A most subtle form of violence - Technological abuse

THERE can be few more chilling experiences than being the victim of cyberstalking. 

That it tends to be a form of abuse which mainly, though not exclusively, affects women, explains why the Women’s Aid group has called for this insidious form of intimidation to be made an offence in Irish law, with the aim of giving women and girls better protection against this growing form of digital or technological abuse.

It was entirely fitting that the call neatly coincided with yesterday’s designation as the onternational day opposing violence against women. There should be no illusion about the fact that cyberstalking is among the most subtle and dangerous forms of violence because it can be hard to prove. The perpetrator could, for example, innocently claim to have a genuine interest in how the victim was getting on. As a spokesperson asked, how would a garda interpret a message saying “I saw you getting out of a taxi yesterday”? That seemingly innocuous remark could be loaded with an unspoken but ominous sense of underlying threat.

According to Women’s Aid, since 41% of abused women have experienced digital abuse and stalking, legislation should be all-encompassing so as to leave no room for doubt concerning the harmful impact which digital abuse can have when employed as a form of stalking, say by a former partner or by a classmate. As the statistics show, there is a compelling case for making cyberstalking an offence in law.