MeTooSchools

L’Entrellat

8 out of 10 young people say they have suffered situations of digital gender violence
27/11/2024

Transcription and translation of an excerpt from the program:

Samanta Villar: She is with us Ane Lopez, she is a researcher and professor at UB, who was a victim of digital gender violence. Good morning. And we are also joined by the Secretary General of the Department of Equality and Feminisms, also President of the Catalan Institute of Women, Sònia Guerra, very good morning. First of all, we want to know what is this digital violence, digital gender violence. Ane, you suffered it in the flesh, what was your case?

Ane López de Aguileta: Well, my case, I would like it to be just one, but since I was 11 years old until I finished high school it was a continuous thing. So I can give examples, but one of the most serious that I suffered was when I was in the fourth year of ESO and they created a false account with my name on Twitter, which I did not have an account. Then what they did was to post messages saying that I had already shaved my hair in some way, that I was ready for sex, because it was something that they were pressuring me to do and I did not want to do what they were pressuring me to do, and then they posted this message saying: I am ready, you can come and get me.

S. V.: They impersonate you, let’s say, they open an account and from here on they expose you as if you were the one who was exposing yourself on the networks, inviting sexualized messages.

A. L. A.: Yes, exactly, that is what happened to me.

S. V.: This is, you say, just one example? This was continued for how long?

A. L. A.: From the age of 11 until about the second year of high school. Because this is a fact, but me since I was 11 years old, already a classmate started to take pictures of our girls’ locker room when we were changing and she shared them, she showed the pictures to the boys. I have 1000 episodes like this.

S. V.: What you are telling me until the second year of high school, what does this represent? 16 years old?

A. L. A.: No, 18.

S. V.: So that’s 7 years of your life in which you see yourself as a victim of this digital macho violence. Do you share it with anyone? Do you report it to anyone? Do you explain it to adults?

A. L. A.: No, I don’t, and no, I don’t share it with anyone. And it’s not that I debated between sharing it or not sharing it, it’s that it didn’t even cross my mind. Because the consequences of sharing this were very serious. There was an omertà, a law of silence, that if you said anything about this, as one of the most popular in high school, you would face reprisals. I didn’t do it and I didn’t even think about doing it. It was not a possibility.

S. V.: Of course, who receives all these messages that are posted on social networks?

A. L. A.: Well, the whole school. And I would like it to be my case, but it is something that most girls are suffering today, very young girls. Because I am explaining it to you today, but any girl from my high school or from any other high school could be there. It is a continuous thing, it was non-stop. Because you suffered physical harassment at school because they wanted me to do things I didn’t want to do, precisely sexual things, which they didn’t achieve, but then you went home and the pressure continued there in the networks.

S. V.: The teachers didn’t notice it at any time, none of this reached them in 7 years in high school?

A. L. A.: No, and it is true that this has a lot to do with the lies or hoaxes, as they say, about gender that my teachers and the families also had. Why? Because, if you look at it, when I was in 5th grade of primary school, which was when I was 11 years old, it was 2007 and at that time in Spain it was said that gender violence was within the partner or ex-partner. And this was what was thought because the women’s institutes, even the Spanish law, said this. This was what everyone thought, teachers and families. So they were afraid that we would fall in love or that we would have nice relationships, but the other kind of relationships they thought it was freedom. So, they interpreted it as if it was a freedom issue versus what they thought was violence, which were stable relationships or in some way, couple or ex-partner relationships.

S. V.: What consequences did this have for you, Ane?

A. L. A.: Well, very serious consequences. Also at the health level, because when I…. I remember it perfectly, I even have the symptoms. That is to say…

S. V.: You get nervous, anxious, it is still emotionally difficult because it is hard to overcome the psychological consequences of such a situation. I understand that nowadays you are no longer a victim, that this happened at school, but they mark you and it is hard.

A. L. A.: Yes, and I just remember when I was in the fourth year of ESO in bed, and a classmate sent me: “Are you this account?” and I automatically knew what was happening to me…

S. V.: Do you want some water? Take it easy, breathe easy. We take full responsibility for how hard it must be to live a situation like this when you are also developing as a person. We are talking about from 11 to 17 years old. That’s why we also do programs like this one today, here at L’Entrellat, because one of the things you are explaining is that we didn’t even know that this was violence at that time. Among that many adults would think: “bah, it’s just kids’ stuff. This only happens on the cell phone.” So, if it doesn’t happen in real life it seems like it’s not that important and no, and no. Actually the real world is in the digital platforms too, and this violence is happening and leaving us marked as we see it is still marking you, Ane, which is totally normal, so calm down. Breathe, drink water and explain only the one you feel like explaining, eh? No need to go through the pain again.

A. L. A.: No, no, and I really want to explain it because right now it is happening to her. Not some, I wish it was some. It’s general. Then I remember that I saw this, I was in bed, I was ready to go to sleep and I got up to vomit.

S. V.: From anxiety.

A. L. A.: Yes, and the next day I did not dare to go to school and I told my mother that I was sick.

S. V.: How important it is for parents to be aware of the social networks that our children use. How important it is to be witnesses of what is happening, that sometimes also from motherhood, fatherhood, you want to leave the privacy of the relationships that our children have to build, but we have to be present, for sure. Look, I throw this question to Sònia Guerra, Secretary General of the Department of Equality and Feminisms. What Ane is explaining, she says that it is not an isolated case, that this type of cases abound, is that so?

Sònia Guerra: Absolutely. In fact, statistics tell us that 8 out of 10 young people already say they have suffered situations of digital gender violence, which is a clear testimony that Ane has told us.