The Newest Gender-Based Violence
Digital abuse and harassment is growing rapidly.
Posted October 23, 2025 | Reviewed by Hara Estroff Marano
Gender -based violence is nothing new. But its methods are evolving faster than our awareness.
While there has been progress in understanding and treating domestic violence , sexual assault , and other forms of interpersonal trauma, one growing form of harm remains largely overlooked: digital abuse and harassment.
As a psychotherapist who has worked with women survivors of childhood sexual abuse for over two decades, I am hearing a new theme brought into sessions: how technology is being weaponized in the hands of abusers.
However, what I am not hearing is other clinicians talking about it. In fact, it seems to be missing from the conversation in many mental health circles. Women describe partners or exes who monitor their phone, track their location, post or threaten to post intimate photos, or humiliate them publicly online. The stories of such abuse are no longer rare, and the problem is no longer unique. They are proof that as technology grows, so do the methods used for control and coercion.
The Numbers Tell the Story
Research doesn’t lie.
According to the research organization Data & Society, 12 percent of adults who have had a romantic partner have experienced some type of digital harassment or abuse by that partner, and the rates are nearly twice as high for younger women and three times higher for LGBTQ+ folks. Additionally, the National Network to End Domestic Violence reports that about three-quarters of survivors looking for help from domestic-violence programs have experienced digital abuse.
And it doesn’t stop there. The Human Trafficking Institute’s 2020 Federal Report documented that the internet is the single most common place that victims in U.S. federal sex-trafficking cases are recruited, accounting for about 40 percent of all cases. It is clear from the data that the same technologies that bring us together can also be used to isolate, control, and harm others.
What Is Digital Abuse?
Digital abuse is more than hacking your accounts or sending threatening messages. It can look like:
What makes digital abuse especially insidious is its long-lasting impact and staying power. All abuse leaves a mark. It endures in memories, in body responses, and sometimes in flashbacks or intrusive thoughts. But digital abuse exists in an ongoing and tangible way. Unlike other types of abuse, the harm can exist indefinitely. Every repost, screenshot, resurfacing of a traumatic image or post can retraumatize the victim, keeping them frozen in a cycle of fear and vulnerability that feels impossible to escape.
The same patterns of inequality that are present in other forms of gender-based violence exist when it comes to digital abuse.
Data from Plan International (2023) reveals that nearly 60% of young women surveyed across 22 countries reported experiencing online harassment, and many described it as being worse than street harassment because it’s constant, invasive, and hard to escape ( Plan International, 2023 ).
Amnesty International’s 2024 reports on Thailand and Uganda found that women and LGBTQ+ activists facing online harassment and surveillance often felt forced to censor themselves, delete their accounts, or step back entirely from public spaces ( Amnesty International, 2024a ; Amnesty International, 2024b ).
Similarly, the European Parliament’s 2018 report on cyber violence against women describes how systemic gender inequality creates a “fertile ground” for digital harassment. Online abuse often goes hand in hand with offline violence, reinforcing control and coercion pushing women out of public and professional spaces (European Parliament, 2018).
For survivors of past trauma, especially childhood sexual abuse, the digital world can mimic the same powerlessness and exposure they once experienced in physical spaces, retriggering symptoms like hypervigilance, dissociation, and shame .
Why This Matters for Mental Health
Digital harassment is not “just online.”
Cyberbullying research has found that 93% of victims report negative psychological effects, most often sadness, hopelessness, and powerlessness ( Gámez-Guadix et al., 2015 ). Women and younger users are at two to three times higher risk of developing depressive or severe anxiety symptoms when exposed to repeated online harassment ( Sampasa-Kanyinga et al., 2020 ).
Research published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence adds that technology-facilitated abuse, such as nonconsensual image sharing, cyberstalking , or digital coercion, can trigger trauma responses comparable to those seen in survivors of physical assault. The symptoms include intrusive memories, avoidance behaviors, and hyperarousal ( Freed et al., 2024 ).
The findings highlight how digital abuse can weaken the boundaries between the digital and physical world. The emotional toll of online violation is not intangible but it lives in both the body and the mind.
Social workers, therapists, and advocates must treat digital abuse as real abuse, not just a secondary issue or “relationship drama.” Assessments should always include questions about digital control, online threats, and image-based coercion. Safety planning must extend to digital spaces including changing passwords, documenting threats, and empowering clients to reclaim their online presence.
Clinicians should also be mindful of their own digital practices, including how they communicate with clients, protect client confidentiality, and talk about the psychological impact of technology.
Organizations like the Plunk Foundation are helping by collecting data, raising awareness, and driving education about digital harassment and sexual abuse. Their research shows that digital harassment is not just a one off situation. It is a growing form of gender-based violence that deserves the same level of attention , funding, and trauma-informed care as other forms of abuse. Creating partnerships between practitioners, advocates, and researchers is essential for protecting survivors and preventing future harm.
Most important, we have to begin talking about it and replace silence with honest conversations. The shame that keeps survivors isolated thrives in secrecy. Naming digital abuse and understanding its impact, can help survivors see that what is happening to them is real, wrong, and deserving of care.
As technology and AI continue to evolve, so will the ways power and control are used. Gender-based violence is adapting, and so must we. And the time is now. It is the professional responsibility of psychotherapists to meet clients where they are and to meet suffering where it lives, and today, much of it lives online.
Recognizing digital abuse as part of the landscape of gender-based violence is no longer optional. It is essential to trauma-informed, justice-oriented care.
Data & Society. (2017). Online Harassment, Digital Abuse, and Cyberstalking in America. Retrieved from https://datasociety.net/pubs/oh/DataAndSociety_Online_Harassment_2017.p…
National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV). (2023). Technology Safety & Abuse Report. Retrieved from https://nnedv.org
Human Trafficking Institute. (2020). Federal Human Trafficking Report. Retrieved from https://www.traffickinginstitute.org
Amnesty International. (2024a). “I have to erase who I am”: Technology-facilitated gender-based violence against LGBTQ people in Uganda. Amnesty International. amnesty.org/en/documents/afr59/8571/2024/en/
Amnesty International. (2024b). Silenced online: Technology-facilitated gender-based violence against women and LGBTI activists in Thailand. Amnesty International. amnesty.org/en/documents/asa39/7955/2024/en/
Citron, D. K. (2020). Hate crimes in cyberspace. University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 118(2), 347-416. scholarship.law.upenn.edu/faculty_articles/320/
European Parliament. (2018). Cyber violence and hate speech online against women. European Union Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2018/604979/IPOL_STU(2018)604979_EN.pdf
Freed, D., et al. (2024). Technology-facilitated abuse and trauma responses among survivors of online harassment. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605241231615
Gámez-Guadix, M., Orue, I., Smith, P. K., & Calvete, E. (2015). Long-term outcomes of cyberbullying on adolescent mental health: A meta-analysis. Computers in Human Behavior, 49, 437-443. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4126576/
Plan International. (2023). State of the World’s Girls Report 2023: Freedom Online. Plan International. plan-international.org/uploads/2023/06/SOTWGR2020-CommsReport-edition2023-EN.pdf
Sampasa-Kanyinga, H., et al. (2020). Social media use, cyberbullying, and mental health: A meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11, 590-598. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7785056/
This article is part of the Bringwise Psychology Journal — daily insights on human behavior, mental health, and personal growth.