On Facebook groups are increasing where men gather to comment with heavy insults the images of women
The last to raise the alarm was Roberto Sgalla, Central Director of the Police Road, Rail, Communications and Special Departments of the State Police. Speaking during the international conference on “Violence against women based on honor” he highlighted how the so-called online rape is now an uncontrollable phenomenon.
During his speech, the Director of the State Police spoke of a “dramatic development” of the phenomenon, which has become (apparently) a habit for tens of thousands of members of social networks of various kinds, Facebook in particular. In fact, even if we have been talking about virtual rape since the beginning of 2017, in the last few months we are witnessing a real escalation: the groups in which men of all ages usually “find themselves” are growing exponentially and, using the settings of the various social networks, being able to identify them in time and take the appropriate countermeasures is never simple.
What is online rape
Although there is no direct and physical contact (or a face-to-face confrontation between victim and perpetrator) virtual rape is to be considered in all respects as a violent and illegal practice. Considered by the State Police as the last frontier of violence on the web, online rape takes place within closed groups of various social networks, where men of all ages share photos of women (usually their ex, but it can also happen that they are perfect strangers), inviting other members of the group to offend them and vent on the image their worst sexual urges. If you discover one of these groups, you must immediately report it to Facebook, so that the editors can act quickly and close them as soon as possible.
How to defend yourself from online rape
Comparable, in broad terms, to a case of sextortion (although, in our case, there is no attempt to extort and demand for money), the ways to defend yourself from online rape are more or less the same. Everything passes from a greater awareness of what can happen on the Net and from a greater attention to online privacy.
First of all, it is always advisable to avoid sharing online – even with people you think you know well – photos that depict us in intimate or naked attitudes of any kind. This cuts off the main “source of supply” for virtual rapists and prevents our personal and private images from falling into the wrong hands.
In the same way, it is important to make sure that the images we share on our social profiles can only be viewed by a small group of users we “trust”. For example, while waiting for Facebook to release the new tool to prevent profile picture donwloading, it is good to use some tricks to protect your profile picture and make it unusable. Don’t forget to change the privacy settings of the photo albums you create online: if they are public, anyone can see them and exploit them for their own benefit.
More generally, you need to protect your privacy online, protecting your data – and not just your images – from prying eyes. Beginning to understand Facebook’s privacy and security settings, for example, can be a first step. But it doesn’t have to be the only one. Social networks, in fact, are only one of the possible “supply channels” of virtual rapists: exploiting tools and programs to protect privacy at 360° is, therefore, of primary importance.