Wed, Jul 17, 2024 page3

• Gender-based issues common: poll

  • By Lin Chih-yi and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer
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  Online gender-based violence is a common experience across all age groups in Taiwan, researchers told a news conference yesterday, citing a survey commissioned by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

  The survey, which was conducted by National Chi Nan University, showed that the lifetime prevalence rate of digital or online gender-based violence was 59.4 percent, while 47.4 percent reported experiencing incidents of such violence in the previous 12 months.

  “What this tells us is that online gender-based violence is a common experience across all age groups,” said Wang Pei-ling (王珮玲), a professor in the university’s Department of Social Policy and Social Work, adding that most people do not report such experiences through official channels.

  

  Researchers who conducted a survey on online gender-based violence hold placards at a news conference at the ministry in Taipei yesterday.

  Photo: CNA

  The categories of online gender violence reported were “harassment,” which had a lifetime prevalence rate of 48.5 percent, followed by “humiliation and attack” (26 percent), “tracking” (21.8 percent), “control or restriction of expression” (11.7 percent) and “visual sexual violence” 10.4 percent, the survey showed.

  Only 39 percent of respondents who reported having experienced online gender-based violence said that they had sought help, with 78.8 percent of those who did turning to friends, classmates or others close to them, Wang said, adding that 17.3 percent sought help from “other people on the Internet.”

  The prevalence rate of online gender-based violence for “non-heterosexual men” was 30.2 percent, followed by “non-heterosexual women” at 15.2 percent, heterosexual women at 9.5 percent and heterosexual men at 6.1 percent, the survey showed.

  The proportion of homosexual men seeking help after an incident was 42 percent, for homosexual women it was 52.1 percent, for heterosexual women it was 43.8 percent and for heterosexual men it was 26.3 percent, it showed.

  Fang Nien-hsuan (方念萱), a professor of journalism at National Chengchi University, said that when homosexual people seek help, they also face the pressure of coming out, which would increase their hesitancy.

  “We must create a friendly environment for these victims and strengthen public awareness of help channels to allow victims to come forward more easily,” Fang said.

  The survey garnered 5,030 valid samples from people aged 18 to 74 from Oct. 14 to Nov. 10 last year.

  Separately, Liu Yu-chun (劉昱均), manager of the ministry’s nonconsensual intimate images response center, said that one in 10 people have experienced digital or online violence through videos or images of them obtained without consent or under coercion.

  The work of her center has resulted in the removal of such images from online platforms in 88.6 percent of cases reported to it, and “more and more overseas platform operators are willing to cooperate in removal, including Facebook, Instagram and YouTube,” Liu said.

  “However, there is still room for improvement on tackling such content shared on forums, content farms and other platforms,” she added.

  As of May 31, there had been 1,150 cases involving 754 people reported to the center since it was established on Aug. 15 last year, she said, adding that 69.9 percent of those affected were female.

  The 18-to-24 age group was the most common among people affected in cases handled by the center, accounting for 42.6 percent, she said.

  The 25-to-34 age group accounted for 25.3 percent and the 13-to-17 age group accounted for 20 percent, she added.

  In 62 percent of cases, such content is shared online by strangers, while 16 percent is shared by a romantic partner, she said.
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