Website aims to help victims of sexual abuse involving use of tech

A website launched this month provides information and guidance for victims of sexual abuse involving the use of digital technology.

Called Solid Ground, it was set up by two researchers in consultation with gender-equality advocacy group Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware).

In a statement on Wednesday, Aware said its Sexual Assault Care Centre saw 191 cases of technology-facilitated sexual abuse last year, 36 per cent more than the 140 cases in 2019. It is the highest number of such cases in a year since the group began tracking the figures in 2016.

The cases include explicit sexual messages and calls, coercive sex-based communications and image-based sexual abuse - the non-consensual creation, obtainment or distribution of sexual videos or images of another person.

Image-based sexual abuse also includes voyeurism, "revenge porn" and threats of such acts, said Aware. These acts can be carried out through the use of digital cameras, social media and messaging platforms, dating apps and ride-hailing apps.

While these cases involve the use of technology, the abuse can also occur in offline spaces in the form of physical or verbal harassment, rape, sexual assault, stalking, public humiliation or intimidation.

The website guides users through steps they can take if they experience any of nine common types of online harassment, including being repeatedly contacted, stalked online or having their personal information or images shared.

Actions suggested include adjusting privacy settings, collecting evidence and applying for a protection order.

The site also lists support resources in Singapore and online, and will be kept up to date to reflect changes to social media platforms' policies, said Aware.

The website is the brainchild of researchers Catherine Chang and Holly Apsley, both 24, from the Singapore University of Technology and Design's Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities.

They were one of the winning teams in a contest that Aware held early last year to crowdsource initiatives against image-based sexual abuse in Singapore.

Number of cases of technology-facilitated sexual abuse that Aware's Sexual Assault Care Centre saw last year.

Number of such cases in 2019.

Said Ms Apsley: "Many technology-facilitated sexual violence survivors are overwhelmed with gathering evidence, making reports, keeping themselves safe, managing their emotions and so on.

"We hope Solid Ground can be a place where survivors can catch their breath, find their footing and orientate themselves before taking their next steps."

The victims seen by Aware's Sexual Assault Care Centre last year ranged in age from pre-teens to a 59-year-old.

The highest number of cases - 62 last year - was in the 18 to 24 age group. They made up 43 per cent of cases where age was disclosed, a significant jump from the period of 2017 to 2019, when this category made up less than 30 per cent of such cases.

The age group with the next highest number of cases last year was 25 to 34, with 43 cases, or 30 per cent.

The perpetrator was known to the victim in the majority of cases last year in which this detail was disclosed, said Aware.

"Such perpetrators are typically far more common than strangers when it comes to sexual violence, perhaps all the more so during 2020, with Covid-19 circuit breaker measures reducing encounters with strangers," it said.

The highest reported category of perpetrators last year was current or former intimate partners (55 cases, or 36 per cent, where a relationship was disclosed), followed by acquaintances (40 cases, or 26 per cent), and dating app contacts (19 cases, or 13 per cent).

Other perpetrators included family members, friends and colleagues, though the number for the last category decreased last year, again possibly because of work-from-home measures, said Aware.

The top three common platforms where victims faced abuse were messaging apps Telegram and WhatsApp, and social media platform Instagram.

Only nine cases went to the platforms by making reports, seeking help with the removal of non-consensual material, or the suspension of offending accounts. In most of these cases, the victims were not satisfied with the response from the platforms, said Aware.

Aware president Margaret Thomas said: "As our clients have attested time and again, the emotional, mental and physical impact of technology-facilitated sexual violence is on a par with that of offline abuse.

"It can include anxiety, depression, anger, guilt and suicidal thoughts. What's more, there are often practical and financial effects: reputational damage, being forced to deactivate social media accounts, paying for a service to issue take-down requests to platforms, and so on."