Since COVID hit, many of us yoga teachers have tried to keep the practice going with online, FB live, and Zoom classes. A few of my female colleagues have been recently targeted by creeps online making inappropriate and sexually explicit comments or suggestive comments. And while the sad truth is that this is nothing new, it’s nonetheless COMPLETE BULLSHIT! It agers me to no end that anybody, especially women, are subject to harassment, prejudice, and hate.

As a community of yoga teachers, we are working to find helpful solutions to the problem of pervy trolls commenting or showing up in our online classes but what are some of the things that we can all know to make sure that women are safe online?

Through the help of a great article on Comparitech, I’ve discovered both some alarming statistics as well as some great and helpful information to help keep women safe on the Internet.

Below is an excerpt from the article and encourage anyone interested in reading the entire thing.

Are women at higher risk to online scams? Online harassment statistics

Ever wondered who is more likely to be targeted by online scammers? We reveal some surprising internet safety statistics as well as easy to follow advice to protect yourself from online scams.

by AIMEE O'DRISCOLL

We use the internet for pretty much everything these days, including connecting with friends, working, banking, entertainment, shopping, dating, and more. With our communication moving more and more online, unpleasant behaviors such as cyberbullying and online harassment are also becoming more common. This combined with online scams can lead to users feeling unsafe. In this article, we’ll explain the most common types of online harassment as well as how to keep yourself safe online.

By discussing a range of studies and statistics we will demonstrate the different experiences of online culture based on gender. We’ll also reveal how attitudes to online harassment can vary between men and women.

What dangers do users face online?

Women face many of the same dangers as men online. For example, things like phishing schemes, ransomware attacks, and various types of online fraud are commonplace for everyone. However, statistics show you are much more likely to experience some types of online abuse if you are a woman. Below we take a look at the online scams which target women more frequently than other genders.

Online harassment

Online harassment is loosely defined as the use of the internet to threaten, harass, or embarrass an individual or group. It can come in different forms and many of the other topics we discuss here such as cyberbullying, cyberstalking, and doxing fall under the umbrella of harassment.

Women tend to encounter sexualized forms of online harassment at higher rates than men. These can include things like sexualized bullying, unwanted sexual requests, revenge porn, and sextortion.

A 2017 study by Pew Research Center found that 21 percent of women aged 18 to 29 had experienced online harassment. The figure for men was less than half of that at nine percent. More than half of women in the same age group had received explicit images that were not requested.

Attitudes towards online harassment differ by gender with 70 percent of women and 54 percent of men believing it’s a “major problem.” And while 50 percent of women say that offensive content online is too often excused as not a big deal, 64 percent of men think it’s taken too seriously. More men (56 percent) tend to think it’s important to speak their minds freely online while women (63 percent) value feeling safe and welcome on the internet.

Source: Pew Research

What’s more, of women who have experienced online harassment, 35 percent say it leaves a strong impression and that recent encounters have been either very or extremely upsetting. The figure for men is less than half at 16 percent.

Cyberbullying

Online bullying involves any type of bullying that occurs in the digital world, for example, through social media networks or forums, or via emails or text messages. Cyberbullying can happen to anyone, but it’s especially common among teenage girls. Female students are three times as likely to be bullied online or via text than male students.

Catfishing schemes

With the increased popularity in online dating, there are a ton of schemes out there targeting unsuspecting victims looking for love. While many men fall victim to dating scams, the majority of victims are women.

A popular tactic used in dating scams is catfishing. This is where scammers create fake profiles that they believe prospective victims will trust and fall for easily. For example, they might create a fake profile of a doctor or member of the military.

These scams typically end up with the perpetrator swindling the victim out of money or property, or in some cases, roping them into some type of illegal activity.

Cyberstalking

Cyberstalking (also called online stalking) may be defined slightly differently according to various countries’ laws, but it generally involves using electronic means to harass, bully or threaten victims.

This crime impacts a surprisingly large number of men and women, but victims are more often female. A Canadian study found that the most likely targets are women in the 15–24 age group.

Source: StatCan

Sextortion

As you can probably guess from the name, online sextortion is extortion involving material (typically images or videos) of a sexual or intimate nature. Sextortion can take a variety of different forms, but the motivation is usually sexual gratification or monetary gain.

A 2019 study found that males are more likely to be targeted when the motivation is financial greed, while the victims in sextortion for sexual gratification crimes are almost always female.

An alarming 2017 study by Thorn revealed that 45 percent of sextortion perpetrators followed through on their threats. The same study found that 40 percent of victims met the perpetrators online.

Read the entire article

The Empowering Internet Safety Guide for Women

Have you ever been harassed in the street? Received a crass message on a dating app? Had a coworker make a comment about your appearance that just didn’t sit right?

You’re not alone.

With the #MeToo movement, it’s easy to log onto Twitter or Facebook and see just how many women are victims of sexual harassment. Whether in person or online, women everywhere have experienced it in one way or another. And with all the new ways the internet has opened avenues of communication, online harassment is more prevalent than ever.

According to a study by the Pew Research Center, most online abuse takes place on social media. Although men are also subject to online harassment – which includes name calling, derision, and physical threats – the study found that online, women are more than twice as likely as men to experience sexual harassment.

In addition, more than half of women ages 18-29 report having been sent sexually explicit images without their consent.

This number is only growing, and while 70% of women believe online harassment to be a major problem, not many know how to prevent it.

Women are often targeted simply because they are women. Attacks are often sexualized or misogynistic, and rhetoric tends to focus on their bodies and sexual violence. This is both physically and emotionally damaging, and women are often intimidated into silence, preferring to disengage rather than put themselves at risk.

However, there are ways we can protect ourselves.

This guide was written with the intention of empowering women to navigate the internet without fear. We discuss common occurrences in which women are subject to harassment in their daily lives – on social media, at work, while dating, and more – and give tips and advice on how women can take control.

It is important for us to note that some of the advice given here encourages anonymity, rather than risking being targeted. While this may seem to run counter to the idea of encouraging self-expression, we believe that every woman should be empowered to make that choice for herself.

Our job is to give you the tools you need to do that.

We hope this guide encourages women everywhere to defend and protect themselves, and to stand up to sexual harassment, both on and off the web.