats or non-consensual dissemination of intimate images.
“Many women are suffering a lot of violence in social networks, not only gender violence, as can be harassment, we talk about showing images on the internet, cybersex… many ways,” he told Melilla Television.
Moreover, she has warned that this type of violence especially affects women who are visible and active against gender violence. “Women who are in politics, who are journalists, who are feminists… all of them become shields of protection for other women and suffer constant attacks,” she explained.
In this regard, he has highlighted the new initiative launched this summer by the Ministry of Equality: “Violence digital.es violence”, which he explained is a campaign “very interesting and very in line with all those demands that have been reflected in the renewed State Pact, such as digital violence, vicarious violence or economic violence”.
The Head of the Unit has stressed that digital violence is a priority challenge: “It is one of the violence that has been detected with a significant upturn in younger populations” and added that “they are non-physical spaces, spaces where there is great impunity, where violence is sometimes exercised behind a screen, and they must also be spaces free of violence”.
The summer, a critical moment of violence
“Apart from the prevention campaigns that we normally launch from the Unit, we always join the campaigns of the Ministry of Equality of the Government of Spain,” explained Segura, who stressed that “one of the key moments is summer, because it is a critical moment in terms of gender violence.”
The person responsible recalled that in the summer months there is usually a rise in cases of gender violence and a greater number of women killed.
“Last year, 60% of the women killed were in this period,” he said, although he stressed as a positive fact that “this year we have to point out a significant reduction in this figure, which highlights the work that is being done and the value of public policies on equality.”
Segura has stressed that these campaigns focus not only on gender violence, but also on sexual violence, “because these are times when there are more parties, more spaces for fun and, therefore, the Ministry of Equality always tries to carry out prevention campaigns.”