Emakunde has published a guide to help learn about male cyberviolence in the digital world

The Basque Institute for Women, Emakunde, has launched the Guide to Cyberviolence 'Put the Name' to help identify sexist violence in the digital environment, which often goes unnoticed. The Guide contributes to the "necessary digital literacy" to detect certain forms of violence.

The presentation of the guide took place this Tuesday in Vitoria-Gasteiz and was attended by the director of Emakunde, Mira Elgarresta, and the professor at the University of Deusto, Estibaliz Linares, who has worked with Zaloa Lafuente and Iratxe Rodríguez.

The guide is aimed at young people with the aim of creating a healthier and safer online space. "In the age of the Manosphere, in the face of the wave of messages against feminism, it is more important than ever to offer young people tools to detect violence and how to act against it," said the director of Emakunde.

It also recalls that cyberviolence is not disconnected from violence outside the Internet: "It is not an isolated phenomenon, but is framed in a broader social context of inequality and structural violence against women that has persisted for centuries and continues in the age of connectivity."

Although all violence comes from the same root, violence in the virtual world is sudden, hyperconnected and anonymous, so its consequences can be more painful and harmful.

"In many cases, violence can begin with exchanges on social networks, such as with minors, and end up in a physical encounter where sexual violence occurs. Anonymity is one of the dangers of networks, as well as their scope and rapid dissemination," Elgarresta said.

On the other hand, Linares has reviewed the types of sexist cyberviolence identified by the guide, including sexist cyberharassment, which is expressed in insults and messages against women; sexual cyberharassment when photos with sexual content are threatened with dissemination; gaslighting or emotional manipulation to question the victim's version.

This list also includes grooming, when an adult man establishes a relationship with a minor for the purpose of sexualizing it; cybercontrol, when it comes to controlling someone else's social networks; or body shaming, when comments and insults are spread against bodies that violate ideals.

In addition, the guide provides advice and solutions for potential victims and provides guidelines for men to help stop cyberviolence with responsible and critical social media consumption.

The 'Name' guide will be distributed to schools and youth leisure centres in the Basque Country and can also be downloaded online.