International Conference on Digital Abuse of Women in Intimate Relationships

DirectorMargaret Martin

Social Media Use in Ireland• 80% of adults in Ireland use social networking

• 78% of adults are on Facebook and about 80% of Facebook users use a smartphone, tablet or laptop

• 1.8m people in Ireland use Facebook every single day with about 29% of the audience between 25-34 years

• 32% use Twitter

• 0.7m log onto Twitter every day in Ireland with about 53% of the Audience between 15-24 years

STIR (Safeguarding Teenage Intimate Relationships) • 5 country study (Bulgaria, Cyprus, England, Italy and Norway)• Connecting online and offline contexts and risks• Findings on the incidence and impact in young people’s intimate

relationships (aged 14-17 years)• Sending and receiving sexual images

http://stiritup.eu/app-and-resources/

STIR Findings on Incidence Rates and ImpactFinding Young Women Young MenExperienced interpersonal violence and abuse ranged 50% - 66% 33% - 66%Experienced negative impact only following sexual violence 81% - 96% ------------

Experienced positive or no impact

------------ 60% - 75%

In all countries, young people were at least twice as likely to have sent a sexual image or message compared to young people who had not been victimised; and in the UK being asked for a sexual image was accepted as ‘normal’ by young people.

STIR Quotes from Teenagers

Quote from Carlo, 17, Italy:

If a naked picture of mine goes around the web, no problem…. for a girl it is different…. Her reputation would be in trouble…

Quote from Erika, 17, Norway:

He walks along with her ‘whole life’ in his mobile phone,ready to share it with anyone at any time

STIR Findings

In all 5 countries, young people experienced control and surveillance including:

Online Control Offline ControlBeing instructed not to chat with specific people or delete contacts

Limiting contact with friends

Being pressurised or forced to give passwords for online accounts

Telling partners what to wear

Text conversations monitored or receiving constant phone calls

Turning up uninvited and getting upset, annoyed and angry if partner wanted to do take part in activities without them

‘feeling controlled as not even my parents had ever done…’

STIR Quote

Statistical Context: Domestic Violence and Digital Abuse

EU FRA Survey

• 12% of women experienced some form of stalking

• 5% experienced cyber stalking

• 50% of perpetrators were partners or ex-partners

Women’s Aid Survey (UK)

• 41% of domestic violence victims that had been helped by Women’s Aid had been tracked or harassed using electronic devices

Digital Trust(2015)

• More than 50% of abusive partners used spyware or some other form of electronic surveillance to stalk their victims

The reality is that women in Ireland are more likely to be stalked by a partner or ex than by anybody else.

Digital Abuse Methods

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

16

75 4 3 3

1 Number of Women

Cumulative Abusive Behaviours for 2 Women

Woman A

Her abusive partner sends her/family/friends emails/texts/instant messages that were offensive/threatening

He posted offensive comments about her on internet

He shared intimate photos/videos on the internet or by mobile phone

He spread lies and rumours about her on the internet

She reported to Gardai along with other serious abuse and she also tried civil remedy

Woman B

Her abusive partner sends her/family/friends emails/texts/instant messages that were offensive/threatening

He tracked her by installing electronic spyware/surveillance on her computer/mobile phone

She had to stop using her phone and got a very simple one so she can communicate with her family and friends safely

He continues to bombard her with texts

Quotes from Testimonies Project - ELLEN

Offline: For a long while, I believed what he said about me; that I wasn’t attractive,

that I was stopping him from enjoying his life. Online: He would text me, saying that I was old, fat and used up. That I wasn’t able

to take care of our son, and he could take him away from me. Impact: He constantly hacked away at my self-esteem. It gave me a hole in my

stomach that I thought would never leave me.

Quotes from Testimonies Project - LISA

Offline: He stalked me after I left him. Sometimes in the dark, I’d see him in the

back garden. Online: I was getting texts saying things like ‘get back to work, you bitch’ or ‘don’t

go out tonight bitch’ and calling me a ‘slut’ and a ‘cunt’ and a ‘whore’. Impact: He was still trying to control me. I used to think he was under my bed

and that he was going to pounce and finish me off. I had this feeling that he wanted to kill me and that he wasn’t happy that

he hadn’t before things ended.

Remembering Stolen Lives

Thank You